Current research program
An Australian program with international relevance, researching how heat, solar exposure, shade, infrastructure, policy and local practice shape participation and safety at school.
The problem
Exposure is shaped by the interaction between local climate, the school grounds, available shade, schedules, activities, guidance and the decisions schools can realistically enact.
Heat-Safe Schools connects environmental evidence with the everyday realities of schools to identify where risk, guidance and capacity are unevenly distributed.
Current work brings together national exposure mapping across more than 11,000 Australian school locations, analysis of public guidance and research into what schools can enact in practice.
The initial school-focused program is based in New South Wales, while national mapping and international comparison provide the wider context.
Current program
The program connects environmental measurement with school experience, policy guidance and local capacity.
Heat, solar radiation, shade, surfaces and regional conditions.
How students and staff encounter, interpret and respond to heat.
What policies and public resources ask schools to do, and what they leave unresolved.
How infrastructure, staffing, routines and local capacity shape action.
Connected climate portfolio
Current analyses extend beyond temperature alone to examine how climate exposure, infrastructure, policy and local capacity combine across different school communities.
Spatial analysis across more than 11,000 Australian school locations provides a national foundation for examining unequal exposure.
Current research examines which Australian schools and communities face the greatest combinations of heat exposure and contextual vulnerability.
Parallel work examines rainfall conditions and how weather may constrain access, movement and everyday use of school environments.
Policy, public information and local practice are examined to identify what schools are asked to do and what implementation requires.
Evidence status
Heat-Safe Schools includes work supported through an internal Charles Sturt University cross-disciplinary research funding initiative. Formal project governance, expenditure and research processes remain within the relevant University arrangements.
The established foundation includes prior peer-reviewed and public scholarship on weather, heat, school environments and policy. National exposure, heat-vulnerability and rainfall-vulnerability analyses described here are current research.
Their inclusion signals the direction and scale of the program. It does not present findings as established before peer review or formal release.
Project team
The project combines expertise in schooling, physiology, adolescent wellbeing, rural public health, place-responsive research and implementation.
Founder and Chief Investigator
School of Education, Charles Sturt University
Brendon founded and leads the School Conditions Lab. His research connects play, movement, school environments, climate exposure, supervision and everyday routines with children’s and teachers’ wellbeing, belonging and learning.
Research lead profile
Co-investigator
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 profile
Co-investigator
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.
Research profile
Co-investigator
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.
Research profileCo-investigator
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 profile
Research Assistant
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.
Professional profileResearch context