Co-producing pride in nature: supporting land-owners and managers to achieve LGBTQ+ inclusivity
Overview
Engagement with nature supports health and wellbeing, but Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Queer (LGBTQ+) people experience inequalities in access to and safe enjoyment of natural spaces. By facilitating knowledge exchange between the LGBTQ+ community and land managers, Co-Producing Pride in Nature (Nov 2024 – July 2025) aims to support inclusive nature engagement, enable development of an interdisciplinary research agenda relevant to non-academic priorities, and facilitate professional development of students and non-academic practitioners.
Aims and objectives
This project aims to address UN Sustainable Development Goal 11.7 (providing universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible green and public spaces) by supporting inclusive access to nature for LGBTQ+ people. To do this, we will undertake three strands of knowledge exchange between the LGBTQ+ community and land-owners/managers:
- Public engagement: an arts-based programme for LGBTQ+ people to express their experiences of nature in Surrey.
- Network-building: roundtable meetings with LGBTQ+ community and land-stewardship organisations.
- Research methods training and placements: for University of Surrey students and staff from LGBTQ+ and land stewardship organisations.
In facilitating this knowledge exchange, the project aims to deliver:
- A co-produced framework that explains LGBTQ+ experiences of local nature and explores drivers/barriers to inclusivity in land stewardship.
- An action plan to support inclusivity practices in land stewardship.
- A publication of LGBTQ+ participants’ artworks exploring their ‘Pride in Nature’.
Funder: UKRI Higher Education Innovation Funding (HEIF)
Collaborators: Blossom LGBT and Surrey Wildlife Trust
Advisory Group: Forest Research, Tranquil City, London Frontrunners, and London Heritage Quarter
Related sustainable development goals
Team
Principal Investigator
Dr Eleanor Ratcliffe
Senior Lecturer in Environmental Psychology
Biography
My research mainly concerns restorative environments, or places which help people to recover psychologically from stress and/or cognitive fatigue. I focus particularly on sensory aspects of these environments (e.g., sounds and soundscapes) and on how bonds between people and place can enhance links between environment and wellbeing. I completed my PhD at Surrey in 2015, followed by two periods of postdoctoral research (2015-2017 at Tampere University, Finland, and 2017-2018 at Imperial College London), before returning to Surrey in January 2019.
Dr Fabio Fasoli
Senior Lecturer in Social Psychology
Biography
I received my PhD in 2011 at University of Trento (Italy). From 2012 to 2013, I was a post-doc fellow first at CITEC (University of Bielefeld, Germany) and then at the University of Padua (Italy). In 2014-2015 I was a post-doc at ISCTE-IUL (Portugal), and a postdoc at the University of Milano-Bicocca in 2015-2016. I moved to Surrey in October 2016 as a Marie Sklodowska Curie fellow under the supervision of Prof Peter Hegarty. Since 2021 I have been the Programme Leader for the Social Psychology MSc and, from December 2023, I am the Chair of the Raninbow Network.
Dr Aife Hopkins-Doyle
Lecturer in Social Psychology
Biography
Dr Aífe Hopkins-Doyle is a Lecturer in Social Psychology. Her research interest is in the social-cognitive and ideological factors influencing meta-perception and related attitudes, with a particular focus on gender relations, sexuality, political actions and social issues.
She gained her BSc degree in Psychology (Hons) at the National University of Ireland at Maynooth (2008-2012) before moving to the University of Kent to complete a Master’s degree in Social and Applied Psychology (2013-2014) and a PhD in Social Psychology (2015-2019). Her PhD research examined the role of warmth in misperceptions of benevolent sexism as negatively related to hostile sexism and other known correlates (e.g. opposition to gender equality measures).
Upon completion of her PhD, Aífe was a Lecturer in Social and Organisational Psychology at University of Kent (2018-2020). She joined the School of Psychology at University of Surrey in April 2020.
In addition to her research, she enjoys teaching and working on initiatives that promote greater social diversity and inclusion in academia. She is a member of the Athena Swan Self Assessment Team in the School of Psychology.
Dr Anna Bornioli
Senior Future Fellow
Biography
I am a social scientist interested in behaviours and health and wellbeing outcomes related to healthy and liveable cities and sustainable mobility.
I have just started my Senior Future Fellowship at the Environmental Psychology Research Group, University of Surrey, investigating how urban environments can support psychological wellbeing and be gender inclusive. I am an Associate Member of the Institute for Sustainability.
I received my PhD in Transport Geography from the University of the West of England in 2018. I have previously worked at the Centre for Public Health and Wellbeing (University of the West of England) and the Erasmus Centre for Urban, Port and Transport Economics (Erasmus University Rotterdam).
Emily MacDonald
Research Assistant
Research groups and centres
Our research is supported by research groups and centres of excellence.