Catharine is founder and Director of OPENspace, an internationally-recognised research centre. Established in 2001 with support from the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council and based in both the Universities of Edinburgh and Heriot-Watt, the Centre has held four international conferences and attracted over £5m in external funding.
As Director of OPENspace, Catharine has led numerous major research grants and collaborations, including highly-innovative research on ‘GreenHealth’ for the Scottish Government (2008-12) and the award-winning consortium, Inclusive Design for Getting Outdoors (I’DGO); cited by the World Health Organization, I'DGO research has had a significant impact on joined-up policy making and planning for healthy environments.
Catharine's recent research projects include a study funded by the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) on the effectiveness of Forestry Commission Scotland’s programme, ‘Woods In and Around Towns’ (WIAT), particularly on improving psychological wellbeing in deprived communities. She also led the £1.6m EPSRC-funded project, Mobility, Mood and Place (MMP), an interdisciplinary project working with psychologists, neuroscientists, health geographers and gerontologists, as well as engaging Masters-level students in developing co-design as a research tool. The projects were recipients of ESRC Impact Acceleration Awards.
Catharine was named the European Council of Landscape Architecture Schools (ECLAS) 'Outstanding Researcher of 2014' and was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in 2017. She has advised Scottish Government on their Good Places, Better Health policy development and on implementation of the National Walking Strategy for Scotland, as well as NHS Health Scotland’s Place Standard.
