Citizen Science for Cooler Schools (CS2): improving heat resilience in educational settings

Increasing heat intensity, frequency, and duration relating to changing climate pose significant health and safety risks. The CSIRO and Bureau of Meteorology predicts that in the future the number of days over 30 degrees will not only increase during the summer, but also during spring and autumn – coinciding with significant periods when students are in schools. Whilst the State Government Cooler Schools program has ensured that all teaching spaces in Queensland will be air conditioned, there may be other indoor spaces that need cooling or other places like playgrounds, eating areas, the school hall, or drop off zones where cooling would be beneficial. Further, heat-health risk relates to both heat exposure and opportunities to cool via hydration and activity modifications.

Read further information about the project in this document.

The research team

Dr Shannon Rutherford - Co-Principal Investigator - CRI, Griffith University
Dr Tony Matthews - Co-Principal Investigator - CRI, Griffith University
Dr Harry Kanasa - CI - Queensland Education
Dr Fan Zhang - CI - CRI, Griffith University
Dr Aaron Bach - CI - CRI, Griffith University
Dr Mark Bailey - CRI, Griffith University

Key Project goals

This project aims to empower schools via STEM/Science/Environmental clubs to identify environmental ‘hotspots’ and activities in the school and implement solutions to any identified heat issues. One of our project goals is to create a resources toolkit.

Contact us

If you would like to be part of this project, please contact the Project Officer, Dr Mark Bailey.