Julie Bennett
Senior Research Fellow, Department of Public Health
University of Otago
Dr Julie Bennett has a wide range of public health research interests, with a particular focus on indoor air quality, infectious diseases, housing and health. As a member of the Health Environment and Infection Research Unit at the University of Otago her research activities currently have a strong focus on group A streptococcal infections, acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease. Julie is a member of He Kainga Organa, which was awarded the Prime Minister’s Science Team Prize in 2014.
Research interests
- Indoor air quality;
- Rheumatic fever;
- Housing and health;
- Infectious diseases.
Publications
8 November 2023
Good ventilation not only reduces our exposure to air pollutants and infectious diseases, it also enables us to think more clearly, sleep better and be more productive. Aotearoa NZ lags behind comparable countries on indoor ventilation standards.
28 February 2022
Ventilation is a key and relatively underutilised public health measure that can reduce the risk of Covid-19 transmission. Last year we outlined the need for adequate ventilation in schools and highlighted the need for nationwide ventilation surveillance. In this blog we provide an overview of the results of carbon dioxide (CO2) monitoring carried out in a variety of schools at the start of the Omicron wave. These results highlight that excessive levels of CO2 can build up in classrooms – and that this can be prevented by window opening.
24 February 2022
Aotearoa New Zealand is in a major Omicron outbreak. With Covid-19 cases doubling every few days, what opportunities are there to strengthen the mitigation approaches in early education settings? In this blog we discuss what is needed to protect this group of children and their whānau as we navigate the next phases of the Covid-19 outbreak. There remains substantial scope for further risk reduction measures, especially relating to improving ventilation, increasing outdoor activities and appropriate mask use.
27 October 2021
In this blog, we discuss how to use carbon dioxide (CO2) measures as a proxy for estimating the level of ventilation in a building and to guide ventilation improvements in schools and workplaces.
26 October 2021
Indoor environments increase the risk of transmission for the virus that causes Covid-19 (SARS-CoV-2) by containment and concentration of the airborne virus. However, to reduce such transmission, the particles that carry the virus can be diluted by bringing in as much outdoor air as possible. When good ventilation is not possible, air purifiers can be used as an additional preventative measure to reduce the number of virus-laden particles.
21 September 2021
New Zealand classrooms are often crowded, damp, mouldy and poorly ventilated – prime conditions for Covid to spread. And with new strains affecting children more than ever, making our schools safer should be an urgent priority
10 September 2021
Ventilation is a valuable protection that works well in combination with other pandemic control measures such as vaccination and mask use, with additional benefits for improving children’s learning and concentration.
30 August 2021
The importance of indoor aerosol transmission of the virus that causes COVID-19 is increasingly recognised. In this blog we address the particular need to improve ventilation in three settings: (i) homes with contacts who are self-isolating; (ii) indoor workplaces that have essential workers; and (iii) MIQ facilities.
6 April 2021
This paper assesses the contribution of heating and household factors to indoor NO2 in almost 350 homes and reports on the reduction in NO2 levels due to heater replacement.
1 March 2019
Children are particularly vulnerable to the health effects of air pollution and as they spend a large proportion of time at school, this is an important environment for children’s exposure to air pollution. Understanding the factors that influence indoor air quality in schools is critical for the assessment and control of indoor air pollution.
27 February 2018
This seminar-style course provided an essential introduction to what air pollution is and what issues are unique to New Zealand. This course explored how air pollution affects the health and wellbeing of people and what factors we can change to reduce the numbers of hospital admissions and deaths due to air pollution.
1 August 2011
There is growing evidence that asthma symptoms can be aggravated or events triggered by exposure to indoor nitrogen dioxide (NO2) emitted from unflued gas heating.