Meet our Researchers
Community Of Professionals
We are a multidisciplinary community of researchers, each bringing unique expertise. From conservationists to mental health professionals, we unite under one goal: understanding and promoting the human-nature connection. Our collective experience drives innovative research, community collaborations, and the spread of invaluable knowledge.
Associate Professor Eric Brymer
Eric is passionate about the human-nature relationship. He is especially interested in the impact of this relationship for learning, performance and health ( people and the planet). He has led projects examining adventure sports, pro-environmental behaviour and the impact of nature experiences and prescription on human wellbeing. He is also a registered psychologist and board approved supervisor. He can be contacted on eric.brymer@scu.edu.au
Dr Vinathe Sharma-Brymer
Dr. Vinathe Sharma-Brymer is a lecturer in social work at University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia. She is passionate about the quality of life for humans and other forms of life. She is also a qualified Forest School practitioner. She researches in the areas of nature-human relationships and wellbeing, and gender.
Dr Royce Willis
Royce’s recent work in Environmental Psychology focuses on the relationship between pro-environmental behaviour and mental well-being, including the study of eco-anxiety and the psychological effects of climate change. Previously I have investigated how individual differences, such as avoidance tendencies and critical thinking, influence environmentally conscious actions. I have also conducted research in Environmental Psychophysiology, using techniques like electroencephalography and startle eyeblink modulation, to explore psychophysiological responses to environmental stimuli.
Dr Rachel Yerbury
Dr Rachel Yerbury (Phd) is a psychologist, lecturer and researcher at La Trobe University Australia, and a proponent of ecopsychology in research and counselling spaces. Her research focusses on the connection between humans with Nature and animate worlds and how this impacts mutual well-being and reciprocal understandings within a kincentric perspective for multispecies flourishing. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Rachel-Yerbury/research
Dr Amy Lykins
Amy Lykins is an Associate Professor in Clinical Psychology at the University of New England, a registered Clinical Psychologist, and Board-approved supervisor. Her research focuses mainly on the intersections between the environment (including climate change and natural hazards) and human mental health. She also has research and clinical interests in ecotherapy and animal-assisted therapies.
Dr Heather Boetto
Heather is an accredited social worker and Associate Professor at Charles Sturt University, Australia. Heather’s research and teaching areas of interest focus on environmental social work, disaster practice, and rural and regional communities. She is committed to interdisciplinary research and the need to work together for creating and maintaining a healthy and biodiverse ecosystem, and addressing injustices caused by the unfair distribution of environmental risks.
Dr Shahin Rahimi-Golkhandan
Shahin, with a PhD in psychology from Australian Catholic University and post-doctoral training at Cornell University, currently works as a lecturer in the School of Psychology and Public Health at La Trobe University. His research spans several areas, including the impact of nature on well-being, the long-term effects of neurodevelopmental disorders (e.g., developmental coordination disorder), as well as judgement and decision-making.
Associate Professor Matthew Leach
Associate Professor Matthew Leach is Deputy Director of Education at the National Centre for Naturopathic Medicine, and Deputy Associate Dean of Education in the Faculty of Health, Southern Cross University. A/Prof Leach is also an experienced health services researcher, clinical trialist and implementation scientist, with a strong interest in the use of nature-based therapies to support health and wellbeing
Dr Warren Lake
Dr Warren Lake is interested in general wellbeing in a broad range of contexts. His research has previously been focused on the scholarship of teaching and learning, learning approaches, feedback, and self-efficacy. Dr Warren Lake – Southern Cross University (scu.edu.au). Warren Lake – Google Scholar
Professor Bill Boyd
Four and a half decades of scholarly engagement with the complex ways in which humans and the environment have interacted with, influenced, and modified each other has led Bill across space and time. His studies of human-environment interactions have spanned deep archaeological time, the historical record, modern and contemporary society, and future speculation. He has examined human-environment relationships in Europe, southeast Asia, and Australasia through the lenses of the environmental sciences, social science, educational inquiry, and cultural studies. In recognition of his scholarly contributions, his former university, Southern Cross University, has awarded him the title of Emeritus Professor. Now retired from full-time university employment, he applies his scholarly experience to mentoring the next generation of scholars.
Professor Bindi Bennett
Dr Bindi Bennett (she/her) is a K/Gamilaroi woman, mother, and social worker and is a Professorial Research Fellow at Federation University living, playing and working on Jinibara lands. She is a social justice scholar, a compassionate radical and activist requesting transformational change who is committed to improving and growing cultural responsiveness; re-Indigenising Western spaces; understanding and exploring Indigenous Knowledge Systems in research; and exploring the human-animal bond. Orcid: 0000-0002-0111-4670
Professor Gert-Jan Pepping
Gert-Jan Pepping is a movement scientist with over 25 years of research experience and a strong interest in applying a Gibsonian approach and understanding humans in their ecological niche, focusing on human performance, ageing, and the integration of technology in health and recovery.
Helen Clark - Research student (PhD)
My study aims to integrate understanding of the benefits nature for health and wellbeing into routine healthcare through health professional education
Kate McCubbery - Research student (PhD)
Kate McCubbery is a PhD candidate at Southern Cross University. Kate is exploring the impacts of changing environmental conditions on Mental Health, particularly in regional and rural communities. Kate’s research will examine how mental health outcomes in these communities are influenced by nature connectedness and the experience of “psychoterratic syndromes” related to environmental change including solastalgia and ecological grief and intervention strategies to improve these outcomes.
Tarek Chouja - Research student (Masters)
I am exploring the interrelationship between nature-based physical activities (NBPA) and mindfulness. This study aims to determine what role mindfulness plays (if any) in how NBPA enhances and protects health and wellbeing.
Zahra Whyte - Research student (PhD)
My PhD research explores the bidirectional relationship between pro-environmental behaviours and mental well-being, suggesting that engaging in these actions can positively impact one’s psychological state by providing meaning to one’s life. By developing an intervention that encourages and facilitates pro-environmental behaviours, the study aims to offer an alternate therapeutic approach for those experiencing eco-anxiety by fostering a sense of environmental hope and purpose, creating a win-win result for the individual and the environment.
Shastri Nimmagadda - Research student (PhD)
My research investigates connectivity and interdependence phenomena between humans, mental health, and environmental ecosystems, interpreting their impactful relationships through Big Data and Visual Analytics. The development of information system artefacts, the ecological design science theory, and their theorization processes are additional research elements to leverage and assess the sustainment between multiple ecosystems