Darwin Living Lab Symposium 2025

Adapting to heat through community focussed solutions

The Darwin Living Lab 2025 Symposium provides an opportunity to share with the community its work to progress Darwin as a cool and thriving capital of the North. The symposium is an opportunity to bring together community, industry and government practitioners, to learn and exchange local knowledge on heat mitigation, urban planning and tropical design.  

The event details:

  • Date: 11 September 2025
  • Time: 8:30 AM (coffee and registration from 8 AM) to 12:30 PM
  • Venue: Festival Learning Room, CDU Danala – Education and Community Precinct, 54 Cavenagh Street, Darwin City, NT, 0800
  • Cost: free!
Register here

This years’ symposium has a focus on delivering heat mitigation outcomes for the people living, working and visiting Darwin – empowering people to take action to stay cool in Darwin’s warming wet-dry tropical climate. We will discuss topics such as:

  • Busting myths about human thermal comfort
  • The impacts of heat on health
  • What technologies can help us stay cool and how do we use them.

See program overview below

Soapbox Sessions: creating a cooler and more vibrant Darwin

As a finale to the Symposium we will host a ‘soapbox session’ where we encourage local and community voices to share their passion on how the public spaces of Darwin can be improved and made cooler and more vibrant.  The rules of the soapbox session are:

  • Register for the soapbox session via email: darwinlivinglab@csiro.au
  • Maximum of one presentation slide.
  • Maximum of 3 minutes for each soapbox presenter.

 

Keynote speakers

 

Ollie Jay, Professor of Heat and Health, University of Sydney

Ollie Jay is a Professor of Heat and Health and Director of the Heat and Health Research Centre and Thermal Ergonomics Laboratory in the Faculty of Medicine and Health at The University of Sydney. Ollie is a NHMRC Investigator Fellow and has led several large-scale projects that have directly influenced international public health heatwave policies in the United States, Europe, and Australia. He recently partnered with Google to deliver his team’s research on evidence-based personal cooling strategies through automated heat warning alerts in Google Maps/Chrome worldwide.  He has also led extreme heat policy development for Sports Medicine Australia, Tennis Australia (Australian Open), and Cricket Australia, and was the Lead Heat Consultant for the Australian Olympic Team in the Paris 2024 games. Ollie was recently profiled by The Lancet in their 2021 Heat & Health Series, and his research program has been featured in Science and Nature highlighting its lead global contribution to protecting society’s most vulnerable to the heat. Since 2024, Ollie has served as Chair of the “Hazards and Impacts” Working Group for the Global Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change team.

Jeff Seow, Director of Centre for the Science of Urban Nature, National Parks Board, Singapore

Jeff Seow is Director of Research at the Centre for Science of Urban Nature, National Parks Board (NParks), Singapore. He leads a team conducting application-focused research in urban greenery, arboriculture, sustainable landscaping, and human–nature interactions in support of Singapore’s City in Nature vision. Previously, Jeff held various positions at NParks including serving as a Director in the Streetscape Department, which manages roadside greenery, and as a Director in the Park Planning Department, responsible for ensuring greenery provision in new developments. He is a certified ISA arborist.

 

Program

Arrival and Welcome

8:00

Arrival, registration, coffee and networking

8:30

Introduction and housekeeping

Molly Upstill (Event MC), Founder and Director of The Top Half and Tropics PR & Communications.

 

Welcome to Country – Larrakia

Session 1 – Health impacts of heat

8:45

Keynote: Health impacts of heat extremes

Ollie Jay, Professor of Heat and Health, University of Sydney

9:15

Sweat, Strain & Sirens: Extreme heat, humidity and emergency department demand in the NT.

Alyson Wright, Acting Executive Director, NT Health

9:35

Beyond temperature: Advanced thermal comfort metrics for tropical urban living

Stephen Cook, CSIRO

9:50

Morning Tea

Session 2 – Place-based innovations for cooling and greening

10:15

Keynote: Nature solutions for future Singapore

Dr Jeff Seow, Director of Centre for the Science of Urban Nature, National Parks Board, Singapore

10:35

Engineered shade using climbing plants: case studies from Darwin, Cairns and Singapore.

Dr Natthanij Soonsawad, CSIRO

10:50

 City of Darwin Place and Liveability Plan and Interactive Liveability Platform

Doug Fotheringham and Benazir Vishnu Mohan, City of Darwin

 

Panel Session: Planning achievements, barriers and opportunities for Cities of Darwin and Palmerston.

Session 3 – Creating a cooler and more vibrant Darwin

11:30

Soapbox talks: finding opportunities for collaboration.

3-minute community presentations.

 

Darwin Living Lab status and future research

Dr Tim Muster, CSIRO, Darwin Living Lab Project Manager

12:30

Symposium Close

 

 

4 pm

Optional Walking Tour: 1 hour walking tour of heat mitigation and greening projects in Darwin city.  Meet at Corner of Esplanade and Herbert Street.