Mental Health and Climate Change Research Network

Overview

The Mental Health and Climate Change Research Network brings together researchers from across Australia to focus on one of the most important questions of our time:

How do we protect and nurture social and emotional wellbeing in a rapidly changing climate? 

Hosted by The University of Queensland, the Network partners with industry, government, universities and community organisations to co-design research and deliver evidence-based findings to support policy development, interventions and practice changes. 

Research projects aim to increase understanding about the mental health impacts of climate change and identify new opportunities to improve the social and emotional wellbeing of our communities. 

The transdisciplinary Network is the first of its kind in Australian and includes researchers from public health, health economics, environmental and social sciences, and communications. 

Focus areas

The Network's activities, projects and partnerships are guided by the following research priorities:

• Understand the links between climate change and mental health outcomes
   
• Describe the factors influencing mental health and identify existing and potential intervention points
   
• Develop new interventions to support mental health in impacted communities and facilitate resilience-building
   
• Test new and existing mental health interventions and assess community benefits
   
• Share research findings with stakeholders to support evidence-based policy development, interventions and practice changes.