Find Kate Hutchins on
MPhil BSc Ex & Sports Sci
Background:
Kate is a current Doctoral candidate at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) and an industry sponsored PhD student with medical technology company WearOptimo under the supervision of Prof Ian Stewart, Assoc. Prof Geoffrey Minett and Dr Anthony Brewer.
Kate has been involved in projects with the QUT E3 lab team since 2018 when she completed a Vacation Research Education Scheme. This project investigated cooling strategies to mitigate physiological strain and prolong work time whilst wearing protective clothing in the heat. Kate presented the findings at the 18th international conference on environmental ergonomics in Amsterdam, 2019.
In 2020, Kate completed a Masters of Philosophy at QUT which examined the influence of female reproductive hormones on the performance of elite cyclist in hot humid conditions.
Kate has a particular interest in female physiology and understanding how women respond while performing in thermally challenging environments. Her objective – to utilise her findings to inform women in athletic and industry settings how to safely and effectively optimise their work in hot conditions.
Women have historically been underrepresented in exercise science and thermophysiology research, as such our understanding of female physiology is limited, and warrants more investigation.
As part of her doctoral studies, Kate is investigating how women respond to cold water immersion, the principal treatment for exertional heat stroke. Her aim is to validate whether the current exertional heat stroke treatment guidelines are safe for women and optimized to protect them.
In collaboration with her industry partner, Kate hopes her work will inform best-practice recommendations that improve the health and safety of industry workers, athletes and the broader community.
Link: doctoral studies hyperlink to project page
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8490-7846
Journal Articles:
Hutchins, K., Minett, G., & Stewart, I. (2022). Treating exertional heat stroke: Limited understanding of the female response to cold water immersion. Front. Physiol. 13, 2408. DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2022.1055810
Link: https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2022.1055810
Conference Proceedings:
Influence of Hormonal Variations on Cycling Performance & Pacing in Hot Humid Conditions
2022 International Conference for Environmental Ergonomics (Niagara Falls, Canada)