Supervisory team
LSHTM
- Lead: Dr. Ana Bonell (ana.bonell@lshtm.ac.uk MRC Gambia)
- Prof. Antonio Gasparrini (Antonio.gasparrini@lshtm.ac.uk Department of Public Health, Environments and Society)
Nagasaki University
- Dr Lina Madaniyazi (mailto:lina.madaniyazi@nagasaki-u.ac.jp)
Project
There is clear evidence that maternal exposure to acute and chronic heat stress is associated with multiple adverse birth outcomes. This association, identified from large-scale environmental epidemiological studies, is of growing concern in the face of the climate crisis.1 However there remains several key gaps in the existing evidence. One is real-world data from areas that are particularly exposed to extreme heat. Furthermore, understanding biological pathways to explain this association is missing and therefore developing evidence-based interventions are hindered. [2,3]
West Africa has been identified as particularly vulnerable to both extreme heat exposure and the health impacts of this.[1,4]
This PhD project will be nested within a larger Wellcome Trust funded project exploring the physiological and biochemical changes that occur when pregnant women are exposed to extreme heat (Heat In Pregnancy Study - HIPS). The project is based at the Medical Research Council Unit The Gambia at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (MRCG@LSHTM). HIPS is an observational prospective cohort study of 762 pregnant women living in three environmental areas (cool coastal, hot urban and hot rural). Outcomes of interest include maternal physiology and sleep, the materno-placental interface, pregnancy outcomes and new born neuro-behaviour.
The PhD will focus on understanding and characterising the exposure to heat and heat stress of participants (pregnant women living in The Gambia). The student will be expected to spend around 18 months in The Gambia participating in field work and working directly with the supervisors based there. Data collection will include a series of monitoring campaigns of heat and heat stress, including deploying multiple low-cost sensors, capturing and analysing data from thermal drone imagery, evaluation of weather station data and utilisation of global-grided climate data. Indoor heat and heat stress will be evaluated with low cost devices and participants’ directly measured exposures will be taken at intermittent time points.
Multilinear land use regression modelling will be used to develop a predictive model for each 50x50m grid cell. This will then be expanded across all participant areas of residency to assign heat stress exposure throughout pregnancy and for each gestational age week.
Secondly this PhD project will explore ecological, topographical and land-use factors that effect heat exposure and consider the impact of green-space and blue-space on heat and heat stress exposure to consider potential nature-based solution effects.
Lastly, the detailed microclimate maps will be used to explore the heat and heat stress exposure in The Gambia that can be attributed to human-induced climate change.[5]
References
- IPCC. Global Warming of 1.5°C. An IPCC Special Report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty: World Meteorological Organization, 2018
- Bonell A, Part C, Okomo U, Cole R, Hajat S, Kovats S, et al. An expert review of environmental heat exposure and stillbirth in the face of climate change: Clinical implications and priority issues. Bjog. 2023.
- Bonell A, Sonko B, badjie J, et al. Environmental heat stress on maternal physiology and fetal blood flow in pregnant subsistence farmers in The Gambia, West Africa: an observational cohort study. Lancet Planetary Health 2022
- Weber T, Haensler A, Rechid D, Pfeifer S, Eggert B, Jacob D. Analyzing Regional Climate Change in Africa in a 1.5, 2, and 3°C Global Warming World. Earth's Future 2018;6(4): 643-55.
- Vicedo-Cabrera AM, Scovronick N, Sera F, Royé D, Schneider R, Tobias A, et al. The burden of heat-related mortality attributable to recent human-induced climate change. Nature Climate Change. 2021;11(6):492-500.
The role of LSHTM and NU in this collaborative project
Dr Bonell is principal investigator on the underlying Wellcome funded grant on which this project is based. She will provide support and supervision in the setting, fieldwork and data collection. Dr Madanyazi is an expert in environmental epidemiology and Prof Gasparrini is a biostatistician and epidemiologists and a world-leader in environmental spatio-temporal modelling and small-area analysis. Combined, the supervisory team compromises a complementary and interdisciplinary mixture of expertise. Additional support will be provided from the larger HIPS study team.
The project will benefit from engagement with the Centre on Planetary Health and Climate Change and the local planetary health group in The Gambia which has strong links with local governmental officials in both the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Environment.
Particular prior educational requirements for a student undertaking this project
- Master’s degree in epidemiology, environmental health, climate change and health or a related field.
- Training or experience in handling large datasets and conducting quantitative analysis.
Desirable:
- Experience of using R programming language.
- Interest in climate change research and/or maternal health
Skills we expect a student to develop/acquire whilst pursuing this project
The candidate will develop skills in interdisciplinary research skills, spatio-temporal mapping. The will be expected to become proficient in advanced statistical analysis in R including working with large datasets on environmental exposures.