George Havenith

Professor George Havenith studied Mathematical Biology and Human Physiology at Utrecht University, after which he joined the TNO-Human Factors Institute in the Netherlands.

There he worked for 14 years in the area of Human Thermal Physiology and Clothing Science, at the end heading the Thermal Physiology group. In this period he also worked for one year at Pennsylvania State University, and gained his PhD in Medical Physiology from Nijmegen University, studying physiological responses to heat stress, and producing a simulation model that allowed the impact of individual characteristics of people on their heat stress response to be studied.

At Loughborough University where he now leads the Environmental Ergonomics Research Group, his research covers two main topic areas, one being Human Thermal Physiology/Environmental Ergonomics, and the other being heat and mass (vapour) transfer through clothing. Though these are quite distinct subject areas in terms of research methods and knowledge background, they interact in most research application projects, and are then also supplemented with a third area: clothing ergonomics.

His special contribution to these fields is the multidisciplinary integration of physiology, physics and ergonomics. His work spans experimental studies, to the development of theoretical frameworks to explain observations, and subsequently to the final application of the knowledge in the field. He produced a number of key papers in these areas, with several of his research methods and clothing heat transfer equations now incorporated in ISO and EN standards.

Many of his research projects and publications involve partners from abroad. He has published widely (over 160 publications in scientific books, journals and conference proceedings as well as over 100 consultancy research reports). He is an editor of the 'European Journal of Applied Physiology', international editor for the' Journal of the Human-Environment System', and on the editorial board of 'Ergonomics', 'International Journal of Occupational Safety and Ergonomics' and 'Journal of Sports Engineering and Technology'.

He advises a number of renowned international companies on thermal physiology and clothing science.