Extreme Heat in Older Persons (Physiology)

This PhD scholarship is being offered as part of a 3 year, $2.35million funded Wellcome project – Extreme Heat in Older Persons (EtHOs) project, as part of Griffith’s Climate Action Beacon. The successful applicant will make a significant research contribution under their PhD Supervisory Team and the broader research team, including reviewing and synthesising literature, collecting and analysing data, developing scientific writing and communications (e.g. research papers, conferences), working across themes/working groups, and contributing to other project activities (e.g. stakeholder engagement).

The EtHOs project will develop a technology-based, individualised early warning system (EWS) to protect vulnerable older people from increased heat risks. The EWS will be specific to the users’ home environment, monitoring conditions in real-time, adjusting risk based on the environment, individuals’ characteristics/physiology, and managing alerts depending on the need for, and access to, relevant cooling options. The broader project consists of members that cut across a range of disciplines including Medicine, Public Health, ICT, Human Physiology, Health Economics, Architecture, and Climate Change.

Three key themes (working groups) make up the project; 1) Care Systems and Experience, 2) Technology Development, 3) Extreme Heat Preparedness.

Physiology: This PhD sits primarily within Theme 3 – The scholarship holder will conduct physiology research; theoretical, laboratory based, and in the field, to better understand aging thermoregulatory vulnerability and responses to repeated heat exposure. This PhD work will aid in the development and validation of a bio-heat model for predicting heat stress in older persons during heatwaves