Heat Resilience & Performance Centre - HRPC

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Heat Resilience & Performance Centre - HRPC

Discover, Detect, Strengthen. We are globally-connected with core expertise in thermal research, exercise physiology and translational research.

The Heat Resilience & Performance Centre (HRPC) is a first-of-its-kind research centre focused on addressing more fundamental and forward-looking approaches to address the challenges associated with living and working in rising ambient heat. Our vision is to be a global leader in thermal research centred on helping humans thrive in a warming world. Our mission is to create holistic and forward-looking solutions that boost human resilience to rising ambient heat. Our research thrusts aim to Discover, Detect, and Strengthen. DISCOVER – In-depth understanding and discovery of new knowledge in heat resilience and injuries through the building of innovative capabilities and data platforms;
DETECT – Visualising and sensemaking an individual’s heat-health and resilience status leveraging next-generation technology and analytics; and
STRENGTHEN – Developing state-of-the-art tools and technology-enabled approaches to boost heat resilience. More information about HRPC, please visit https://medicine.nus.edu.sg/hrpc/

06/03/2026

Last month, the Global Heat Health Information Network (GHHIN) Southeast Asia Hub hosted a public seminar bringing together global perspectives on the growing intersection of climate, heat, and health.

With presentations by Ms Juli Trtanj and Prof Zulfiqar A. Bhutta, the session underscored an urgent priority: cross-regional, cross-sector collaboration to protect health in a warming world. Discussions spanned heat risk governance and community engagement strategies, the need for stronger evidence in LMIC contexts, and practical, indigenous low-cost solutions to make health facilities more heat-resilient, especially to safeguard vulnerable women and children.

The takeaway was clear: advancing heat resilience requires action at every level, from communities to national systems to global platforms. Wherever you sit, in research, policy, practice, or community work, there is a role to play, and progress depends on working persistently and collaboratively.

🎥 Watch the full discussion on demand: https://youtu.be/ZIRXmuURLAM?si=23nE7P7cBUhOGnma

World Health Organization (WHO) World Meteorological Organization NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine National University of Singapore

02/03/2026

Earlier in January, the Global Heat Health Information Network (GHHIN) Southeast Asia Hub was privileged to be able to contribute to the workshop and discussion with the Team from Sunway Centre for Planetary Health, Médecins Sans Frontières / MSF (MSF), exploring how climate change is reshaping medical-humanitarian work across the region and how foresight can strengthen resilience.

Our team adviser, Ms Lydia Law, shared how extreme heat harms health, how research is advancing insights and solutions—and the key gaps that still limit effective action:
🌡️ Health and broader societal impacts remain understudied
🌏 Data gaps persist, especially in Global South contexts
🤝 Cross-sector implementation—including in humanitarian settings—must accelerate

A clear message emerged: science alone is not enough. Turning evidence into protection requires coordinated governance, shared responsibility, and communities that are empowered to act.

On behalf of the GHHIN SEA Hub, we’re grateful for the opportunity and look forward to partnering to connect evidence with operations and local context—so we can better protect health where it’s needed most.

27/02/2026

Thinking about a research internship but not quite sure what to expect? Get a front row seat with Ruth as she shares more about her internship journey at HRPC.

At HRPC, our students don’t just observe research - they contribute to it. From understanding how heat affects the human body to shaping real-world solutions for safer, more resilient communities, the work is hands-on, interdisciplinary and purpose-driven.

We’re looking for driven and curious minds to join us via:
- Internships
- Final-Year Projects (FYP)
- UROP attachments
- Postgraduate research opportunities

For AY2627 FYP & UROP students, do indicate your interest here by 20 Mar 26:
🔗https://lnkd.in/gAsykCUg

For all other interests, do reach out here:
🔗 https://lnkd.in/g9EPJXYv

20/02/2026

As we welcome the Year of the Horse, we want to thank you for the partnerships and friendships that have shaped our journey.

Progress is never achieved alone. It grows from trust, collaboration, and a shared drive to do better. We are grateful to work alongside dedicated partners who continue to inspire us and strengthen what we can achieve together.

From our team to yours, may the Year of the Horse bring fresh energy, meaningful progress, and prosperity in all that we do. Wishing everyone a healthy, successful, and fulfilling Lunar New Year!

NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine National University of Singapore

13/02/2026

Singapore is stepping up her heat resilience efforts—but no single agency can do it alone. 🤝

The recent Urban Solutions and Sustainability (USS) Research & Innovation Congress—co-organised by Ministry of National Development and Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment , highlighted the importance of deep collaboration and integrative efforts between policymakers, researchers and industry practitioners, as extreme heat threatens everything from our health and potential to urban productivity and social equality.

Top takeaways from the expert panel are:
- Heat resilience must be addressed holistically—from physiology and street-level design to buildings, districts and city systems.
- Progress depends on sustained collaboration across government, industry, researchers and communities.
- Solutions should be locally tailored and readily deployable, while drawing on global best practices through networks such as Global Heat Health Information Network.
- Innovation requires iteration, responsible risk-taking and learning from failure.
- Coordinated, inter-agency approaches show how science can be operationalised at scale.

As Singapore strengthens her efforts towards heat resilience, the Heat Resilience & Performance Centre (HRPC) continues to contribute and create impact through its research leadership and cross-sector partnerships, helping all of us to thrive in a warming world. Let’s continue to work together, act locally, learn globally, and put people at the centre of heat resilience.

NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine National University of Singapore

06/02/2026

🎥 Now On-Demand | Prince Mahidol Award Conference Side Event: Extreme Heat Risk Governance in Southeast Asia

The side event on extreme heat is now available to watch on demand.

This session brought together policymakers, researchers, and practitioners to examine how extreme heat is already affecting health, livelihoods, and wellbeing across Southeast Asia — and why coordinated, cross-sector action is urgently needed.

Beyond the big-picture governance conversation, the discussion translated evidence into practice through sector-focused deep dives on agriculture and children — highlighting how heat risks play out on farms, in schools, and in everyday life, and what practical, scalable interventions can look like on the ground.

Key themes explored:
🌡️ Extreme heat as a systemic public health and development challenge
🤝 The need for strong governance and coordination across sectors
📊 How data, evidence, and local context must inform policy and investment
🌾 Protecting agricultural workers and food systems
👶 Safeguarding children’s health in a warming climate

👉 Watch the PMAC side event on demand to catch the full conversation and insights shaping heat action in the region: https://youtu.be/8WvLxVhGRts?si=jiDL2aJUTiWbJ075&t=2

World Health Organization (WHO)
World Meteorological Organization
Rockefeller Foundation

02/02/2026

Prince Mahidol Award Conference (PMAC) Side Event Wrap-Up | Extreme Heat Risk Governance in Southeast Asia

Extreme heat is already straining health, livelihoods, and wellbeing across Southeast Asia—exposing dangerous gaps in how our systems and institutions protect people. At our PMAC side event, policymakers, researchers, and practitioners came together to confront these challenges and share what it takes to accelerate coordinated, effective heat action.

Key takeaways:

🌡️Heat is a whole-of-society challenge.
Effective heat action cannot sit within a single department or sector. It requires coordination across meteorological services, health, labour, education, agriculture, urban planning, disaster risk management, finance, and more, aligned under a coherent, all-of-society approach.

🌍Vulnerability to heat is dynamic, not fixed.
Heat risk is shaped by context — where people live, work, and the systems that support them. Policies must move beyond static labels and be grounded in local realities, changing exposure, and lived experiences.

🤝Governance is the critical enabler.
Evidence and tools already exist, but without strong governance and cross-sector coordination, heat action falls through the cracks. Clear leadership, shared accountability, and coordination mechanisms are essential to turn plans into impact.

🌱Investment works when it funds integration, not silos.
Durable impact comes from financing that strengthens systems — connecting data, institutions, communities, and policy — rather than isolated, short-term interventions.

🌾Community insights must be included to shape policy and financing.
Discussions on agriculture highlighted how working groups and cross-sector mechanisms can surface community needs, elevate them to decision-makers, and ensure policies and financing respond to realities on the ground.

💡Ownership and leadership must work together.
Insights from the children’s panel underscored that local action is driven by communities—but governments must lead by setting direction, coordinating actors, and protecting populations at scale.

For heat, knowledge matters — but action depends on coordinated governance that connects people, systems, and decisions.

Thank you to our co-organisers The Rockefeller Foundation and World Health Organization (WHO) Asia-Pacific Centre for Environment and Health (ACE), our moderator Dr Jaya Shreedhar, and all speakers and participants for advancing this critical conversation.

