The Equal-Life External Advisory Committee (EAC) oversees the activities of the project and facilitates links to international activities, relevant stakeholder communities, infrastructures and dissemination channels. The Advisory Committee may provide advice and expertise on target areas related to the activities of Equal-Life. Our EAC consists of five individuals that have a scientific background and experience in practice on the multiple disciplines involved in the Equal-Life study.

Emer. Prof. Lex Brown

Lex Brown is Emeritus Professor of Environmental Planning in the Griffith School of Environment and Science in Brisbane, Australia. He is an internationally recognized specialist in noise and environmental acoustics, and also in Impact Assessment of physical developments at both project and strategic levels. He has four decades of experience working at the interface of environmental, social and community dimensions in both the developed and developing worlds. His acoustics research includes the human perception of noise, the effects on human health, prediction and modelling of transport noise and the impact of interventions, the effects of noise on wildlife, and soundscapes.

Besides his academic career, Lex Brown is consultant to international, government and private organizations in planning and environmental management practice. Lex Brown has held various advisory and board member positions, including of  the International Commission on the Biological Effects of Noise. He is a Fellow of both the Planning and Acoustics professional societies in Australia, and his expertise is recognized by Lifetime Achievement Awards from both the International Association or Impact Assessment and the UK Noise Abatement Society.

Prof. Gary W. Evans

Portrait Professor Gary W Evans

Gary W. Evans – the Elizabeth Lee Vincent Professor of Human Ecology, Departments of Design and Environmental Analysis and of Human Development, Cornell University – is an environmental and developmental psychologist. Evans' scholarship is focused on the physical environment (environmental stressors, cumulative risk, chaos, housing, schools) in child well-being. Much of his work is focused on the environment of childhood poverty. 

An award winning teacher, Evans has lectured in over 40 countries and is the author of more than 300 scholarly articles and five books.  He has served as a scientific advisor to the WHO on children’s environmental health, on the Board on Children, Youth, and Families of the National Academy of Sciences, the Board of Scientific Counselors of the National Center for Environmental Health/Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, CDC, and the Mac Arthur Foundation Network on Socioeconomic Status and Health. Professor Evans is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and received an honorary doctorate from Stockholm University.

Prof. Hui Ma

Portrait Professor Hui Ma

Hui Ma is a Professor at the School of Architecture, Tianjin University. She holds a PhD in Environmental Acoustics from the Kumamoto University in Japan. Her main research field is described as ‘Environmental and Building Acoustics’, in which she focuses on community response to noise, acoustical quality evaluation and soundscape. Her recent interests and studies are on the relationship between sound and health aspects in municipalities, which also includes the perceptions of, and responses in, young children. In addition, her research covers noise policy and criteria, noise economy evaluation, sound quality evaluation in large spaces and urban soundscape protection. She also has experience in practical projects on acoustical design and noise control.

She has performed studies and academic exchanges with the following institutions; Kumamoto University, the University College of London, and Gothenburg University. She is also an assessment specialist of NSFC and Ministry of Education.

Dr. Fred Woudenberg

Dr. Fred Woudenberg is Head of the Department of Environmental Health at the Municipal Health Service of Amsterdam (GGD Amsterdam). He is a trained psychologist holding a PhD in psychopharmacology. He transitioned his professional career to environmental health in 1989, specializing in risk communication and risk perception. His interest lie in the relation between health and the built environment, and in the relation between health and nature.

Fred Woudenberg is a former member of the Dutch Health Council and chaired committees of the Health Council that published reports on nature and health and on tranquility and health. He is a member of the Netherlands Commission of Environmental Health. He is editor of the Dutch journal 'LUCHT' (translated: ‘AIR’), and chief editor of the Dutch journal 'GELUID' (translated: ‘SOUND’).

Emer. Prof. Stephen Stansfeld

Portrait photo Emeritus Professor Stephen Stansfeld

Stephen Stansfeld is Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry at the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine at Barts and the London School of Medicine, Queen Mary University of London. His research interests include the effects of the physical and social environment on mental health. 

He was Chair of the International Commission on the Biological Effects of Noise from 2008 to 2014 and directed the 7th Framework funded European Network on Noise and Health (ENNAH), involving 33 European partners to decide on priorities for new research on environmental noise and health.

He directed the European 5th Framework funded RANCH Study on the effects of aircraft and road traffic noise on children’s cognition and health. He chaired the WHO Guidelines Development Group on the new guidelines for environmental noise published in 2018. He has also researched social inequalities in mental health, the impact of work on mental health and the effects of childhood adversities on adult mental health in the 1958 Birth cohort. He has published more than 288 papers including at least 50 on noise-related topics, including several reviews.