Pablo Fernandez Velasco, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Philosophy
Pablo is a British Academy postdoctoral fellow the Department of Philosophy exploring ecological grief.
email: pablo.fernandezvelasco@york.ac.uk
Our 60-second interview with Pablo:
Could you please tell us what work you do in the field of mental health?
I am developing a phenomenological approach to ecological grief, which is the sense of loss felt in relation to environmental degradation.
What do you find most rewarding and inspiring in this work?
Right now, there are a lot of researchers from different disciplines, as well as indigenous thinkers and artists, exploring ecological grief, and their diversity of approaches reflects the complexity of the issue. This always invites me to think deeper about things and to look at them from ever-changing angles.
What is the most challenging or complicated aspect of this work?
It is really depressing to think about environmental destruction, and reading some of the stories from the people undergoing ecological grief is just heart-breaking.
What impact do you hope your work is having - or can potentially have?
My hope is that clarifying the conceptual foundations of ecological grief can help interdisciplinary work on the topic, and that this leads to clinical interventions that help the affected communities. It can also help assess loss and damage, and move policy in that area.
Could you share with us one piece of advice that you follow for your own mental health?
Get outside with no plans, and see where your feet take you. Although in the constant onslaught of emails, meetings and projects, I am afraid that I myself follow this piece of advice less than I would like to!