2008–2014
Playground foundations
Children's enjoyment, physical activity and play environments, culminating in the LEAP school playground intervention and its supporting measurement work.
Read the LEAP researchFounder and Research Lead
Associate Professor Brendon Hyndman
Brendon founded School Conditions Lab to connect his research on everyday school life. Published intervention studies, books and international teacher research provide the foundations for current work on play, movement, environmental exposure and school decision-making.
Research focus
The conditions that help children and teachers thrive.
Brendon's work connects children's everyday experiences with the environments, relationships, routines and systems around them. It treats recess, movement, heat, shade, supervision and school grounds as serious educational infrastructure.
School Conditions Lab provides a coherent public home for this established program and connects project teams, schools, systems and international collaborators through defined work.
Platform roleFounder and Research Lead
Institutional affiliationCharles Sturt University
190+research and public-facing outputs
1.25mThe Conversation reads
220+recorded media appearances
The CSU research record lists 196 outputs as at 2 October 2026, including scholarly and public-facing articles, books, chapters, reports and conference contributions. Approximate Conversation readership is reported in the CSU staff profile as at September 2026. Media appearances across radio, print and television are recorded in Brendon's career record to August 2025.
Research trajectory
One program, built over time.
The Lab makes the connecting intellectual thread visible. It does not retrospectively relabel every earlier study.
2014–2020
Environments, movement and implementation
Expansion into recess, loose-parts play, weather, school design, teacher practice and the conditions enabling active and developmental play.
Contemporary School Playground Strategies (2017)2021–2025
Systems, translation and public influence
Research leadership, education-system experience, international collaboration, national position work and sustained public scholarship.
The Impact of Extreme Weather on School Education (2023)2026
School Conditions Lab
Consolidation of the research program through Play Latitude, Heat-Safe Schools, Overlooked Foundations and connected doctoral research on the informal, material, environmental, social and organisational conditions of school life.
Reimagining play in schools (2026)Professional connections
Roles in policy and practice
Board member, Evidence and Impact
Founding member and Australian representative
Academic Advisory Board member
Brendon's professional roles, as listed in his CSU staff profile, checked 2 October 2026.
Platform position
Independent and outward-facing.
School Conditions Lab is a scholar-led platform rather than a formal university organisational unit.
Project governance
Affiliations remain explicit.
Institutional, ethics, funding and partner arrangements are identified on the relevant project rather than implied across the whole platform.
Institutional research record
Research and public scholarship
Brendon's September 2026 career record includes more than 50 refereed articles, 30 peer-reviewed chapters, three edited scholarly books, two textbook chapters and six research or evaluation reports. His public scholarship includes 57 public-facing articles.