Inspiring Minds seeks to broaden awareness and impact of graduate student research, while enhancing transferable skills. Students were challenged to describe their research, scholarship or creative activity in 150 or fewer words to share with our community.

The Enchanting Dance of Mood and Environment: Unraveling the Secrets of Daily Travel

In a study called the WorkAndHome project, we unraveled the incredible impact of our surroundings on our daily mood during travel. Picture this: over 1000 participants, three vibrant UK cities, and a specially designed mobile app tracking their movements. We sought to uncover how factors like green spaces, weather, and trip details influenced happiness and stress levels. We discovered that the availability of green-blue spaces had a profound effect on people's happiness at the end of their journeys. Astonishingly, weather played a role too, with daytime bringing lower happiness scores and night-time higher. But here's the twist—stress levels were positively affected by the daytime and not by green and blue space. Imagine the possibilities! Our environment holds the power to shape our emotions as we move through life. By recognizing the significance of nature and weather, we unlock a new understanding of how to enhance our daily experiences. 

Milad Malekzadeh
PhD candidate, Geography and Environment
Faculty of Social Science - Western University

Supervisor
Jed Long

Milad Malekzadeh is a PhD candidate in the Geography and Environment Department. With a passion for geospatial analysis and human mobility data, Milad delves into the intriguing realm of neurourbanism, health geography, and transportation. Through his research, he seeks to integrate the power of AI into his analyses, shedding light on the intricate relationship between the urban environment and human emotions. Milad's work is driven by a deep curiosity to understand how our surroundings impact our mood, ultimately striving to pave the way for more harmonious coexistence between individuals and their urban environments.

You can connect with Milad on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/miladmalekzadeh/.

View Milad's work as it appears in the Inspiring Minds Digital Collection: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/inspiringminds/521/