Darwin Living Lab Symposium 2025

Adapting to heat through community focussed solutions

The Darwin Living Lab 2025 Symposium was held at CDU’s Danala on the 11 September 2025. The symposium provided an opportunity to share with the community its work to progress Darwin as a cool and thriving capital of the North. The event bought together community, industry and government practitioners, to learn and exchange local knowledge on heat mitigation, urban planning and tropical design.  

This years’ symposium had 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 discussed 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 hosted a ‘soapbox session’ where we encouraged local and community voices to share their passion on how the public spaces of Darwin can be improved and made cooler and more vibrant. 

 

Event outputs will be added to this page shortly. Please check back soon.

 

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 Greater Darwin

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.

Speaker profiles

Master of Ceremonies

Molly Upstill

Founder and Director of The Top Half and Tropics PR & Communications

 

Molly Upstill is a Darwin-based MC, who’s spent a decade working in the media space. A mum of three, she’s a lover of all things Top End and enjoys nothing more than a cold rosè and a wet season storm.

Keynotes 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.

Symposium speakers

Dr Alyson Wright

Acting Executive Director, Health Statistics and Informatics, Public Health Division NT Health

Dr Alyson Wright is a Principal Epidemiologist with the Public Health Division of NT Health, leading the Epidemiology team in Health Statistics and Informatics to deliver robust population health data for the NT. With over 20 years’ experience across research, policy, and community development, she specialises in Aboriginal health, health inequalities, and chronic disease epidemiology. Alyson has managed epidemiological surveillance during the COVID-19 pandemic, contributed to national advisory groups, and published widely on public health, tobacco control, and social determinants of health. Her PhD examined cultural determinants of wellbeing in Central Australia.

 

Doug Fotheringham

Manager Planning and Place, City of Darwin

Doug Fotheringham is the Manager Planning and Place at City of Darwin, with over 20 years’ experience in planning and policy across public and private sectors. Holding qualifications in public administration, urban and regional planning and rural resource management, he is a PIA member with expertise in development assessment and strategic planning. Doug specialises in integrating green infrastructure principles with planning frameworks and is committed to enhancing Darwin’s liveability and sense of place through innovative, place-based strategies and actions.

Benazir Vishnu Mohan, Data Scientist, City of Darwin

Benazir Vishnu Mohan is a Data Analyst at City of Darwin, where she plays a key role in enabling data-informed decision-making to support a healthier and more liveable city. With a background in Biochemical Engineering and a Master’s in Data Science from Charles Darwin University, she brings over a decade of experience in the data industry, built on a strong foundation in health research and data management. Passionate about making a positive impact in the Northern Territory, Benazir leads key initiatives including the Liveability Platform and the Data Insights Platform, helping enhance the city’s data maturity and community outcomes.

 

Dr Natthanij Soonsawad

Research Scientist, CSIRO

Dr Natthanij Soonsawad is an environmental research scientist at CSIRO with a background in ecology and environmental planning. Her work focuses on urban greening to reduce environmental degradation and build climate resilience. She has contributed to a range of urban sustainability projects, including urban living labs, climate risk assessments for CSIRO, assessing tree ecosystem services, developing a tree canopy equivalent tool, and advancing resource efficiency in the built environment.

 

Stephen Cook

Research Scientist, CSIRO

Stephen Cook is a Senior Researcher within CSIRO Environment’s urban research area. Stephen has extensive urban sustainability research experience, which has focused on collaborating with industry and government research partners to overcome social and technical barriers for transitioning to more sustainable and climate adapted cities.

Dr Tim Muster

Principal Research Scientist, CSIRO

Dr Tim Muster is a Principal Research Scientist at CSIRO. He leads CSIRO’s Urban Living Lab initiative which seeks to curate a portfolio of innovation precincts that promote real-world urban experimentation and learning to advance outcomes toward liveability, sustainability and resilience. Dr Muster has been involved in the development and operation of both the Darwin Living Lab and Sydney Science Park CSIRO Urban Living Lab since 2019.