Proceedings of 9 th Windsor Conference: Making Comfort Relevant Cumberland Lodge, Windsor, UK, 7‐10 April 2016. Network for Comfort and Energy Use in Buildings, http://nceub.org.uk A study of thermal comfort and thermal preferences in the upland tropical climate of Uganda Mark Olweny, Leslie Lubowa Mugagga, Tadeo Nedala Faculty of the Built Environment, Uganda Martyrs University, Kampala, Uganda Abstract: Upland tropical climates, are often regarded as ‘benign’, but are of increasing concern, particularly with regard to thermal comfort in the context of climate change induced temperature rises. Further, in light of increased economic prosperity and associated lifestyle changes, that suggest a trend toward the use of mechanical ventilation and air‐conditioning equipment, how people perceive, respond and adapt to climatic conditions emerges as an area of interest in these regions. This paper reports the findings of an ongoing study investigating thermal comfort of university students in the central region of Uganda. The study was undertaken in two parts: the initial phase (reported in this paper), looking at thermal comfort in student’s accommodation, and the second in teaching spaces, both carried out during the dry (hot) season. Thermal comfort parameters collected include: Temperature, and Relative Humidity, as well as personal adaptations such as clo and Met. Questionnaires were used to garner student’s perceptions and acceptability of their thermal environment and other subjective measures. The findings of this study indicate a neutral temperature of 26.8°C derived using the Griffiths method. The wide range of comfort votes suggest varied preferences and adaptations for this upland tropical climate and the complexities related to thermal comfort in naturally ventilated building. Keywords: Naturally ventilated buildings, Upland tropical climate, Students, Uganda, Thermal comfort, Thermal preferences. 1. Introduction Interest in studies of human responses to thermal environments in the tropics has grown significantly over the past few decades. With the increasing prevalence of air‐conditioning equipment, and buildings designed ‘in spite of’ the prevailing climate, greater attention to the conditions people in tropical regions perceive as comfortable is needed to ensure comfort in naturally ventilated buildings, and to better manage demand for air‐conditioning in mechanically ventilated ones. This has also been prompted by a recognition that application of thermal comfort standards such as ASHRAE‐55 (2010), largely derived and promulgated from the temperate regions of the world, may contribute to increased demand for scarce energy resources with increased use of air‐conditioning, through incorrectly set thermostats. In the context of Africa, research on the performance of buildings has been carried out for over 60 years, with landmark publications such as Fry and Drew (1964), and Koenigsberger et al (1973) making a significant contribution to the understanding of building performance in tropical Africa.