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Research Forum

Welcome to the ANHE Research Forum!

The Research Forum frames and supports an agenda for enabling nurses to solve environmental challenges to health through the creation of new knowledge. We would be delighted if you would consider joining the Research Forum, where we highlight research talks and new research directions using a journal club format. We aim to bring members together to collaborate on publications, grant proposals, and policy actions related to environmental health. 

The Research Forum provides excellent resources, support, and mentorship for all researcher experience levels. Together, novice and experienced nurse researchers focus on environmental health issues of concern.

The ANHE Research Forum benefits from close partners working in advocacy, practice, and education. Critical research questions arise from these relationships and the resulting research agenda reflects the most current and pressing challenges of our profession. The Research Forum holds monthly meetings and you can view past webinars on ANHE YouTube channel! 

Sign up for our workgroup listserve so you can stay up to date with our activities: Sign up and learn more below!

For more information about the ANHE Research Forum, please contact info@envirn.org. 

Upcoming ANHE Research Forum Webinar

Date: Thursday, October 23 – 3pm ET

Speaker: Darlene Sanderson, RN, BScN, MA (CYC), PhD

Title: Registered Nurses’ Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Toward Planetary Health Challenges: Findings from a Cross-Sectional Survey

Overview: Planetary health challenges such as climate change and vector-borne diseases threaten human health and well-being. Health care professionals such as registered nurses play an integral role in supporting populations affected by planetary health challenges. The purpose of the cross-sectional study was to investigate the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of registered nurses in Canada related to climate-sensitive vector-borne diseases. A national self-administered digital survey was distributed to practicing registered nurses in Canada. Of the 382 survey respondents, 35 respondents self-declared as Indigenous. Research findings suggest that nurses’ knowledge on climate change and vector-borne diseases was limited, especially among frontline nurses and those in Western and Northern regions of Canada. Indigenous participants also reported greater knowledge, confidence, and preparedness regarding climate change and vector-borne diseases than nurses who did not report Indigeneity. This may be linked to intergenerational knowledge transfer, which supports the ability to observe and adapt to environmental changes, including shifting patterns of disease. The study validates that while climate-related issues are important for nurses, nurses must be better prepared to address vector-borne diseases in practice and assume a greater role in leading change. Indigenous nurses are uniquely positioned to lead the decolonization of the nursing profession by integrating Indigenous knowledge to prepare nurses for planetary health challenges and to advocate for a climate resilient future.

1 hour CE will be provided to those who attend the call or view the recording and receive at least an 80% on post-test through ANHE’s learning site (learning.envirn.org).

Register Here. 

REGISTER FOR ONE OR ALL OF OUR MONTHLY CALLS
View all past Research Forum webinars on our YouTube channel

Planetary Health Nurse Research Priorities

The Research Forum focuses on increasing members’ capacity to engage in research and scholarship that supports ANHE’s vision and mission. 

Vision: Nurses around the world ensure the environmental health of all people, advance environmental justice, and heal our communities and Earth for present and future generations.

Mission: Support nurses in promoting planetary and equity globally by education and leading the nursing profession, advancing research, incorporating planet-safe practice, and influencing policy.

We are prioritizing research that aligns with ANHE’s guiding principles and strategic objectives. In particular, we want to mobilize nurses as change agents, increase membership in priority regions with emphasis on nurses with diverse backgrounds, and expand the paradigm of what is possible for nursing roles.

Guiding principles: Human health is interconnected with every aspect of planetary health. When the health and balance of the planet are threatened, human health is harmed. When the planetary, natural, and built environments are healthy and robust, all people and other lifeforms have opportunities for health and thriving. All humans, including:

  • Social structures that are equitable and inclusive
  • Clean air, water, and land
  • Sustainable stable shelter
  • A stable climate
  • Safe food and agricultural practices
  • Products that are free from harmful chemicals
  • Healthy living and working conditions
  • Ability for communities to determine needs, lead solutions, and actively participate in decision-making impacting their future, including a just transition to low-carbon and environmentally sustainable economies and societies.

The ANHE Research Forum provides space for nurse scientists to share their progress in planetary health research with other nurses, disciplines, and the public. Our commitment is as follows:

  • Current planetary health nursing research activity is shared and amplified on the ANHE website, press releases, and social media sites.
  • Space and structure are available for engaging in dialogue, networking, and fostering the exchange of diverse perspectives and knowledge related to planetary health research.
  • Continuing education credits are offered to nurses who participate.
  • Act as an expert in interpreting research findings for professional colleagues, the public, and policymakers when necessary.

The Environmental Health Research Institute for Nurse and Clinician Scientists (EHRI-NCS) presents our expert lectures for healthcare professionals focused on environmental health. Our self-paced course features nine pre-recorded modules, delivered in a virtual classroom. Here, we present a sample open-source lecture from each module.

Start Learning Now

EHRI-NCS 2026 Cohort Early Applications are now open!

APPLY HERE

Research

Featured Webinars

The Research Forum host webinars in which nurse researchers share their environmental health research. View our featured webinars below. You can also view past webinars on ANHE YouTube channel. 

Research Forum Co-Chairs

Claire Richards, PhD, BSN, BS

Climate change poses new threats to human health through direct, indirect, and compounding hazards that interact with social, political and economic inequities. For this reason, Claire Richards, PhD, BSN, BS focuses her research on health equity and social justice in the context of climate change. Recent work has been focused on power outages and social vulnerability. Central findings from this work include the potential to model power outages as a continuous rather than dichotomous exposure (allowing for identification of thresholds based on health outcome data), and the lack of transparency into power outage data (hampering its use for prioritizing energy resilience efforts). Findings inform future researchers wishing to use PowerOutage.US data (or other publicly available outage data) about potential biases caused by using certain estimation methods, and support policy changes in requiring outage data availability and analyses of differential exposure for socially vulnerable populations. She has also been involved in studies related to climate adaptation in agriculture and climate hazards (human migration). In future work, she plans to focus on energy and health, energy justice, and social movements/activism and health

Jessica LeClair

Jessica LeClair, PhD, MPH, RN conducts a research program where her overall goal is to improve the health status of communities most burdened by the triple planetary crisis of climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss. Dr. LeClair’s research program aims to identify and facilitate effective public health practices that advance planetary health in these communities. Dr. LeClair utilizes mixed methods to study collaborative planetary health strategies implemented by public health nurses and their community partners. She holds affiliated appointments at the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, the School of Medicine and Public Health, and the Center for Climatic Research.