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About

Project Soothe is a global citizen science project, founded by Stella Chan in 2015 at the University of Edinburgh. In 2020, the team moved to the University of Reading where we are currently based. Combining world-leading research and public engagement, our mission is to develop a bank of soothing photographs that can be shared with others to improve mental health and wellbeing.

The public are actively engaged in our research as citizen scientists, meaning they are actively involved in developing and conducting the research. Members of the public from all over the world have been submitting their own soothing images into our image bank as well as rating how soothing the images are.

Our aim is to develop soothing images that can be widely used in research and therapies to support mental health and wellbeing. We have recently been working with children and young people to support them to develop and test wellbeing tools and have launched a Project Soothe app feature with CogniCare. We have also worked with many healthcare organisations and charities from across the UK to collaboratively create, pilot and showcase pioneering ways that our soothing images can be used in practice. Together we have created a User Guide to showcase their innovative pilots projects.

Watch: About Project Soothe

Need to chat?

If you have questions or comments about Project Soothe, please get in touch.

Contact us

Core Team

Prof Stella Chan
Founder and Principal Investigator

Dr Asnea Tariq
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Reading

Academic Collaborators

Dr Netta Weinstein
Associate Professor, University of Reading

Dr Teresa Tavassoli
Associate Professor, University of Reading

Dr Simon Blackwell
Postdoctoral Researcher, Ruhr Universitat Bochum

Non-Academic Collaborators

Stella Wisdom
Digital Curator, British Library

Cheryl Tipp
Curator of Wildlife and Environmental Sounds, British Library

Pooja Jain
Founder, CogniHealth

Former Collaborators and Researchers

Phoenix Byrne
Research Assistant, 2021 - 2022, University of Reading

Olivia Gibson
Research Assistant, 2021 - 2022, University of Reading

Rebecca Borcsok
Research Assistant 2021 - 2022, University of Reading

Prof Matthias Schwannauer
Collaborator, University of Edinburgh

Dr Angela McLaughlin
Research Assistant / Postdoctoral Research Fellow 2015-2020, University of Edinburgh

Dr Elaine Gray
Postdoctoral Research Fellow 2020, University of Edinburgh

Niamh MacSweeney
Research Assistant 2019, University of Edinburgh

Stephanie Allan
Research Assistant 2017-2020, University of Edinburgh

Katie Gambier-Ross
Research Assistant 2020, University of Edinburgh

Dr Keren MacLennan
Assistant Professor, Durham University

Dr Fiona Ashworth
Senior Lecturer, Anglia Ruskin University

Students

Amolika Roy
UROP placement student, 2022, University of Reading

Jasmiina Ryynanen
MSc student 2020-2021, University of Reading

Emily Witten
MSc student 2020-2021, University of Reading

Victoria Grace
MSc student 2020-2021, University of Reading

Chris Morea
MSc student 2020-2021, University of Reading

Siu Ching Wong
MSc student 2019-2020, University of Edinburgh

Yumeng Yang
MSc student 2019-2020, University of Edinburgh

Ziqiao Liu
MSc student 2019-2020, University of Edinburgh

Audrey Chan
MSc student 2017-2018, University of Edinburgh

Calvin Avalos
MSc student 2017-2018, University of Edinburgh

Tamara Cabrera Malthess
MSc student 2017-2018, University of Edinburgh

Leith Roberston
MSc student 2017-2018, University of Edinburgh

Elysia Lancaster
MSc student 2017-2018, University of Edinburgh

Johannes Milllowitsch
MSc student 2017-2018, University of Edinburgh

Michelle Mok
MSc student 2016-2017, University of Edinburgh

Alexis Guerrero
MSc student 2016-2017, University of Edinburgh

Alexander Wilson
MSc student 2015-2016, University of Edinburgh

Rachel Pierce
BSc Graduate, Anglia Ruskin University

Nevena Harris
PhD Student from October 2024, University of Reading

Citizen Science Champions

we are grateful to many schools and organisations which have supported our research and innovation.

See more of our Citizen Science Champions

Get Involved

Find out more about how to submit your soothing photos and help us learn more about the everyday experience of self-soothe.

How to participate

Funding Support

We are grateful to have received funding from the following organisations.