Sensing Nature was a two-year in-depth qualitative research project, based at the University of Exeter, from 2016-2018, to explore opportunities to promote more inclusive nature experiences for wellbeing amongst people with sight impairment in the UK. In the initial phase of the research the lead researcher has volunteered with a range of activity groups across England, including those involving participants with visual impairment. This opportunity was used to build an awareness of people’s diverse sensory worlds and to explore how people might like to share their experiences and stories. In the project's second phase, both narrative and go-along interviews were conducted with people of different ages and backgrounds, and with varying forms of visual impairment. These interviews offered a much deeper understanding of people’s diverse sensory experiences in nature, alongside the conditions that can both enhance and undermine these experiences.Over 40 years ago, visually impaired singer and author, Tom Sullivan, argued that sight paints a picture of life, but sound, touch, taste and smell are actually life itself. This is an important message given 285 million people worldwide are estimated to live with sight impairment; a number that is increasing with the rising incidence of underlying causes such as diabetes, and an ageing population. Recognising the vitalising influence of the wider senses is also important for researchers exploring the potential for varied nature encounters to promote human health and wellbeing. Much of this work emphasises the visual sense, highlighting the importance of colours, people 'watching', viewing distant horizons, and the sense of space achieved through visual encounters with these settings. Yet, when we stop to think about the global prevalence of visual impairment (now and in the future), we realise that sight cannot be taken for granted as the most important means of interacting with nature. The aims of this Future Research Leaders project are to explore how and why natural environments (including our back gardens, local parks, woodlands, countryside and coastlines) feature within the everyday lives of people with sight impairment. It will examine how diverse visual impairments shape people's opportunities for positive and therapeutic experiences in nature. It will also explore how this varies between individuals with different life histories, including those born with a visual impairment and those experiencing sight loss later in life. An in-depth two-phase research approach will be used to explore these issues. In Phase I, 3-4 months will be spent volunteering with visual impairment support groups across the south west of England (described as 'ethnographic participation'), helping out with indoor and outdoor recreational and support activities. Through maximising opportunities to spend time with and talk to blind and partially sighted adults during this period, valuable relationships will be built and initial understandings gained of their sensory priorities and experiences. Phase II will involve two sets of interviews with blind and partially sighted adults at different life stages. The first interview (an in-depth 'narrative' interview) will examine the impacts of visual impairment on varied aspects of their daily lives and place interactions. It will also explore recalled shifts in these experiences during their lifetimes. The second interview (a 'go along' interview) will take place in a setting identified by each participant as a local 'natural' environment in which they feel a sense of wellbeing. Whilst there, participants will be asked to reflect on and explain the diverse sensory, emotional and social dimensions of their experiences in that environment. In exploring these aspects of experience, this research will provide novel understandings of the non-visual cues in nature that we respond to. It will address calls to explore the conditions that enable flourishing lives amongst individuals with visual impairments rather than focusing solely on narratives of loss, and will promote greater sensory awareness amongst the diverse stakeholders involved in the delivery of socially inclusive natural environment interactions. Dr. Bell will convene and lead a series of stakeholder engagement and dissemination events, alongside the production of high profile academic outputs, in order to raise awareness of how visually impaired individuals support and sustain a sense of wellbeing through interactions with nature.

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