Expertise connected through real work.

Co-investigator, Play Latitude and Heat-Safe Schools

Dr Shukla Sikder

Senior Lecturer, School of Education, Charles Sturt University

Shukla’s research spans STEAM education, cultural-historical theory, inclusive and play-based pedagogy, and digital video observation across early childhood, primary and higher education. She brings child rights, holistic development and culturally responsive play perspectives to both programs.

Research Assistant, Play Latitude

Sara Drebber

PhD Candidate, Charles Sturt University

Sara is an educational leader and researcher working across inclusive education, teacher wellbeing and sustainable leadership. Her doctoral research examines how leadership and organisational systems can better support neurodivergent teachers in primary schools. She supports Play Latitude’s system approvals, recruitment and translation.

Adjunct Research Associate

Practitioner Collaborator, Play Latitude

Lucy Hyndman

School of Education, Charles Sturt University

Lucy is an Adjunct Research Associate and accomplished primary teacher with 15 years of classroom and school-based experience. Her applied scholarship connects student wellbeing, behaviour support, recess risk and the realities of outdoor school life. She co-authored the accepted national policy analysis Reading Play Between the Lines and contributes practitioner insight to Play Latitude.

Co-investigator, Heat-Safe Schools

Dr Melissa Skein

Associate Head (Courses), School of Allied Health, Exercise and Sport Sciences, Charles Sturt University

Melissa is an exercise and sport scientist whose research examines exercise, sleep, performance, thermal stress, recovery and adaptation across adolescents, athletes, shift workers and people living with chronic conditions. She brings human physiology and heat-health expertise to Heat-Safe Schools.

Co-investigator, Heat-Safe Schools

Dr Holly Randell-Moon

Charles Sturt University

Holly’s research spans regional communities, First Nations issues, place-based methodologies and Indigenist climate-aware framing. She strengthens the program’s attention to non-metropolitan contexts and helps ensure research development is responsive to community and place.

Co-investigator, Heat-Safe Schools

Dr Subash Thapa

Senior Research Fellow, Rural Health Research Institute, Charles Sturt University

Subash is a rural public-health epidemiologist researching how environmental, social and interpersonal adversities shape health across the life course, particularly for young people in rural and remote settings. His expertise spans social epidemiology, data linkage, mixed-methods implementation research and climate-related mental health.

Research Assistant, Heat-Safe Schools

Dr Kirstie Northfield

Researcher and educator

Kirstie researches adolescent mental health, wellbeing and supportive educational environments. Her doctoral research examined the accuracy of parent and teacher appraisals of adolescent wellbeing and the factors influencing those judgements. She contributes evidence synthesis and school-community insight to Heat-Safe Schools.

Doctoral Researcher, Sun Protection in Secondary Schools

Simon Board

Associate Lecturer and PhD Candidate, Charles Sturt University

Simon brings more than 25 years of experience in health and physical education, curriculum design and educational leadership. His doctoral research examines contemporary approaches to sun-protection education in secondary schools across curriculum, peer influence, staff practice, outdoor environments and policy.

Co-editor, Beyond the Core Business of Schools

Dr Vaughan Cruickshank

Senior Lecturer in Health and Physical Education, University of Tasmania

Vaughan is a teacher educator and researcher whose work spans health and physical education, health literacy, teacher education and lifelong participation in physical activity. He co-edits Beyond the Core Business of Schools with Brendon Hyndman.