Investigación - Nuestro equipo

Dr Mònica Ubalde is a biologist by training and holds a PhD in Biomedicine, Public Health. She is an impact and evidence translation-oriented scientist leading transdisciplinary research on build environment and health, with an emphasis on school environments.

She currently develops her work at the Urban Planning, Environment and Health-UPEH Initiative ISGlobal (Barcelona), were she leads research on urban school environments, impact evaluation, implementation science and translation. She coordinates studies within national (Climate Shelters-UIA, Let´s Protect Schools-Barcelona City) and international projects (proGIreg, ATHLETE, InChildHealth).

She investigates: (i) health and place interplay in the school context, and (ii) the intersection of behavioral variables with social and environmental factors in determining people’s health. Her work aims to: i) generate evidence to the effectiveness of the process of creating quality and healthy places that people want to live, work, play, and learn in, ii) to support the urgent shift of the current car-based places towards people-centered cities. She is actively involved in promoting community participation and empowerment and increasing awareness about reducing harmful urban exposures, particularly in school surroundings for children’s health protection and safety.

She has also a broad expertise in Occupational Epidemiology. Specifically, she investigated the impact of chronic conditions and multimorbidity on target occupational outcomes, and how working life trajectories impact the course of health from a life course perspective.

Líneas de investigación

• Urban health
• Healthy school environments
• Impact evaluation
• Citizen-science
• Implementation science

Principales publicaciones

• Ubalde M, Nieuwenhuijsen M, Spano G, Sanesi G, alfapietra C, Meyer A, O´Brien L,  Ottaviani G, Salbitano F,  Wilkes-Allemann J, Dadvand P. Transforming Biocities: Designing Urban Spaces Inspired by Nature. Chapter 6: Biocities as promotors of health and wellbeing. Springer 2023 (in print) 
• Nieuwenhuijsen M, Ubalde M. 13º Informe FAROS. El ambiente y su impacto en la salud maternoinfantil: ¿a qué nos enfrentamos? Un llamamiento a la reflexión y a la sensibilización. Capítulo 12. Las ciudades y la salud infantil. Barcelona: Hospital Sant Joan de Déu (ed). 2022. ISBN: 978-84-09-40612-8 
• Fernandes A, Ubalde-López M, Yang TC, McEachan RRC, Rashid R, Maitre L, Nieuwenhuijsen MJ, Vrijheid M. (2023). School-Based Interventions to Support Healthy Indoor and Outdoor Environments for Children: A Systematic Review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health; 20(3):1746.
• Ezpeleta, L., Navarro, J. B., Alonso, L., de la Osa, N., Ambrós, A., Ubalde, M., Penelo, E., & Dadvand, P. (2022). Greenspace Exposure and Obsessive-Compulsive Behaviors in Schoolchildren. Environment and Behavior, 4(5), 893–916
• Koch S, Khomenko S, Cirach M, Ubalde-Lopez M (…) Nieuwenhuijsen M (2022). Impacts of changes in environmental exposures and health behaviours due to the COVID-19 pandemic on cardiovascular and mental health: A comparison of Barcelona, Vienna, and Stockholm. Environmental Pollution, 304. 
• Ubalde-Lopez M; Garani-Papadatos T; Scelo G; Casas M, Maule M. (2021). Working life, health and well-being of parents: a joint effort to uncover hidden treasures in European birth cohorts Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health; 47-7, pp.550.