Currently working on Sensing City project where we explore the possibilities of smart city and real-time monitoring to improve people's health.
Qualifications
Research Interests
I received my PhD in 2015 from the Department of Geoinformatics at Palacky University in the Czech Republic. In my thesis, I conducted a research study on spatial and spatiotemporal analysis of Campylobacteriosis in the Czech Republic. My main research interest is currently focused on geovisualisation and spatial analyses of health data using spatial and spatiotemporal modelling, and spatial statistics.
I like the interdisciplinary character of Geography and GIS allowing me to work on various projects in completely different fields. So far, I've been using my skills in projects in areas of geohealth, smart cities, landslide monitoring, urban studies, crowdsourcing, mapping, forestry, social networks, archaeology etc. I also have experience in teaching - mostly spatial analysis and geostatistics.
In Sensing City project funded by CRCSI, we examine how air pollution can affect the health of people suffering COPD (Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). We aim to create the smart system based on (near) real-time environmental monitoring and individual exposures of patients in order to provide the tool that can inform the public about impaired conditions that may have an effect on their health conditions.
Recent Publications
- Marek L., Hills S., Wiki J., Campbell M. and Hobbs M. (2023) Towards a better understanding of residential mobility and the environments in which adults reside: A nationwide geospatial study from Aotearoa New Zealand. Habitat International 133 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2023.102762.
- Boden J., Hetrick S., Bowden N., Fortune S., Marek L., Theodore R., Ruhe T., Kokaua J. and Hobbs M. (2022) Empowering community control over alcohol availability as a suicide and self-harm prevention measure: Policy opportunity in Aotearoa New Zealand. The Lancet Regional Health - Western Pacific 29 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lanwpc.2022.100631.
- Campbell M. and Marek L. (2022) Health Geography and Big Data Adventures. Methodological Innovations, Opportunities and Challenges. In Rosenberg M; Lovell S; Coen S (Ed.), Handbook of Methodologies in Human Geography: 227-243.Routledge. http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781003038849-21.
- Hobbs M., Ahuriri-Driscoll A., Kingham S., Wiki J., Marek L., Dionisio MR., Curl A., Schluter P., Banwell K. and Mackenbach JD. (2022) A city profile of Ōtautahi Christchurch. Cities 121 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2021.103481.
- Hobbs M., Milfont TL., Marek L., Yogeeswaran K. and Sibley CG. (2022) The environment an adult resides within is associated with their health behaviours, and their mental and physical health outcomes: a nationwide geospatial study. Social Science and Medicine 301 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.114801.