معرفی
Dr. Fiona Caryl is an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Glasgow's School of Health & Wellbeing, affiliated with the MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit's Places and Health Programme. With over 20 years of cross-disciplinary experience spanning ecology, environmental science, and public health research, she applies advanced geospatial approaches to understand the links between environment and human health.
Dr. Caryl earned her PhD in Biological and Environmental Sciences from the University of Stirling in 2008 and an MSc in Applied Ecology and Conservation from the University of East Anglia in 2003. Prior to joining the University of Glasgow in 2018, she worked as a Consultant Geospatial Scientist in the renewables private sector for 4 years and as a Research Associate at the University of Melbourne for 6 years, where she focused on applied ecology and conservation.
Dr. Caryl's research focuses on the intersection of spatial epidemiology, health geography, and environmental determinants of health. Her work examines how natural and built environments influence health outcomes, with particular attention to socioeconomic and gender inequalities. Using innovative geospatial analytics, machine learning, and GPS data, she investigates how exposure to natural spaces, urban design, and unhealthy commodities like alcohol and tobacco affect population health. Her research has significant policy implications, particularly in understanding how environmental interventions can reduce health inequalities.
Dr. Caryl's recent publications reveal a strong trend toward using individual-level mobility data (GPS) to measure actual exposure to environmental features, moving beyond traditional area-based measures. Her work consistently demonstrates how natural environments can mitigate socioeconomic health inequalities, particularly for children's mental wellbeing. She has made significant contributions to understanding spatial disparities in access to parks, heritage sites, and exposure to unhealthy commodities like alcohol outlets and tobacco retailers.
- MRC Fellowship (2020)
- Glasgow Crucible (University of Glasgow, 2019)
- MRC Skills Development Fellowship (2020-2023)
- Honorary Fellow, University of Edinburgh (2020-2023)
As a Co-Investigator, Dr. Caryl is currently working on the UKRI-NHMRC "Better Parks, Healthier for All?" project (2020-2024), which links green space quality to human health outcomes within UK Biobank, and the MRC Networking Grant "Built Environment Context & Change" (2021-2023), producing an online interactive atlas of environmental context and change for Great Britain. Her MRC Skills Development Fellowship enabled her to develop novel methods using human mobility data to quantify inequalities in exposure to health-influencing environments and to create innovative approaches for policymakers to determine equity impacts of environmental policies.
Dr. Caryl works within the Places and Health Programme of the MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, collaborating with researchers like Richard Mitchell, Jonathan Olsen, and Paul McCrorie. Her interdisciplinary team combines expertise in geospatial science, public health, epidemiology, and urban planning to address complex questions about how environments shape health and inequalities.
