Sports stars and heat-prone workers to benefit from research


We all know that living, working and playing sport in TNQ can be a hot and sweaty business but help is at hand thanks to a $1.5 million grant to better understand and develop health technologies to combat the effects of heat.

The CQUniversity Taipans will be at the forefront of the research with one of the first aims of the two-year project being to test cutting-edge sports clothing technology to monitor player fatigue and movements.

The funding for the Healthy Living Design Hub was announced this week at the AusBioTech Conference in Adelaide.

The funding will allow CQUniversity researchers and their partners at the CSIRO and Swinburne Uni to support the health sector by developing products and services that focus on the needs of users, including workers required to wear heavy protective gear as well as sports people and coaches using smart garments to track training load and fatigue.

Dr Joshua Guy, a Mackay-based lecturer in Exercise and Sports Sciences, and Dr Grace Vincent, a Senior Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the Appleton Institute in Adelaide, are key to CQUniversity’s involvement.

“The Flagship Program of the HLDH will focus on health technology, with two streams, one focusing on their application for OH&S, and the other on elite and sub-elite sports contexts and populations,” Dr Guy said.

“One of our initial projects with the CQUniversity Cairns Taipans will allow us access to playing and coaching staff for ‘test-bedding’ cutting edge sports technology, such as wearable smart garments to monitor training load, fatigue, and player activity.

“We will also be working on testing solutions for electricity and mining industry workers prone to heat and exhaustion due to the surrounding environment and heavy clothing required.”

As well as the CQUni Taipans, other industry partners include a major transport operator, Richmond Football Club Ltd, Thermal Hyperformance Pty Ltd, and Planet Innovation Pty Ltd.

The program is designed to improve the productivity, competitiveness and innovative capacity of Australia’s medical technology, biotechnology and pharmaceutical sector.