Sarah R. Payne

Biography

Sarah Payne became Assistant Professor of Health in the Built Environment at Heriot-Watt University in 2014. She completed a BSc in Psychology at the University of Sheffield, MSc in Environmental Psychology at the University of Surrey, and a PhD in Architecture at the University of Manchester.  During her PhD and subsequent Post-Doctoral Research Fellow position at McGill University, Canada, she researched the role of cafe and urban park soundscapes on individual's psychological restoration. She also worked as a Research Assistant at Salford University, to develop a report for Defra on the soundscape concept and its practical and policy applications. Sarah Payne was a Research Fellow on the Participation in Healthcare Environment Engineering programme at the University of Warwick.

Research Interest

As an Environmental Psychologist Sarah is interested in people's cognitive and emotional responses to/from their interaction with the environment, be that natural, urban or healthcare specific environments.  Sarah has expertise in studying people's multi-sensorial perception of the environment, as well as physical and social affordances. Her research has involved urban parks, skate parks, hospitals, electric vehicles, soundscapes, restorative environments and experiences. Broader interests include creating sustainable liveable cities, fatigue in the workplace, fear of crime and how the environment can enhance or decrease this emotive response, as well as methodological and measurement considerations in people-environment research.