60 Seconds With... Lalitha Iyadurai

Lalitha Iyadurai is a Senior Researcher and Clinical Psychologist, and is a member of the Neuroscience, Ethics and Society research group.

Tell us a little about yourself, and what attracted you to studying/working at the University of Oxford?  

I grew up local to Oxford, so this is my home ground. I studied my undergraduate degree here (BA in Experimental Psychology), then moved away to Manchester for a few years to train as a Clinical Psychologist. After working in the NHS for a few years, I decided that clinical research was the way forwards. I came back to Oxford in 2012 to do a DPhil in Psychiatry, funded by a NIHR Doctoral Research Fellowship. This eventually led to a short but exciting stint working in industry for a digital health tech company, developing a digital treatment for post-traumatic stress symptoms. In 2023 I took a break from research and followed my interest in conservation. I took up a role with the Woodland Trust, speaking to local schools and other groups about the importance of trees and woods. I also work at local woodland sites, maintaining access and coppicing trees to support wildlife. I continue to do these roles alongside my part-time research job.

What is your vision for the team/project/research you study/work with?

This year I joined Ilina Singh’s team as a Senior Researcher on the NIHR Oxford Health BRC Flourishing Theme. It’s a highly interdisciplinary team spanning almost all university divisions, creating a very stimulating environment. The work aims to develop the evidence base for nature-based programmes for human wellbeing and planetary health. My personal vision is to bring the same research rigour to nature-based interventions for mental health as we have for other medical and psychological treatments. If we can start to identify some of the active components and mechanisms, we can deliver nature-based programmes in a more effective, targeted way.

What is currently at the top of your To-Do List?

This autumn we will be running a feasibility study with local secondary schools, to evaluate how we can integrate research methods around existing nature-based activities in schools, like gardening or ecology clubs. The aim is to develop monitoring methods for collecting data about potential mechanisms and mental health and wellbeing outcomes. Getting this up and running is top of my list!

How did you get to where you are today?

Firstly, with a lot of good fortune and support from supervisors, colleagues, friends and family along the way. Secondly, by holding my values central to the decisions I have made. I strongly believe in taking a little time now and then to reflect on your values or driving principles, to give yourself the best chance of living in line with them, in both your professional and personal life.

Who or what inspires you?

The idea of rewilding. I loved reading Wilding by Isabella Tree, which documents how nature flourishes when we minimise our interference. Inspired by this, I’ve left piles of logs and leaves lying around my garden, and was delighted to find a slow worm had made it’s home.

If you were not in your job currently, what would you like to be doing?

I would probably be working in the woods full-time! For me there is nothing better for the soul than physical work in nature with a mixed bunch of people.

What’s the best holiday you've ever had?

I spent six weeks in a campervan driving from top to bottom through New Zealand with my family in January. We dragged my six and eight-year-old on some stunning treks, particularly around Milford Sound. It was really quite magical. And people’s attitudes and respect for the land was inspiring.