معرفی
Matthew White is an Assistant Professor at the University of Vienna's Faculty of Psychology, Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology. He holds a tenure-track professorship in Health and Environmental Psychology awarded in February 2025 and serves as Senior Scientist at the Vienna Cognitive Science Hub. White bridges research between the Urban and Environmental Psychology group and the CogSciHub, focusing on the intersection of environmental exposure and human health.
White completed his PhD in 2004 at the University of Sheffield and has held positions at universities in Jena (Germany), Plymouth, and Exeter (UK) before joining the University of Vienna in October 2020. His research centers on environmental psychology with particular expertise in how natural environments (green and blue spaces) affect mental health, wellbeing, and health-related behaviors. He has led major international projects including EU H2020 funded BlueHealth (19 countries) and SOPHIE (15 countries), and the GCRF funded Blue Communities project across Southeast Asia.
White's publication record demonstrates consistent output across environmental health psychology with recent work spanning nature exposure effects on pain management, mental wellbeing, risk perception of environmental hazards, and cross-cultural comparisons of nature connectedness. His research frequently employs large-scale multinational studies with diverse methodologies including experimental, survey, and mixed-methods approaches. Current work shows increasing focus on nature-based therapies for resilience building and environmental risk communication regarding emerging contaminants.
Scientific Awards:
- 2019 Delcroix Prize for Oceans and Human Health
White serves as Principal Investigator on the EU Horizon Europe RESONATE project (€6.3 million, 2023-2027) exploring nature-based therapies for building individual and community resilience. He is also Co-Investigator on two additional Horizon Europe projects: ZeroPM (investigating PFAS 'forever chemicals' and health) and GOLIAT (examining 5G technology and health). Previously, he extended the BlueHealth project to collect data from over 2,500 Austrians in 2020 and led the Blue Communities project across Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, and Vietnam.
White collaborates extensively with Prof. Sabine Pahl (Chair of Urban and Environmental Psychology) and maintains an active research presence through the Environmental Psychology Vienna group. His work contributes to UN Sustainable Development Goals related to health, sustainable cities, and climate action.
