Duika is the Nature Recovery Ranger at Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals Trust. She is one of the rangers for the Healthy by Nature project, which is funded by the National Lottery Community Fund.
My path to becoming a Nature Recovery Ranger has been shaped by what I might call a “rupture in sensing”—both personal and planetary. My academic background is in health geography, focusing on the sensory aspects of food, health and environment. Through research on altered eating with cancer survivors and people with sensory loss, I’ve learned how profoundly our sensory connections shape wellbeing.
For nearly a decade, whilst also holding an academic research position, I directed the Station Masters Community Wildlife Garden in North Tyneside, transforming a neglected space into a thriving community asset. This taught me that meaningful nature connection isn’t just about planting—it’s about awakening our capacity to perceive and recognise that our flourishing and the Earth’s are interconnected.
Healthcare settings represent profound opportunities for healing both individuals and our relationship with nature. The ranger role provides space to reimagine healing environments as places where all our senses are honoured.
My expertise lies at the intersection of sensory experience, community engagement and biodiversity. As an academic, one of my top-ranking papers outlined a “source to senses” approach exploring how our sensory experience of food and nature connects to ecological systems. Through my work with the Altered Eating Research Network, I’ve pioneered “food play” methodologies creating safe spaces for sensory-rich exploration. My recent honey sommelier training exemplifies this approach: using taste and smell as gateways to understanding biodiversity. When we engage people’s senses, everyone becomes the expert of their own experience.
What fills me with joy is witnessing moments when someone’s relationship with the world fundamentally shifts through sensory engagement. Whether it’s a cancer survivor discovering new ways to enjoy eating or NHS staff pausing to notice the scents during planting, these reconnection moments feel revolutionary.
I’m particularly enjoying co-designing programmes across Freeman Hospital, Royal Victoria Infirmary and Regent Point. Each site has unique character and needs—though all seem to share challenges with plant care. I’m acutely conscious that we need more skills in watering! Creating sensory-rich ways of introducing sustainable watering techniques is something I’m exploring now. It perfectly marries my research background with practical conservation needs.
I’m working to identify “sensory sanctuaries”—spaces where healthcare efficiency gives way to something wilder. The in-between spaces excite me most: edges where institutional landscapes soften into varied, living environments. I’m particularly interested in developing activities that draw on clinical expertise where sensory issues are foregrounded—like my current collaboration with occupational therapists on the ‘Sensational Thinking’ team, developing spaces for those with sensory processing challenges.
This work recognises that environments where we heal aren’t separate from healing itself. Each small act of sensory attention represents both personal healing and ecological connection.
To get in touch with Duika, email info@nhsforest.org.
Banner image: Duika on site in Newcastle