NatuReach

The main goal of the project is to improve human health and wellbeing by developing new digital nature-based service models for social and health care.

Professor Johanna Gummerus will be a part of the NatuReach project that started the 1st of January 2023. This research project is led by University of Vaasa, and other partners include University of Helsinki and Eskoo unit in Wellbeing services county of South Ostrobothnia from Finland, as well as Luleå University of Technology, Umeå University, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, and Region Västernorrland from Sweden.

The project will respond to existing needs and the increasing interest in including nature-based methods to social and health care by combining the newest VR/digital technology, multidisciplinary research and the competence of care units and nature entrepreneurs. It is co-funded by the Interreg Aurora programme. The NatuReach project will go on until the 31st of December 2025.

The NatuReach project is a cross-border, cross-sectoral collaboration that allows the development of innovative research-based service models. These models will provide reachable natural environments and multi-sensory experiences to promote individual's (vulnerable client groups and personnel) health and well-being in a sustainable way.