Ana Estela Barbosa and Margarida Rebelo seem to understand each other without words. Research, Environmental Engineering for Ana Estela and Psychology for Margarida, brought them together for nature-based health and well-being. NATURELAB Coordinators from LNEC have a wonderful path on investigation, curiosity, and a special relationship with nature.
A: “For me, it’s interesting, because I can recall as a child, maybe eight or nine years old, when we started learning natural sciences in school. I thought, ‘this is amazing.’ I remember going home and looking at the shapes of leaves, even in an urban setting, collecting them because they were different. I always felt a strong connection to nature, especially when there was water. I’ve always looked for it, whether in my personal life or hobbies like walking,traveling, or even when I started oil painting—it was in nature. When working on the NATURELAB concept, the best decisions, the way I could clarify the paths to take, were during weekends spent walking in nature.”
“Environmental engineering has always been about the integration of nature and socio-economic dimensions. I initially considered landscape architecture and psychology, but when I read about environmental sciences, it felt like the perfect combination of environment, socioeconomic dimensions, and sustainability. Looking at where I am now with NATURELAB, it feels like everything I’ve been interested in is coming together—nature, water, sustainability, and the balance I’ve always sought.”
M: “I don’t recall any specific moment when I recognized my connection with nature, but all my major life decisions were made in natural settings—a beach, a park, or a forest.
Margarida Rebelo: “I need that quietness, that opportunity to be with myself to make decisions, especially difficult ones. It’s like clearing my head and connecting with myself and the environment, which helps me define life paths, both personal and professional. It’s been a constant in my life, almost intuitive.”
M: “When I was younger, I always thought my career would be related to understanding people’s minds—the way they behave, the way they think, the connections they make, and the problems they face. That was what fascinated me. But when I took vocational tests, psychology wasn’t even on the “list”; it was things like biology and archaeology. However, after taking the tests, I thought, ‘No, I want to do what these people do, and the way they assessed people and the outcomes they derive were simply fascinating—I want to figure out how people function, how they react.’ That decision shaped my path into clinical psychology, and later to social and environmental psychology, where I can focus my research on how people perceive and behave towards nature and other environmental topics.”
Connecting Dimensions
A: “After graduating in environmental engineering, I started doing environmental impact assessments and studies. I quickly realized the importance of connecting different dimensions—pollution, air, soil, water, noise—and I developed a strong focus on water processes and management, integrating socioeconomics. I recall projects that examined not only the environmental impact but also their effects on human health and well-being. For instance, when living near rubbish dumps, the smells affect people who tend to neglect self-care and feel deeply disconnected from their environment. This has always fascinated me—the relation between environmental sustainability and people’s well-fare.”
A: “Later, I moved to Denmark to pursue my PhD in Environmentand Biotechnology. After my PhD, my research at LNEC continued to be centered around water management, with an emphasis on maintaining natural processes and mitigating the effects of extreme climate events. It became clear that cities needed more green spaces, and that nature-based solutions studied in my Ph.D had a wide scope of application.”
Ana Estela Barbosa: “The idea is not just to manage water cycle processes but to promote nature based solutions into the territory in a way that nature itself ensures water balance – quantity and quality – also sustaining biodiversity and communities health and well-being”.
NATURELAB’s birth
A: “In 2021, the European Commission published a policy brief that reinforced the need for expanding nature-based solutions, not only for environmental management but also to incorporate, among others, cultural ecosystem services that enhance health and well-being. For instance, decades ago, we focused on channeling rivers. Now, the trend is to re-naturalize them, also turning these spaces into hubs for leisure and well-being. It’s no longer just about managing flow and restoring water quality—it’s about creating places where people can reconnect with nature, allowing it to nurture them physically, mentally, and emotionally.”
A: “Providing support for communities health and well-being, regardless of specific health concerns, is crucial. What feels needed right now is a reminder: society has forgotten the inherent value of nature, how deeply it enhances our daily lives. One of the biggest legacies we aim to leave is raising awareness among all kinds of stakeholders, beyond those traditionally connected to health, to recognize the importance of integrating nature into urban life. It’s not just for green spaces but for restoring a natural balance to our environments.
Margarida Rebelo: “How do people perceive and behave towards the environment? This integration represents the future of complementary therapeutic approaches for some psychological disorders such as anxiety and depression”
M: “NATURELAB was the opportunity to connect my background in clinical psychology with my later research interests in environmental psychology and understand how people perceive and behave towards the environment. This integration makes all sense and likely represents the future of complementary therapeutic approaches for some mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression, particularly in relation to the stress people experience every day at various points in their lives and in several contexts, like work for instance.”
A: “We talk about pavements and roads for cars; why not plan for nature as a permanent infrastructure in our cities? This isn’t limited to specific health purposes but universally impacts everyone, regardless of location. From cityscapes to universities, every outdoor area could become a space that ensures the sustainability of the water cycle and enhances well-being. It’s time to upgrade these environments also taking into account r health and well-being.
Ana Estela: “We currently discuss health and happiness in the workplace, and we can’t overlook the importance of having nature nearby, at or around the place we work. This connection, while seemingly simple, has the power to transform people’s health outcomes, as well as promoting rainfall infiltration, and mitigating urban floods”
M: “This project was a way to redirect my research interests and to finally complete the cycle from going from the clinical psychology and the therapeutic approach, passing through addressing and studying phenomena regarding social vulnerability and deprived populations in urban contexts and now focusing more on environmental and sustainability research. And now it’s a possibility for me to bring my clinical and research experience and expertise to the service of this outstanding project.”
Certified Practitioners
A: “A significant concern of NATURELAB is ensuring that nature settings such as urban parks, can globally respond to the best approaches to water management, biodiversity enhancement, as well as the resilience to climate extremes. If we want people to benefit from these sites, we also need to ensure that urban air pollution and noise are not impacting their health and well-being. This is crucial to support the implementation of nature-based therapeutic programs, and the project will provide guidelines to this aim.”
M: “Another relevant issue is the nature therapists certification … From the experience of other branches of clinical psychology, there is a need to be sure that NBT are going to be conducted by someone certified, who masters the practice, and can give the best therapeutic approach for specific health needs and populations.”
Ph: Courtesy Ana Estela Barbosa & Margarida Rebelo
