14/10/24
The Lab collects a sustainability award, and Dr. Shuo Zhang shares her research on the relationship between mental health and the climate
It is not often the focus of mental health research, but the impacts of the climate crisis on mental health – and likewise the climate impacts of mental health research itself – are vital and growing areas of attention in our field. Lab member Dr. Shuo Zhang has worked on this important issue, with a recent paper highlighting the global inequalities in mental health that are both exacerbated and created by climate catastrophe, while presenting a model for psychiatric leadership which can address these inequalities. She’s also published on the relationship between air pollution on mental health risk.
Recently we’ve been working on sustainability in the Lab in a few different ways. This summer, the Lab collected a Bronze award in the King’s Sustainability Champions programme. This programme is designed to engage teams from across the university in increasing sustainable practices within their departments, and has four levels:  Foundation, Bronze, Silver, and Gold. Sarjhana Ragunathan Brindha and Zoë Firth led the way for the Lab, completing Foundation and Bronze level actions across areas including:
Operations: creating materials for the rest of the Lab for job descriptions, job inductions, and leading events that promote sustainable practice.
Travel: analysing departmental travel data and formulating an action plan for encouraging more sustainable travel across the department.
Learning: taking the KEATS Climate & Sustainability module to learn more about the climate crisis and sustainable development.
Networking: attending events put on by the King’s Climate Action Network (CAN) to learn about and engage with sustainable practice across the university.
We also acquired some new office plants to complete the programme, labelling them with their plant type and key benefits – the names were our own addition!
Then last month, Shuo hosted the first departmental seminar of the academic year, which was themed around sustainability. Professor Ioannis Bakolis gave a presentation on ‘Associations between air pollution and mental health service use in children and adolescents: A retrospective cohort study’. Shuo introduced the seminar and hosted the questions session, as well as giving an overview of our work in the Sustainability Champions programme and encouraging fellow department members to take part. You can also hear Shuo and Ioannis speak about their research on the relationship between mental health and the climate at a panel event for King's in 2021.
Shuo said:
'As mental health professionals and researchers, the issues around sustainability and climate change are essential to our work in many ways, from environmental risk factors for mental disorders such as air pollution or heat, to the role of nature-based interventions in health systems for prevention and early intervention. It’s also vital to think about sustainability in our workplaces, and the Royal College of Psychiatrists has recently produced guidance on Net Zero Mental Healthcare.
It has been so inspiring to see Sarjhana and Zoë lead the Lab in sustainability actions at the university level, and this has led to more dialogue between our already engaged team members and opportunities to think about how we can be even more sustainable in the future.'
Huge thanks to the Sustainability Champions programme, in particular Rosa Roe Garcia, for their support in the programme. We hope to continue this sustainability work with the programme and with the department.