Staff involved: Dr Adam Bruton, Dr Neale Tillin, Dr Steve Trangmar, Dr Chris Tyler, and Dr Emily Watkins
Humans are often exposed to elevated ambient temperatures during their working and leisure hours and this is especially the case for those in certain occupations (e.g. firefighters, military personnel, construction workers, and elite sports people). Exposure to high temperatures pose a threat to human health and performance, and so we are investigating strategies such as heat acclimation and localised cooling that might reduce the threat and attenuate the reduction in physical and cognitive performance in occupational (e.g. firefighting) and sporting (e.g. Formula 1) settings. Our work is multi-disciplinary and involves the assessment of thermoregulatory, neuromuscular, immune, visuospatial, and performance-related variables using active and passive heating approaches.