Self-Funded PhD Projects

Project 1

Built to Protect: Developing a Climate-Responsive Building Technology Framework to Prevent Systemic Elder Abuse and Neglect in Vulnerable Communities

Background: Older adults face heightened exposure to climate-related hazards as environmental stressors intensify globally. Functional decline, reduced mobility, and limited access to adaptive building systems increase vulnerability to heatwaves, flooding, humidity, and power outages (Figueiredo et al., 2024). Building technology failures such as inadequate thermal insulation, poor ventilation, inaccessible facilities, and unreliable utilities can unintentionally contribute to systemic elder neglect, especially during extreme weather events (Al-humaiqani & Al-ghamdi, 2022). These built-environment failures disproportionately affect older adults, particularly in regions where construction and environmental standards are not aligned with the needs of ageing populations. Although research on healthy ageing has expanded, limited evidence exists on how building technology can be leveraged to protect older adults from climate-induced neglect and abuse. This study seeks to develop and validate a climate-responsive building technology framework tailored toward preventing elder neglect in vulnerable communities.

Aim: To develop a scientific framework for climate-responsive building technology that reduces the risk of elder abuse and neglect in climate-vulnerable communities.

Methods: A sequential mixed methods approach will be adopted, rolled out in multiple phases.
Phase 1 (Scoping Review): A scoping review will be conducted to identify how building technology systems contribute to or prevent elder neglect under climate stress. This phase will inform construct development for subsequent empirical work.

Phase 2 (Expert Interviews and Case Audits): Built environment professionals, gerontologists, and aged care workers will be interviewed to explore lived experiences, and post-occupancy audits will be conducted in selected elder-dense buildings.

Phase 3 (Questionnaire Development and Validation): A survey will be administered to a large sample of professionals and facility users to measure constructs such as climate-responsive building technologies, elder-sensitive systems, policy responsiveness, and neglect risk. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses will be conducted to validate the measurement model.

Phase 4 (Framework Modelling): Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) will be used to assess the causal relationships among the constructs, and a final framework will be developed and validated.

Phase 5 (Stakeholder Engagement): The framework will be presented to policymakers, standards bodies, and aged care infrastructure designers through stakeholder workshops, policy briefs, and implementation guides.

Setting, participants, and sampling: Participants will include aged care providers, older adults aged 60 years and above, and built-environment professionals. Purposive sampling will be used for Phase 2 (N = 30), and expert raters in Phase 3 (N = 40–50). A larger representative sample will be recruited for Phase 4.

Key terms: Building Technology, Climate Resilience, Elder Abuse, Neglect, Ageing, Built Environment, Mixed Methods, Structural Equation Modelling

Supervisor(s): Dr Nestor Asiamah (Univcersity of Essex, UK) and Dr Nana Benyi Ansah (Accra Technical University, Ghana)

References

Al-humaiqani, M. M., & Al-ghamdi, S. G. (2022). The built environment resilience qualities to climate change impact : Concepts, frameworks, and directions for future research. Sustainable Cities and Society, 80(November 2021), 103797. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2022.103797

Figueiredo, T., Midão, L., Rocha, P., Cruz, S., Lameira, G., Conceição, P., Ramos, R. J. G., Batista, L., Corvacho, H., Almada, M., Martins, A., Rocha, C., Ribeiro, A., Alves, F., & Costa, E. (2024). The interplay between climate change and ageing: A systematic review of health indicators. PLoS ONE, 19(4 April), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0297116

Project 2

Climate change anxiety: a 6-month follow-up study assessing prevalence and contextual correlates

Background: Older adults are among the groups most vulnerable to climate change (Asiamah et al., 2025; Choi et al., 2023), but a few studies have quantified climate anxiety in this population and utilised multiple independent samples. In the Middle East, no study has assessed the prevalence of climate anxiety in older adults, and little is known about the association of climate anxiety with socioeconomic and contextual factors in this context. Given the increasing rate of population ageing, an assessment of the prevalence and correlates of climate anxiety is imperative.

Aim: To quantify climate anxiety and stratify it by demographic, socioeconomic, health-related, and contextual factors.

Methods: A repeated cross-sectional design will be adopted. Data will be collected on two independent representative samples of adults aged 60 years or older in Saudi Arabia. We will collect data on the first sample at baseline and on the second sample at a 6-month follow-up. The participants will be selected through multistage sampling after the minimum sample size required is calculated for each wave. The data will be analysed with multiple linear regression and Analysis of Covariance. Key measures are climate anxiety, demographic variables, socioeconomic status, successful ageing indicators, behavioural factors (i.e., self-medication, healthcare utilization frequency, and suicide ideation), and contextual factors (e.g., population density, type of city, and city size).

Practical Significance: This study will contribute to profiling older adults experiencing severe climate anxiety in Saudi Arabia. The implications of severe climate anxiety for healthcare utilisation will also be explored, guiding policymakers and the government to meet the potential healthcare needs of adults experiencing severe climate anxiety.

Supervisor(s) – Dr Nestor Asiamah (University of Essex, UK); Prof Hafiz T.A. Khan (University of West London, UK), and Professor Andre Hajek (University of Hamburg, Germany)

Key terms: Climate anxiety, climate psychology, prevalence, Saudi Arabia

References

Asiamah, N., Mensah, H. K., Ansah, E. W., Eku, E., Ansah, N. B., Danquah, E., Yarfi, C., Aidoo, I., Opuni, F. F., & Agyemang, S. M. (2025). Association of optimism, self-efficacy, and resilience with life engagement among middle-aged and older adults with severe climate anxiety: Sensitivity of a path model. Journal of Affective Disorders, 380, 607-619.

Choi, E. Y., Lee, H., & Chang, V. W. (2023). Cumulative exposure to extreme heat and trajectories of cognitive decline among older adults in the USA. J Epidemiol Community Health, 77(11), 728-735.