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United For Global Mental Health is seeking a Consultant to deliver the following project:

Project: Policy brief - Integration of mental health into heat action policy 

Objective: Research and author a policy briefing on how mental health can be best integrated into heat action policy

Location: Global remote (based anywhere with preference for +-8h GMT)

Scope This policy brief will: 

(i) outline how mental health considerations currently feature in heat policies (operationalization of what will be considered a “heat policy” in terms of geographical remit (e.g., national vs municipal) and in terms of policy (e.g., Heat Action Plan, Heat Health Action Plan etc) to be decided together with consultant)

(ii) describe at least 6 case studies (one case study per WHO region) of the successful integration of mental health considerations into heat adaptation and responses;

(iii) provide concrete recommendations for policymakers (with a focus on policymakers working on heat policies, e.g., municipal policymakers working on heat or on relevant topics (e.g., urban development or housing), stakeholders in the Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Health, heat officers in cities, civil protection agencies, meteorological agencies, etc.) 

Proposed budget cap

10,000 GBP (inclusive of VAT/sales tax)

Services

The services provided by the consultant will include: 

• Conduct a narrative review (max. 10 pages) of how mental health features in heat policies [expected time: approximately 10 working days]
• Liaise with the team at Columbia University to consider how to translate the academic paper: A Critical Gap in Addressing Mental Health in Heat-Health Action Plans Worldwide into the policy brief [expected time: approximately 2 working days]
• Coordinate a call for case studies (e.g., on UnitedGMH social media such as LinkedIn, the Global Mental Health Action Network Circle platform, and via targeted outreach to specific climate and health or heat and health communities) looking at the integration of mental health considerations into heat policies. This would also include lived experience accounts. This would entail coordinating the collection, selection, and write-up of the case studies. [expected time: approximately 5 working days]
• In conjunction with the activity above, conduct a scoping exercise/desk review to identify examples of case studies on the integration of mental health considerations into heat policies to identify other possible case studies. If possible this should also include the collection of financial data to make a financial case for the integration of mental health into heat policies [expected time: approximately 5 working days]
• Coordinate the process of developing recommendations from experts (expert identification to be supported by UnitedGMH) on the integration of mental health into heat policies via (i) a virtual roundtable; (ii) a written feedback process on the recommendations.
• Write-up policy brief (max. 20 pages) which should at a minimum include: (i) a snapshot of how mental health currently features in heat policies; (ii) at least 5 case studies of ways in which mental health has been integrated in heat policies; (iii) recommendations (including specific language recommendations) for the integration of mental health into heat policies (these should be aligned with existing guidance, e.g., WHO guidance on Heat Health Action Plans) [expected time: approximately 10 days]
• The consultant will be supervised by Alessandro Massazza (United for Global Mental Health), Robbie Parks (Columbia University), and Emma Lawrance (Climate Cares Centre). In additional, the project team will collaborate closely with the authors of this paper: A Critical Gap in Addressing Mental Health in Heat-Health Action Plans Worldwide

The consultant will be appropriately referenced in all outputs (e.g., authorship on the report etc.).

We may consider transforming the report into an academic publication which the consultant would be welcome to contribute to (based on their capacity). This would however not be part of the deliverables. 

Timeline

• 1st November 2025: Project start
• 1st January 2026: Conclusion of narrative review and coordination with Columbia (steps 1&2) and launch of call for case studies
• 1st March 2026: Call for case studies closing and end of desk review work on collection of case studies (steps 3&4)
• 1st April 2026: Conclusion of recommendation development process via expert consensus (step 5)
• 1st May 2026: Conclusion of write-up of policy brief
• Mid-June (ideally during SB64): Launch of report