Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance, University of Ljubljana

Dr. Shawnda Morrison (PhD, CSEP-CEP) is a clinical exercise physiologist specialising in extreme environments. Her research interests include thermoregulation, countermeasures to exertional heat strain and paediatric exercise science. She received a Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Canadian Space Agency at the University of Waterloo to lead a series of bedrest studies on location in Toulouse, France, and later, with the European Space Agency at Jozef Stefan Institute in Planica, Slovenia which investigated the deleterious effects of physical inactivity and confinement. Aside from her ongoing, collaborative efforts with the SLOfit team at the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Sport, she recently completed a two-year research stay at the National University of Singapore as Technical Lead for the project ‘Cooling Singapore 2.0’, an interdisciplinary initiative investigating how physical activity in hot, humid conditions impacts vulnerable populations like children and older adults. Her studies on the neuromuscular demands of passive heat stress and cardiovascular strain have led her to advocate for greater public health engagement on harnessing physical activity as a climate change countermeasure, especially in the paediatric population.

Dr. Morrison is Principal Investigator or member representative for the Republic of Slovenia on several international initiatives aimed to get kids moving, including: WHO-HEPA Europe, Outdoor Play Canada, the FitBack Network, SLOfit, and the Global Youth Fitness Forum. She is Founder of Active Healthy Kids Slovenia, and Executive Board member of the Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance, a non-profit organisation comprising over 700 child physical activity experts, working to achieve its vision of a world of active, healthy kids.