The East Midlands Sustainable Living And Mental Well-being (EM-SLAM) programme is a pioneering consortium bringing together four leading universities and a host of non-academic partners from across the region to train the next generation of researchers, policymakers, and creative practitioners.
Funded by a Arts and Humanities Research Council Doctoral Focal Award, EM-SLAM will explore how people can live sustainably, healthily, and meaningfully, building inclusive and thriving communities in the face of growing climate anxiety and feelings of ecological hopelessness.
Over the next seven years, EM-SLAM will support at least 20 doctoral researchers. These future change makers will learn to work in new, creative ways, using different voices and perspectives in public conversations to make a real difference in the world. It will be led by Professor Mike Wilson, Director of Loughborough University’s world-renowned Storytelling Academy, Professor Claire Warden and Dr Mark Doidge.
The initiative is uniquely positioned to address issues such as climate anxiety and ecological grief – challenges affecting communities worldwide – by bringing together artists, academics, health professionals, environmental scientists, and community organisations.
Through EM-SLAM doctoral researchers will gain skills in:
- Creative and cross-disciplinary research methods
- Storytelling for policy and societal transformation
- Working with partners in the arts, health, and environmental sectors to design and co-produce knowledge that leads to real-world change
Speaking about the programme, Professor Wilson said: “This new initiative will ask researchers to look beyond how we just survive the challenges ahead – it will ask how we live well, together. By drawing on diverse perspectives, lived experiences, and creative thinking, we aim to co-create ideas that are equitable, practical, and transformative, and that will have real impact in policymaking and implementation.
“EM-SLAM is set to reimagine how research, education, and community action can work together to address the most complex challenges of our time.”
The EM-SLAM academic partners are De Montfort University, the University of Leicester and Nottingham Trent University. There are a number of non-academic partners, including the NHS, the Mental Health Foundation and the National Memorial Arboretum.