We are pleased to announce a team of leading researchers at the Environment Institute have been awarded the honour of the 2017 Bradshaw Medal.

Their paper which was published in Restoration Ecology titled: Urban habitat restoration provides a human health benefit through microbiome rewilding: the Microbiome Rewilding Hypothesis suggested the Microbiome Rewilding Hypothesis which proposed restoring biodiverse habitats in urban green spaces can rewild the environmental microbiome to a state that helps prevent human disease as an ecosystem service.

This hypothesis has the potential to be a partial solution to the mass global trends of biodiversity loss and enhances primary prevention of human disease in urban populations. It also has the possibility of aligning public health investments with restoration activities and biodiversity conservation which will potentially lead to a frameshift in how these environmental activities are funded.

Congratulations to the team involved including:

Jacob G. Mills
Philip Weinstein
Nicholas J. C. Gellie
Laura S. Weyrich
Andrew J. Lowe
Martin F. Breed