Hello! Thanks for popping by!
last updated 2026-08-03My friends, students, and colleagues know me as "H!A!", reflecting my enthusiasm and passion about my research and teaching. I am an Associate Professor and Department Chair of Psychology at Concordia University of Edmonton (CUE) in Alberta, Canada, Director of the multi-university Nature-Meaning in Life (NMIL) Research Lab, and an editor of the International Journal of Wellbeing. I have developed (and teach) several upper-level undergraduate courses, including a capstone course at CUE entitled “Nature and Wellbeing”. Collaborating with colleagues and students from around the globe, I am working on a number of well-being-based research endeavours. The primary focus of my work is the development and validation of practical interventions to enhance well-being through noticing and engaging with everyday nature close to home. Within the meaning stream of my research, I examine pathways that lead to greater meaning in life - including embarking on a new line of research examining how play adds meaning to life for adults. I support open-science research practices, open-source textbooks and teaching practices, and open-source software.
Please do poke around my website, where you can:
- participate in one of my current ongoing research studies;
- read or listen to some of my latest media mentions and podcast interviews with outlets such as Psychology Today, The Washington Post, BBC Radio: World Tonight, Bountiful Podcast, and others;
- watch some of my recorded talks;
- learn about my latest published studies with colleagues on meaning, nature connectedness, and interventions for wellbeing;
- and discover information about my teaching, my NMIL research lab, and other general cool stuff!


