Benchmarking wearable environmental sensing devices for longitudinal heat-exposure monitoring in built environment

Overview

This project supports the development of a wearable environmental sensing system for monitoring personal heat exposure in outdoor and semi-outdoor built environments. As heatwaves and urban overheating intensify, there is growing need for mobile sensing methods that can capture the microclimatic conditions experienced by pedestrians, outdoor workers, students and other urban users. However, wearable and portable devices vary substantially in what they measure, how they respond to sun, shade, wind and body movement, and how suitable they are for longitudinal field deployment.

The VRES student will contribute to the benchmarking stage of the project. They will review existing wearable and portable environmental sensing approaches, compare device specifications and measurement capabilities, and help develop a benchmarking framework for assessing accuracy, usability, robustness, cost, wearability and suitability for personal heat-exposure research. The project contributes to a broader architectural science research agenda on urban microclimate, human thermal comfort, climate-adaptive design and heat-related health risk reduction in built environments.

Research engagement

The student will engage with literature on wearable environmental sensing, personal microclimate monitoring, urban heat exposure, thermal comfort and climate-adaptive design. They will review selected sensor datasheets, device specifications and case studies to understand how different sensing approaches perform in outdoor and semi-outdoor built environments.

The student will also support a small field monitoring campaign, including route or site selection, field protocol preparation, sensor deployment, environmental documentation and data quality checking. This will help identify practical issues such as sensor placement, solar exposure, wind effects, body movement, battery life and data logging reliability.

Research activities

The student will work with Dr Kun Lyu and the project supervisory team on benchmarking wearable environmental sensing approaches and supporting a small field monitoring campaign. They will review device specifications, develop a comparison matrix, assist with field protocol preparation and sensor deployment, document site conditions, check data quality, and contribute to the writing of the specific section in a scientific paper.

Research skills

The student will gain skills in literature review, technical benchmarking, environmental sensing, microclimate fieldwork, field protocol preparation, sensor deployment, metadata recording, data quality checking, preliminary data analysis, and research communication.

Outcomes

The project will produce a device benchmarking matrix, a pilot field-monitoring protocol, preliminary sensor performance findings, and a short report/poster. These outputs will support future device development and contribute to a journal manuscript on wearable environmental sensing for personal heat-exposure research.

Skills and experience

Start date

2 November, 2026

End date

19 February, 2027

Location

Brisbane

Keywords

• urban overheating
• wearable sensing
• thermal comfort
• climate responsive design
• human health and wellbeing

Contact

Kun Lyu

0410152820

kun.lyu@qut.edu.au