Dr Jo Garrett is a research associate currently working on a collaboration with the Chinese University of Hong Kong on coastal environments and human health, and the Horizon 2020 funded BlueHealth project.

Her research is focused on the interactions between human health, wellbeing, and nature, with a particular focus on blue spaces such as the coast. She is currently working on the BlueHealth International Survey.

Jo has always been interested in the marine environment and completed her BSc in Marine Biology at Swansea University in 2010 followed by an MSc in Environmental Biology.

She joined the University of Exeter in 2012 to carry out a European Social Fund PhD with the title “Interdisciplinary study into the effect of a marine renewable energy testing facility on underwater sound in Falmouth Bay”. This involved recording underwater sound over 18 months during trialling of the Fred Olsen wave energy converter, BOLT Lifesaver, at the Falmouth Bay Test Site.

Jo was based jointly in the Offshore Renewable Energy research group and in the College of Life and Environmental Sciences. She has also worked on a number of different research topics with Professor Kevin Gaston including light pollution, ecosystem services in Cornwall and urban greenspace.