Rate My Professor Claire Henderson-Wilson

Claire Henderson-Wilson is an Associate Professor in health promotion and planetary health within the Faculty of Health at Deakin University, specifically in the School of Health and Social Development. She holds the role of Discipline Lead for Health Society and Environment and leads the Health, Nature and Sustainability Research Group. Additionally, she serves as the Planetary Health Oceania Regional Hub Lead and co-leads the Health and Environmental Change theme in the Sustainable Health and Environment Network. Her academic background includes a Doctor of Philosophy obtained from Deakin University in 2007, with a thesis titled 'Living High but Healthy: High-rise Housing and Social Connectedness', as well as a Bachelor of Applied Science with Honours. Throughout her career at Deakin University, she has advanced from lecturer positions to her current associate professorship, contributing significantly to teaching in programs such as the Bachelor of Health Sciences, where she applies her expertise in planetary health.

Henderson-Wilson's research specializations encompass planetary health, socio-ecological health, nature-based interventions, animal-assisted interventions, therapeutic landscapes, green spaces in healthcare settings, and the mental health impacts of climate change, including eco-anxiety. She employs qualitative, mixed-methods, and scoping review approaches to explore human-nature relationships and their influence on wellbeing. Key publications include 'Developing an Exploratory Framework Linking Australian Indigenous and Western Knowing About the Health of Country' (2013), which has received over 300 citations; 'Nature-Based Interventions for Adults with Developmental Disabilities: A Scoping Review Centering Autistic Adults' (2024); 'Nature-Based Design in Stroke Rehabilitation Environments: A Scoping Review' (2024); 'Healthy Me, Healthy Planet: Evaluation of a pilot planetary health library program' (2025); and 'Health empowerment scripts: Simplifying social/green prescriptions' (2022). Her scholarship has amassed over 2,600 citations on Google Scholar across more than 50 publications. Among her honors, she received the 2016 Vice-Chancellor's Award for Outstanding Contribution to Healthy Deakin. Henderson-Wilson has secured grants such as Deakin University Small Grant Schemes and contributes to guest editing special issues on health, wellbeing, and environmental benefits of nature contact. Her work advances interdisciplinary understandings of sustainability, health promotion, and community initiatives for mental health resilience.