Managing Loneliness and Building resilience in an AI rich environment

As part of the HECA Healthy Campus 2024/25 webinar series exploring Resilience, Loneliness and Wellbeing in an AI-Rich World, we invite you to the second session: Managing Loneliness and Building Resilience in an AI-Rich Environment.

Webinar Presented by: Dr. Michael Passaportis (Sports and Performance Psychologist, Setanta College Lecturer)

Date: Wednesday February 18^th 2026    

Time: 1pm online

To Register: Go to this LINK

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Webinar Overview:

As higher education students navigate an ever-evolving digital world, rates of loneliness and mental health challenges continue to rise. While technological solutions abound, a low-cost, low-tech resource sitting right outside may offer tangible benefits: nature itself.

This webinar draws on contemporary research and case studies to demonstrate how existing green spaces can support student mental health. We'll explore green exercise, or physical activity in outdoor settings, and its capacity to enhance wellbeing, build psychological resilience, and combat loneliness.

The webinar examines why outdoor movement, even as brief as 5 minutes per day, offers unique benefits beyond indoor exercise, and how natural environments provide both restoration from academic stress and opportunities for meaningful connection. Beyond theory and research, we'll share practical strategies successfully integrated into campus life that foster belonging and support student wellbeing. Small changes to how existing spaces are used can create meaningful impact.

Bio: Michael is a Sport and Performance Psychologist with the Chartered Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (UK) and lecturer at Setanta College.

He earned his PhD in Sport and Performance Psychology from the University of Portsmouth (UK). Michael’s doctoral research, conducted in collaboration with the United Kingdom Sports Institute, focused on building optimal psychosocial environments within British Olympic sport organisations in the lead-up to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. His thesis was nominated for the British Psychological Society’s Thesis of the Year Award.

As an early-career academic, Michael has contributed book chapters on thriving in sport, published peer-reviewed articles in sport psychology journals, and presented his research at academic conferences in the United States, Italy, and the United Kingdom.

As a sport psychologist, Michael currently serves on the Management Council of the International Society of Sport Psychology as Member at Large for Africa. In his practice, he works extensively in rugby, supporting the Zimbabwe Rugby Union and rugby players in France’s Top 14 and Pro D2 leagues. He also consults with individual clients across a range of countries, sports, and performance levels, including professional golfers, tennis players, and swimmers.