Jack Benton

Jack Benton is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at The University of Manchester's School of Environment, Education and Development (SEED). His research focuses on natural experiments to evaluate environmental interventions' impacts on health behaviors, particularly physical activity and wellbeing. He leads the project 'Creating Urban Environments for Wellbeing: Advancing Methods and Theory,' aiming to develop tools for understanding urban changes' effects on wellbeing. His work bridges public health, behavioral science, and urban planning.

Education:

• PhD in Evaluating Urban Green Space Interventions (The University of Manchester, 2017–2021)
• MSc in Clinical and Health Psychology (The University of Manchester, 2014–2015)
• BSc in Psychology (2010–2013)

Research Interests: Natural experiments, built environment, green infrastructure, physical activity promotion, and urban policy. He collaborates with the EU-funded GrowGreen project and contributes to UN Sustainable Development Goals related to health and sustainable cities.

Awards:

• Best Presentation Award, ISBNPA 2022
• Best Qualitative/Systematic Review Paper, IJBNPA 2017
• Outstanding Contribution to Social Innovation and Environmental Impact (2021)

Grants & Projects: Leads the Leverhulme Fellowship and is part of the Manchester Centre for Health Psychology (MCHP), involving qualitative studies on health behaviors and policy.

Labs/Teams: Collaborates with the Manchester Environmental Research Institute and Healthier Futures initiative.