A community co-design project, funded by the HEAL Innovation Fund 2023, exploring how the Mt Barker District (Adelaide Hills) can reduce the health burden of wood heater smoke — without ignoring why people rely on wood heat in the first place.
Background
Winter woodsmoke is one of the leading sources of air pollution in many Australian communities, including the Adelaide Hills. Reducing it matters — but decades of campaigns show that telling people to stop burning is not enough.
750 estimated premature deaths per year in Australia attributable to wood heater smoke
3 chronic conditions worsened by fine particulate smoke: asthma, heart disease and diabetes
400+ Mt Barker residents surveyed on their wood heater attitudes and policy preferences
The fine particles in wood heater smoke are small enough to reach deep into the lungs and bloodstream, aggravating chronic illness across the community — not just among wood heater owners themselves. Yet wood heaters remain a practical, valued and often emotionally significant heating choice for many households.
Because the reasons people use wood heaters are social, economic and cultural as much as practical, past smoke-reduction campaigns around Australia have frequently struggled to gain traction. This project set out to test whether a genuinely community-led approach could do better — starting from what Mt Barker residents themselves think a good solution looks like.
Aims and Approach
Rather than starting from a pre-set solution, the project used a structured co-design process — grounded in the Behaviour Change Wheel — to surface what would actually move the needle for this community.
- Participatory workshops & focus group – to understand wood heater owners’ perspectives, emotions and ideas on smoke reduction.
- Two community surveys – Community-wide surveys (owners and non-owners) capturing attitudes to wood heaters and policy options.
- Two tailored interventions – With Council and SA EPA, the evidence shaped two locally-tailored pilots, launched in late winter 2024.
Intervention 1
A social media and flyer campaign aimed at existing wood heater owners, addressing the everyday behaviours behind cleaner burning — built directly from what the workshops revealed about owners’ emotional attachment to their heaters.
Intervention 2
An interactive website helping prospective new residents weigh up heating choices before they move in — targeting new installations, which the team identified as the highest-leverage point for long-term change.
Outcomes and Impact
Knowledge & data assets
New quantitative and qualitative datasets (400+ respondents) on community attitudes to wood heaters and policy — relevant well beyond Mt Barker — plus new social, print and digital assets now in Council’s hands.
Research capability
Built participatory and mixed-methods research skills among early- and mid-career researchers and HDR students, and forged new research–practitioner relationships across the HEAL network.
Health & social impact
Too early to measure directly, given the short project duration and the multi-step path from attitude change to behaviour change to population health outcomes. The knowledge generated is positioned to support larger, longer-term programs.
The project underlines the need for longer-term, better-resourced campaigns that address the emotional and cultural dimensions of wood smoke, alongside financial incentives and regulatory change.
Mt Barker District Council continues to draw on the campaign materials and project learnings in its ongoing winter woodsmoke programs.
Project Team
- Dr Penelope Jones — Senior Research Fellow, University of Tasmania (Lead)
- Prof Fay Johnston — Head of Environmental Health, University of Tasmania
- Dr Kim Jose — Senior Research Fellow, University of Tasmania
- Dr Amanda Wheeler — Senior Research Scientist, CSIRO
- Ms Juliet Nwachukwu — PhD Candidate, University of Tasmania
- Dr Bill Dodd — Knowledge Broker, NHMRC Centre for Safe Air
- Mr Jamie Tann — Manager, Health & Public Safety, Mt Barker District Council
- Ms Lily Do — Team Leader, Environmental Health, Mt Barker District Council
- Ms Morgan Brain — Research Assistant, University of Tasmania
- Mr Kristian Mikhel — PhD Candidate, University of Tasmania
