Ioana Biris is a social psychologist living and working in the Netherlands and originally from Romania. As a psychologist working with organisations, she grew increasingly aware about how unhealthy our working environments often are. She started to question and explore what work really is; how do people actually work naturally? In this light she started to invite people to work outside and studied what happens from that. How does strolling through nature influence the way we work? How does sitting on a bench and socialising with others shape our thinking? Working in nature became her research laboratory.

She argued that office work involves too much sitting which disconnects us from nature. This dynamic influences our mental and physical health. On the other hand, taking work outdoors makes us reconnect with nature, contribute to nature, and stay active – which improves social cohesion and builds community. This became even more evident during the COVID pandemic.

Supported with scientific evidence, Ioanna became an ambassador to promote working in nature through Nature Desks and a movement called Outdoor Office Day – every single day. Through these platforms the connection between nature, work, and wellbeing is being explored. The Outdoor Office Day event inspires people and organisations to redesign how they work and their relationship with (urban) nature at work. Through events, maps, research, and placemaking, a global community is being built that proves our best work happens under open skies – transforming the future of work and wellbeing.

We spoke about how Nature Desk and Cobana share a similar vision yet coming from two different starting points. Nature Desks looks at how the city can become more natural while Cobana looks at reviving rural areas. These perspectives ultimately converge at the point where a city becomes more natural and a rural area becomes more connected – each moving towards the other. We spoke about setting up a programme together with Smaranda Balut of The Slow Travellers to organise workations in Romania’s rural areas where the future can emerge out of a beautiful natural setting.

This is Cobana’s mission: blending global and local voices towards a regenerative future. Not to have them set up more structures that drain the energy of the work, but to connect them so the work is compatible and strengthens the global impact that we need.

Watch this space for more interviews and blending.