The COVID-19 pandemic encourages us to rethink thoroughly the relationship between mental health, well-being and the ecosystems that constitute our living environment. HELIOS explores, in an interdisciplinary way and by actively engaging with citizens, how the presence of nearby nature and green space as well as the quality of the living environment have an impact on our mental health and well-being, offering insights for planners and policymakers for the design and management of places in times of a health crisis and beyond it. The research question we are interested to address is the following: how does/did the COVID-19 crisis impact our mental health, the quality of our living environment, and the relation between mental health and environment? 

The research project involves researchers of the Joint Research Centre (European Commission, Ispra site) with expertise on environmental quality and spatial ecology, public health and citizen engagement in science and policy. The research project is conducted in close collaboration with external experts in the fields of psychiatry, spatial epidemiology (University of Verona) and citizen science. 

The citizen engagement activities will take place in Spring 2022. 

The project started on April 1, 2021 and it will end on March 31, 2023.