“Our work is all about driving multidisciplinary efforts to help find solutions to complex health problems arising from the impact of heat stress, all within the context of increasing extreme weather events as a result of climate change”, explains Ollie Jay, Professor of Heat and Health in the Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney, Australia. Jay is also Director of the Thermal Ergonomics Laboratory within the Sydney Heat and Health Research Centre. “We have a rich research environment with many opportunities to work across broad sections of academia, industry, and in our collaborations with many Australian sports organisations to develop policies and systems that reduce the impact of extreme heat on health outcomes”, he says. Jay, co-lead author of a Series on Heat and Health in The Lancet, identifies the dynamic between research and change in policy and practice as central to his approach. His team takes a strategic approach to focus research and policy collaborations on vulnerable groups. “There is a view that expanding access to air conditioning (AC) is the simplest solution. This overlooks the reality that many of those most vulnerable to extreme heat will often not have access to AC or even electricity; further, the widespread use of AC as a first defence against heat feeds a vicious cycle, as the associated increase in greenhouse gas emissions contributes to global warming and an increased risk of future extreme heat events. Identifying more sustainable and accessible cooling solutions is an urgent priority. Moving air more and chilling it less is an obvious place to start”, he says. Jay's life and career path have evolved from his upbringing in the village of Llanbedr-y-Cennin in north Wales to his undergraduate and postgraduate studies in ergonomics at Loughborough University, UK, to a decade spent in academia in Canada at Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, and the University of Ottawa, before his move to Sydney in 2014. Jay and colleagues’ research on electric fan use, first published in 2015, highlighted their effectiveness in air temperatures up to 40°C. This work led to the funding of broader projects which are supported by the construction of a new climate chamber in the Thermal Ergonomics Laboratory that can simulate historical and future heatwaves. With collaborators at UT Southwestern and Southern Methodist University in the USA, Loughborough University, and the Montreal Heart Institute in Canada, Jay's team use heat chambers to investigate the responses to extreme heat of various groups, including older people, those with underlying cardiovascular disease, and people with multiple sclerosis, known to be at increased risk of heat-related poor health outcomes. An ongoing Wellcome Trust project supports a collaboration between Jay's team, Australia's Griffith University, and the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology that is examining heat stress at a clothing factory in Dhaka. “We have dozens of sensors in the factory, whose data we will use to replicate the same thermal conditions in our chamber. We will analyse heat stress responses of participants during ironing and sewing tasks, and identify the most effective and scalable strategies to keep workers in these types of settings cool, comfortable, and productive”, Jay says. In another study, Jay's team is assessing the thermoregulatory responses of children and adolescents in hot conditions, with implications for policy development in child and youth sporting activities. And it is in the sporting arena where Jay's team has had notable policy impact, especially in the annual Australian Open tennis tournament. Jay and colleagues developed an algorithm to help generate a simple Heat Stress Scale (HSS), and his team designed units to precisely measure courtside heat stress conditions, including humidity and wind speed. A reading of 4 advises extended breaks within matches, with a score of 5 advising match suspension. “This work is indicative of how we can translate our lab-based research into changes in policy and practice. As part of our future goals, we are aiming to apply HSS-type metrics in broader public health settings, for example, in weather forecasting, or displayed in public areas to communicate the potential health risks from heat stress during hot weather and the appropriate strategies that different people can use to reduce this risk”, he says. Jay is a member of a multidisciplinary research institute at the University of Sydney, the Charles Perkins Centre. Its Academic Director, Stephen Simpson, has observed Jay's work for several years and highlights his “ability to bridge, inspire, and lead multidisciplinary teams”. Simpson comments that “Such an ability is rare and crucial, because finding solutions to complex health challenges cannot rely on single disciplines alone. Ollie makes his expertise immediately useful at scale, such as the HSS. He is committed to ensuring that his research is translated into policy and practice that can make a difference to heat–health outcomes.” Jay's multifaceted approach in the climate change arena is another example where his legacy could be enduring. “Working with climate scientists will be a key part of our future work. For example, we will use the climate chamber to simulate heatwaves that are projected with different carbon emission pathways. This will enable us to demonstrate the physiological impact of these contrasting scenarios, and indicate how liveable or survivable they might be. We hope that this unique window into the future will help create and support climate change advocacy. Ultimately, our work is about reducing the impact of extreme heat—to improve health and quality of life for all”, he says. Hot weather and heat extremes: health risksHot ambient conditions and associated heat stress can increase mortality and morbidity, as well as increase adverse pregnancy outcomes and negatively affect mental health. High heat stress can also reduce physical work capacity and motor-cognitive performances, with consequences for productivity, and increase the risk of occupational health problems. Almost half of the global population and more than 1 billion workers are exposed to high heat episodes and about a third of all exposed workers have negative health effects. Full-Text PDF Reducing the health effects of hot weather and heat extremes: from personal cooling strategies to green citiesHeat extremes (ie, heatwaves) already have a serious impact on human health, with ageing, poverty, and chronic illnesses as aggravating factors. As the global community seeks to contend with even hotter weather in the future as a consequence of global climate change, there is a pressing need to better understand the most effective prevention and response measures that can be implemented, particularly in low-resource settings. In this Series paper, we describe how a future reliance on air conditioning is unsustainable and further marginalises the communities most vulnerable to the heat. Full-Text PDF