Catharine Ward Thompson, Principal Investigator of Mobility, Mood and Place (MMP), is Professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Edinburgh.
She is the founding Director of the OPENspace research centre at the Universities of Edinburgh and Heriot-Watt, focusing on the benefits to be gained from getting outdoors and the barriers currently experienced by different users, particularly those from disadvantaged groups.
Catharine led both phases of the ten-year, EPSRC-funded study, Inclusive Design for Getting Outdoors (I’DGO), which achieved global impact in raising awareness of the importance of getting out and about in older age and the role good design has to play in enabling inclusive access.
She plays a key role in knowledge exchange on extending health, wellbeing and quality of life in older age through good outdoor design, including as a former Co-Investigator of the £1.8m KT-EQUAL consortium.
> Landscape Architecture at the University of Edinburgh
> OPENspace research centre
> Inclusive Design for Getting Outdoors (I’DGO)
> KT-EQUAL
Visit our Media Centre, where there are lots of resources featuring Catharine, including press articles, blog posts, video lectures and academic papers.
Images courtesy of Three Point Photography (above) and Chris Hutty, CHP Press & PR Photography (below).
