Encounter Nature app seeks research partners: species data, nature connectedness and technology
"I’m so excited when I spot something new and love adding photos and notes to the app each day. It’s genuinely good for the soul!"
"I’ve only been using this app for a few weeks, but already it’s having a significant impact on my experience of the world around me, and my general wellbeing. I’m finding myself going on walks every day where before I kept finding excuses not to, and spending more time on them because I’m that much more engaged."
"The journal allows you to note what you've seen and is so easy to use, including adding photos and tags. I am learning a lot and love that I can choose how to engage with no social media element. Encounter is brilliant, recommended whole heartedly."
~ Reviews on the App Store and Google Play
Background
Encounter is a free, guided nature journal that lives in your phone, aiming to repair our connection to nature. Backed by research from our advisor, Miles Richardson (Professor of Human Factors and Nature Connectedness at the University of Derby), it’s full of seasonal prompts, tips and ideas tailored to users’ location within Britain and Ireland, plus expert content for those who want to learn more. Users are encouraged to create a regular private nature journal, adding photos, location and species information to keep a record of what they experience.
Since our launch in April 2025, Encounter has gained 5800+ users, with 5/5 stars on Google Play and 4.8/5 stars on the App Store. In a recent user survey 67% of respondents said that using Encounter had improved their connection to nature and many agreed that it had improved both wellbeing and their nature knowledge.
Research potential
As well as developing this powerful connection with nature, Encounter is generating a wealth of data. Users are creating hundreds of records of species with location, date and time. We at Encounter believe that this aspect of the app has huge potential research interest, as well as opportunities for more powerfully feeding this data back into the nature connection experience within the app.
We are seeking partners to explore the research potential of Encounter and the data it is producing. We are particularly interested in working with academic institutions who have experience of grant funding partnerships including Knowledge Transfer Partnerships.
Research ideas
We have identified two main potential areas of research interest, although we would be keen to hear other ideas:
Exploring uses of high volume unverified biological records of species presence
Exploring use of technological features for encouraging nature connectedness
The first is of particular interest to us at this point. The research could explore the value for this data in regards to the following:
Scientific value as indicative distribution data
Scientific value for indicative trend data that higher volumes of records makes more possible
Hyperlocal engagement: encouraging people to find local species that have been recently spotted
Alerting researchers and expert networks to species presence
Cross-referencing with other datasets to research issues such as climate change
Educating users in species identification and environmental understanding
Encouraging users to take up more formal biological recording roles, which are much needed
As part of research development, the app can be further developed to allow:
Enhanced recording features (such as extended backdating, suggestions to improve ID, time machine posts)
Dynamic mapping interface for incoming records in the back end
Polls to ask users questions of research interest
Extended/improved species database
More location-specific features
Contact us
If you would like to find out more, or potentially partner with Encounter, please email us at hello@encounter-nature.com. Please do share with your networks and others who you think may have relevant research interests.