Professor Kathy Willis

Martha Kearney meets Kathy Willis, Professor of Biodiversity at Oxford University, at Kathy's local stamping ground of Port Meadow, the protected common land in the heart of Oxford, to hear about how her love of the natural world has shaped her life.

Growing up in London, Kathy has always been someone who spends a lot of time outdoors - whether in city parks, rural campsites or cycle trips abroad. Her mother instilled in her a deep respect for nature, teaching her the local names of plants from a young age. Kathy shares how she carried on this passion into her degree, and later PhD in palaeobotany at Cambridge. She's since researched how ecosystems help protect us from climate change and floods, and more recently has been exploring the relationship between nature and health in her book, Good Nature.

Kathy chats with Martha about the scientific evidence about why interacting with nature really does make you feel better, from sight, smell, sound and the hidden sense - your microbiome. They wander around this special, wintery meadow close to where Kathy lives, with its glorious open views stretching into the distance, and reflect on the myriad of benefits it brings to both humans and wildlife.

Producer: Eliza Lomas