Heat stress with Dr Claudia Di Napoli

Watch this video to hear Dr Claudia Di Napoli tell Emily and Nick about how our health is connected to our environment and the link between climate change and heat stress. While heat waves kill people directly through exposing people to heat stress, not all the effects of climate change are so direct and Claudia explains some of the less obvious associations. Nick and Emily also ask Claudia about how pollution affects our health and who is most vulnerable.

Claudia mentions the Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) which is a way of representing the thermal (heat and cold) stress of the human body. It’s calculated using an advanced model of human thermoregulation coupled with a clothing insulation model. The model estimates the effect of air temperature, wind speed, water vapour pressure and radiation on the human body. You can see the results on a stress category scale ranging from extreme cold stress to extreme heat stress.

About Dr Claudia Di Napoli

Dr Claudia Di Napoli is a Research Fellow in the School of Agriculture, Policy and Development at University of Reading. She is interested in heatwaves and weather extremes that pose a threat to human health. Understanding past and future trends of such weather-related health hazards is at the focus of her research.

Claudia is currently one of the key contributors to the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change. You’ll explore the latest report (2020) and the wider impact of climate change on our health in the next step.