Anaïs Lemyre

The role of social and natural environments in health geography: A case for wellbeing and greenspace during the COVID-19 pandemic

Anaïs completed her DPhil in the School of Geography and the Environment in 2023. She also holds an M.Sc. in Public Health from Mcgill University in Montreal and an undergraduate degree in Health Sciences with a Minor in Geomatics and Spatial Analysis from the University of Ottawa. Her doctoral research investigated the role of the environment, and more specifically greenspace use, in support of wellbeing. The specific context of the COVID-19 pandemic provided a unique opportunity of research as it was a major stressful crisis across populations and subgroups and as restrictions affected social and natural environments over a substantial duration. Her work longitudinally examined the specific context of university students across the pandemic and their experience of greenspace, social connectedness and wellbeing using novel survey data, as well as examined the general pattern of greenspace use at the population level using secondary data sources.

• Lemyre, A., Chrisinger, C., Palmer-Cooper, E. and Messina, J.P. (2024) Mental wellbeing among higher education students in England during the pandemic: A longitudinal study of COVID-19 experiences, social connectedness and greenspace use. British Educational Research Journal.
• Lemyre, A., Chrisinger, C., Palmer-Cooper, E. and Messina, J.P. (2023) Neighbourhood greenspaces and mental wellbeing among university students in England during the COVID-19 pandemic: an online survey under lockdown. Cities & Health, 0(0), 1-16.
• Lemyre, A. and Messina, J.P. (2023) Greenspace Use during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Longitudinal Population Mobility Study in the United Kingdom. Environmental Research, 239, 117360.
• Lemyre, A., Palmer-Cooper, E. and Messina, J. (2023) Wellbeing among university students during the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review of longitudinal studies. Public Health, 222: 125-133.