Can trees be medicine? Can a walk in the park heal more than just a bad mood? Groundbreaking research says yes—nature isn’t just a backdrop to our lives, it’s a powerful force for our health. From lowering stress to speeding up recovery in hospitals, the natural world is quietly working wonders on our bodies and minds. But as cities sprawl and green spaces disappear, are we cutting ourselves off from something essential?

Join Professor Kathy Willis, Oxford scientist and author of Good Nature, at The Conduit as she reveals the science behind nature’s healing power. We’ll talk about how tiny changes, like adding a plant to your desk, strolling through a forest, or even just touching bark, can have a measurable impact on your well-being.

Event Schedule

6:00pm: Pre-event socialising and networking

A cash bar will be available for refreshments.

6:15pm: Event begins

7:30pm: Event ends

Speakers:

Katherine Willis CBE is Professor of Biodiversity in the department of Biology and the Principal of St Edmund Hall, University of Oxford. She is also a Crossbench Peer in the House of Lords. Previous roles include Director of Science at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and a member of the UK Government’s Natural Capital Committee. She has extensive broadcast experience and, in 2015, Kathy was awarded the Michael Faraday Medal for public communication of science from the Royal Society.

Samantha Walton is a reader in Modern Literature at Bath Spa University, where the focus of her research for the last five years has been the link between nature and mental health. In 2016, she won a major research grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Council for a two-year project called ‘Cultures of Nature and Wellbeing: Connecting Health and the Environment through Literature’, and she was a Writing Fellow at the prestigious Rachel Carson Centre in Munich. She is also a poet, and her collection Self Heal was one of the White Review’s books of the year in 2018. She has appeared on the BBC, and at a number of festivals including Green Man and Wilderness to speak about her research.