PhD in Public Health

KU Leuven – Division Forest, Nature & Landscape/nThe PhD candidate will spend approximately half of their time at the Division of Forest, Nature & Landscape at KU Leuven, an internationally recognised research group with strong expertise in urban ecology, green infrastructure, remote sensing, GIS, and environmental health. The division combines fundamental and applied research with a strong focus on societal impact, and works closely with policymakers, urban planners, and other societal stakeholders./n/nKU Leuven – Ecology, Evolution and Biodiversity Conservation/nIn addition, the candidate will be embedded within the Ecology, Evolution and Biodiversity Conservation group at KU Leuven, led by Prof. Raf Aerts. This group provides strong expertise in biodiversity–ecosystem functioning, ecological theory, and applied conservation research, offering complementary perspectives on how urban green structure and quality relate to ecological processes and co-benefits for human health./n/nUniversity of Essex – Institute of Public Health & Wellbeing (IPHW)/nThe candidate will spend the remaining half of their time at the University of Essex, embedded within the Institute of Public Health & Wellbeing (IPHW). The IPHW conducts leading research in public health, wellbeing, and health inequalities, and brings together expertise in social, biological, and environmental determinants of health; interventions, outcomes, evaluation and policy; wellbeing and health promotion; and human rights, community participation and voice./n/nThe BRANCH project wants to change that. By combining conceptual work on green space typologies, advanced geospatial analytics, AI-based image analysis, citizen science and large-scale health data, BRANCH will develop a new generation of human-centred green exposure metrics and link them to health patterns in millions of people in Belgium./n/nThis joint PhD will be carried out at both institutions, with the candidate dividing their time between Essex (2 years) and Leuven (2 years).