👉 Stay connected: Subscribe to the GHHIN newsletter for the latest insights, evidence, and updates on heat, health, and climate resilience. https://lnkd.in/eCdQC8_p
📸 See photo highlights from the side event:https://lnkd.in/gQsKfcm7
🎥 Session recording and slides coming soon.

World Health Organization (WHO)
World Health Organization Western Pacific Region
World Meteorological Organization

26/01/2026

🌡️ Heat Health, History & Heritage | Seminar Highlights

Last Friday, the team from Human Potential Translational Research Programme (HPTRP) hosted "Heat Health History & Heritage", a research seminar that took us back in time to explore how people in Singapore lived with, and adapted to everyday heat stress since the early 20th century.

Together with guests from our Ministries, the scientific community and the media, we looked at heat and health through a medical-historical lens, uncovering how both biomedicine and Chinese Medicine have shaped everyday ways of coping with heat.

A heartfelt thank you to National Heritage Board for the support, and congratulations to Dr Joshua Dao-Wei Sim and Yuyin Huang for their thoughtful work and leadership in bringing this meaningful conversation to life.

🔗 Read more about our highlights:
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/environment/tcm-can-be-part-of-a-countrys-toolkit-against-rising-heat-nus-study?ref=top-stories

National University of Singapore NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine
World Health Organization (WHO) World Meteorological Organization

09/01/2026

is bringing about more frequent that are more intense and deadly. As the intensity of a heatwave affects the subsequent impacts on a population, understanding and quantifying the intensity is needed in order to respond effectively.

Read on to find out how the Excess Heat Factor (EHF) helps us to better understand heatwave intensity, and why this matters for optimising immediate responses.

To learn more about the EHF in detail, click here:
https://knowledge.aidr.org.au/resources/ajem-oct-2016-the-excess-heat-factor-as-a-metric-for-heat-related-fatalities-defining-heatwave-risk-categories/

World Health Organization (WHO)
World Meteorological Organization
NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine

02/01/2026

Ringing in the new year with a new event!

Our sister programme HPTRP is hosting a public seminar exploring everyday heat management practices and beliefs in Singapore since the early 20th century.

Join us in-person for the Singapore Heat Health History & Heritage seminar on 16 Jan 2026, 10.00am - 11.30am at the NUS Med+Sci Library.

Register using the QR Code in the poster or here: https://nus.syd1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_bwGhXG97NAKdgQ6

See you there!

NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine
National University of Singapore

22/12/2025

Looking back on the year, we’re grateful for meaningful collaboration, shared learning, and strong partnerships — united by a common goal: championing heat resilience and safeguarding the health and wellbeing of our communities in a warming world.

Thank you to everyone who journeyed with us, lent your expertise, and supported this important work. Wishing everyone a restful and joyful holiday season — and we look forward to building even greater impact together in the year ahead!

National University of Singapore
NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine

12/12/2025

The results of the first Asian Climate-SDG Technology Innovation HackathOn for Next-generation, ACTION 2025 Hackathon, are in!

We are pleased to share that Team Mosquito Sentinel has placed in the Top 5 Teams at the ACTION 2025 Hackathon. From 25 initial ideas, the NUS team evolved their concept into one climate-ready innovation: an AI-powered smart mosquito surveillance system designed to detect dengue outbreaks earlier and enable faster public-health responses.

As global temperatures rise, vector-borne diseases, especially mosquito-related illnesses like dengue are spreading faster, appearing earlier in the year, and emerging in countries previously untouched. This urgent climate–health intersection shaped the team’s winning solution.

The team conducted extensive fieldwork, user research, and rapid prototyping to refine their solution before presenting at the finals hosted at The University of Hong Kong, where they secured the highest ranking. Following their win, Donald represented his team to attend COP30 in Belém, Brazil, where he continued to push the frontier of climate and health innovation on the global stage.

Huge congratulations to the members Donald Ting, Bibek Dutta, Clarissa Tan, Pei She Loh (Rachel), and Xianyu Meng on this outstanding achievement. Thank you also to Assoc Prof Kimberly Fornace for her valuable mentorship.

Special thank you to the organisers of this Hackathon - Tsinghua University, The University of Hong Kong and National University of Singapore, with support from the World Meteorological Organization and World Health Organization (WHO) China.

Address

27 Medical Drive Level 3
Singapore
117510

Website

https://medicine.nus.edu.sg/hrpc

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