Rate My Professor Simon Hodder

Professor Simon Hodder is a Professor in Environmental Ergonomics in the School of Design and Creative Arts at Loughborough University. He earned his BSc in Ergonomics and PhD in Applied Ergonomics from Loughborough University. A chartered ergonomist with over 25 years of academic and industrial research experience, Hodder specializes in ergonomics and human factors studies across thermal environments, the built environment, personal protective equipment, transportation including vehicle comfort, virtual reality systems, and workplace and equipment design and evaluation. His research focuses on environmental ergonomics, thermal physiology, clothing science, clothing comfort, thermal perception, haptic perception of clothing and performance, human performance in the heat, heatwave cooling strategies, and the impact of age and ethnicity on thermal comfort, thermal sensitivity, and thermoregulatory responses. Hodder directs the Environmental Ergonomics Research Centre and supervises PhD research on topics such as thermal perception and ethnicity, thermoregulatory responses and ageing, physiological and perceptual responses of the foot, psychophysiological stress and performance in extreme environments, and thermal strain during exercise in the heat.

Hodder plays a pivotal role in international standardization as Chair of ISO/TC159/Scientific Committee 5 on Ergonomics of the Physical Environment, leading strategic development of standards in environmental ergonomics. He is a member of ISO/TC159/SC5/WG1 on Thermal Environments, the primary working group applying thermal ergonomics research to standards, serves as the UK expert for ISO/TC159/SC5/WG4 on Integrated Environments, and chairs CEN TC 122 WG11 on Ergonomics of the Physical Environment. He is an Editor for the journal Ergonomics and contributes to the school's Ergonomics and Design Programmes, teaching modules including DSB301 Shaping Materials for Products, Experiences, & Environments; DCS027 IDMP Industrial Design Major Project; DSP101 Cognitive Ergonomics; DSP104 Environmental Ergonomics; and DSP105 Occupational Ergonomics. His collaborations include research projects with Nissan, the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), Komatsu, and ASHRAE. Key publications encompass 'Air speed and direction affect metabolic and thermoregulatory responses during walking and running in a temperate environment' (Journal of Applied Physiology, 2024), 'Comparing efficacy of different climate indices for predicting labor loss, body temperature, and thermal perception in a wide variety of warm and hot climates' (Journal of Applied Physiology, 2024), 'A thermoregulation model based on the physical and physiological characteristics of Chinese elderly' (Computers in Biology and Medicine, 2024), 'Ten questions concerning the usage of subjective assessment scales in research on indoor environmental quality' (Building and Environment, 2025), and 'The acoustic profiles of emotion: Analyzing the spoken voice in theatre performance' (Voice and Speech Review, 2025).