Lewis is a Senior Lecturer in Environment and Human Health at the European Centre for Environment and Human Health (ECEHH).
He is an environmental psychologist interested in applied quantitative social science research to address both public health and environmental crises and co-director of the MSc Environment and Human Health programme. Within this programme Lewis leads a module on Nature, Health, and Well-being where he also lectures on quantitative methods and statistics. He co-convenes a CPD course on the same topic. He also lectures or leads research groups for the BMBS programme, BSc Medical Sciences, and for a module on Oceans and Human Health.
Lewis’s research primarily concerns the benefits that the natural environment has on human physical health and psychological well-being. Engaging with a mixture of primarily quantitative methods to explore this including the analysis of large survey data, experiments, and complex interventions.
Current active research grants as Co-investigator include:
RESONATE – an EU Horizon Europe project on nature based therapy in Europe where he leads a work package on mixed-methods process evaluation of 5 randomised controlled trials of such therapy in different European settings.
RENEW – a NERC-funded Changing the Environment project looking at biodiversity renewal in the UK where he co-leads Theme 1 on individual actors’ perceptions and experiences of biodiversity.
GroundsWell – a UK Prevention Research Partnership funded programme looking at community-led systems transformation of green and blue spaces for the benefit of population health. He contributes to a work stream on looking at what is needed to ensure political and decision-making contexts and systems support and sustain urban green and bluespace policies for health.
Entrepreneurial Futures – a Shared Prosperity Fund investment for business-led research activity in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, contributing to work addressing the barriers to entrepreneurialism amongst low-income households in the county.
Previous research projects include:
BlueHealth – looking at the human health benefits of Europe’s coasts and waterways
Smartline – looking at how everyday technology can benefit the health and happiness of people in social housing in Cornwall, UK
What does blue do for you? – looking at the potential that aquatic natural environments have in shaping the well-being of people with bipolar and psychosis