Professor George Havenith

MSc, PhD, FACSM, FIEHF, FHEA

Pronouns: He/him
  • Professor of Environmental Physiology and Ergonomics
  • Director of the Environmental Ergonomics Research Centre

Professor George Havenith, PhD, FIEHF, FACSM, is Director of the Environmental Ergonomics Research Centre. He has a Chair in Environmental Ergonomics and Physiology.

Professor Havenith studied Mathematical Biology and Human Physiology at Utrecht University, after which he joined the TNO-Human Factors Institute in the Netherlands. There he worked for 14 years in the area of Human Thermal Physiology and Clothing Science, in the later years heading the Thermal Physiology group. In this period he also worked for one year at Pennsylvania State University, and gained his PhD in Medical Physiology from Nijmegen University, studying physiological responses to heat stress, and producing a simulation model that allowed the impact of individual characteristics of people on their heat stress response to be studied.

At ÌìÌÃÊÓƵ where he now is Director of the Environmental Ergonomics Research Centre, his research covers two main topic areas, one being Human Thermal Physiology / Environmental Ergonomics, and the other being heat and mass (vapour) transfer through clothing. Though these are quite distinct subject areas in terms of research methods and knowledge background, they interact in most research application projects, and are then also supplemented with a third area: clothing ergonomics.

His special contribution to these fields is the multidisciplinary integration of physiology, physics and ergonomics. His work spans from experimental studies, to the development of theoretical frameworks to explain observations, and subsequently to the final application of the knowledge in the field. He produced a number of key papers in these areas, with several of his research methods and clothing heat transfer equations now incorporated in ISO and EN standards.

Many of his research projects and publications involve partners from abroad. He has published widely (over 250 publications in scientific books, journals and conference proceedings as well as over 100 consultancy research reports). He is an editor of the 'European Journal of Applied Physiology', international editor for the' Journal of the Human-Environment System', and on the editorial board of 'Ergonomics', 'International Journal of Occupational Safety and Ergonomics', ‘Biometeorology’ and 'Journal of Sports Engineering and Technology'.

His research is used widely, with over 1500 citations in 2021, and over 13000 in total..

He is a fellow of the Ergonomics Society, Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine, Chairman of the European Society for Protective Clothing, and member of numerous committees and professional organisations.

He advises a number of renowned international companies on thermal physiology and clothing science.

Professor Havenith has a long standing cooperation with industry, with projects and PhD students funded by adidas, Decathlon and others.

Research projects in the last years have focussed on clothing heat transfer, climate change and work productivity, and sports performance in the heat.

 

Semester 1:

  • PSC219 Human Performance at Environmental Extremes

Semester 2:

  • DSP104 Environmental Ergonomics
  • DSP105 Health Effects of Environmental Stressors
  • DSA103 The Body at Work
  • DSC502 Human Factors in Systems Design C