Dr Daniella Watson

Dr Daniella Watson is a Lecturer and Health Psychologist working with the Environmental Psychology Research Group. She is also an honorary fellow at Imperial College London (Institute of Global Health Innovation & The Grantham Institute - Climate Change and the Environment) and the Climate Cares led by Dr Emma Lawrance based at the University of Oxford. 

She is developing VOICES (Voices Of Impact, Climate & Environmental Solutions) — a research programme that explores the lived experiences of people affected by climate and environmental change, applies machine-assisted qualitative methods for rapid data analysis, and co-designs behavioural interventions. Daniella brings 12+ years conducting qualitative research and has worked with over 50+ lived experience experts to coproduce research. 

Daniella co‑leads the Lived Experience Advisory Board for the Lancet Psychiatry Commission on Climate Change and Mental Health, and serves as Co-Investigator on a connected EU Horizon grant.

Her current projects include a coproduction study with Bangladeshi women in Tower Hamlets (London) examining climate change, mental health and food insecurity. with Thrive LDN, Women's Environmental Network and Climate Cares. Daniella has an emerging project on the impacts of extreme heat on young people in schools and universities.

Previously at Imperial College London's Climate Cares Centre, Daniella led the evaluation of The Resilience Project's Resilience Circles — a youth‑led climate–mental health intervention recognised by WHO Europe and the UK Health Security Agency and is supporting the evaluation of Climate Cafes previously led by Force of Nature. Her research has spanned co-design and evaluation of youth‑led interventions across the UK, Kenya, Australia, the Philippines, and the Caribbean.

As a behavioural scientist, she is co-convener and trainer of Healthy Conversations Skills (Global) — a behaviour change communication approach empowering professionals to support people in developing their own solutions. Daniella has adapted to training to support people to have healthier conversations about the climate crisis, such as with young people at the Natural History Museum.  She holds leadership roles within the European Health Psychology Society, including co‑leading the Special Interest Group on Equity, Global Health and Sustainability, and serving on the Synergy Board and the United Nations Task and Finish Group.

Daniella is a Chartered Health Psychologist registered with the British Psychological Society and the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). She holds a PhD from the University of Southampton, where her research explored how social, behavioural, and community engagement approaches can promote maternal and child nutrition in Ghana, Burkina Faso, and South Africa.

In her spare time Daniella likes to be out in nature -  hiking mainly, then caving or diving (separately) when she can.