The University of Sydney, Climate Change Built Environment and Mental Health Incubator have approached Shelter NSW to assist in distributing a call for interested Community Housing Organisations (CHPs) to collaborate with the university in an evaluation project that will measure the physical and mental health benefits of the Social Housing Energy Performance Initiative (SHEPI).
The University of Sydney Incubator team is working to build impactful research projects and collaborations that will ultimately help to improve mental health outcomes for individuals and communities within the context of climate change. Read more about the project here.
As part of the work program the team are looking to obtain grant funding through a $2 million Medical Research Future Fund Targeted Call on Climate Change and Mental Health that will enable a rigorous evaluation of the SHEPI to identify the efficacy of the energy performance upgrade program on tenant thermal comfort, energy costs and energy use, as well as on improving mental health of occupants and reducing health system impacts.
The team are expecting, based on successful precedents, to find strong health, especially mental health, and energy use benefits from the SHEPI program.
In order to put forward a well-integrated grant application the University of Sydney Incubator project team are hoping to confirm some early project partners who would be able to collaborate with the research team through the evaluation process. The research team is looking for community housing providers who have received SHEPI funding to upgrade social housing homes by June 2027.
The research team would like to confirm interested project collaborators by Monday 26 May 2025. For further inquiries or to register your interest to collaborate with the University of Sydney project team please email:
- Dr Marlee Bower, Lead Investigator â Senior Research Fellow, University of Sydney: marlee.bower@sydney.edu.au Â
- Jo McClellan, Director Two Good, practitioner investigator:Â jo@twothings.auÂ
You are also welcome to get in touch with Shelter NSW in the first instance to discuss the project proposal further, including the project scope and requirements for collaboration.