Grace Betts

Cardiff University Postgraduate Award, Cardiff University - Urban Planning

Grace's childhood as a competitive gymnast pointed her towards health-related pursuits, but it was not until she spent a semester studying urban planning in Copenhagen, that she began to understand the critical role the urban environment plays in public health and climate change. After graduating from the University of Michigan with a B.S. in Biopsychology and minors in Statistics and Sustainability, Grace began a fellowship at the National Institutes of Health, which has allowed her to dive deeper into the social and environmental determinants of health. In Cardiff, home to the newly funded Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations, she will be studying low-carbon urban planning as well as cycling infrastructure, policy, and behaviour in a mid-sized car-dependent city. With her interdisciplinary training, her goal is to make cities healthier and more resilient to the effects of climate change through urban health policies and evidence-based planning and design. While in Cardiff, Grace looks forward to hiking and biking throughout Wales’ rich nature and numerous castles, and maybe taking trapeze lessons at NoFit State, UK’s leading circus company.