There are a number of exciting events associated with indoor and outdoor air, public health and building design in the last few months of 2023! We’ve provided a round up so you don’t miss any opportunities to share knowledge and connect with the community.
If there’s anything we’ve missed, then email contact@breathingcity.org and we’ll add it to the list!
| Date | Event | Location |
| 20.09.2023 | Geneva Health Forum and WHO Europe Indoor Air Conference | Online / Bern |
| 04.10.2023 | Environmental Policy: From Evidence to Impact. A Global Environmental Measurement and Monitoring Centre Summit and Glasgow Environmental Monitoring of Indoor and Outdoor Air (GEMINOA) Project Launch | Scotland: Glasgow |
| 10.10.2023 | Institute of Air Quality Management (IAQM) Routes to Clean Air | England: Manchester |
| 08.11.2023 | National Air Quality Conference | England: London |
| 08.11.2023 | World Ventil8 Day | Varied |
| 15-16.11.2023 | UKHSA Conference | England: Leeds |
| 05.12.2023 | UKHSA Annual Outdoor and Indoor Air Pollution Research Review Meeting | England: Manchester |
| 06.12.2023 | UKHSA Air Quality and Public Health Stakeholder meeting | England: Manchester |
HEICCAM seminar, 31 July, 1pm – 2pm
Co-developing tools to reduce exposure to PM2.5 in Scotland
Amy McCarron (University of Stirling) will talk about co-developing tools to reduce exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in Scotland.
“Amy is a PhD candidate based within Stirling’s Biological and Environmental Sciences department and her work focuses on developing sustainable behaviour change interventions to reduce fine particulate matter exposure of people who suffer from asthma. This research spans several disciplines including environmental geography/science, public health, social science and psychology.
The event will be held in-person in the Crew Building (King’s Buildings campus), and live-streamed via Zoom. Please select the correct FREE ticket (in-person or online) at checkout to make planning easier for us.”
RECLAIM Network Plus conference 11 September 2023, 10am – 4pm
RECLAIM Network Plus are hosting a conference taking place at the University of Surrey. The event will provide an opportunity to network with city officials, people from business and industry, NGO’s and academics from right across the globe who have a passion for making communities greener, more resilient and prosperous. It will also showcase research undertaken so far across the network. Please visit the event website to view the exciting agenda for the day.
RECLAIM (Reclaiming Forgotten Cities – Turning cities from vulnerable spaces to healthy spaces for people) is a £1.2m EPSRC-funded Network Plus grant. It is led by the University of Surrey’s Global Centre for Clean Air Research (GCARE) in collaboration with the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Universities of Bath, Bangor and Warwick.
RECLAIM Network Plus is a ‘one-stop-shop’ for towns and cities to find the information and support you need to install green and blue infrastructure in your communities and to put you in touch with others with similar experiences. Green and blue infrastructure related topics that will feature include: clean air, parks, trees, flooding, biodiversity, health & wellbeing.
Clean Air day on Thursday 15 June
https://www.actionforcleanair.org.uk/campaigns/clean-air-day
10:30 Online
the All Party Parliamentary Group on Air Pollution will be co-hosting a panel event with Global Action Plan and Alzheimer’s Research UK to explore the latest evidence linking air pollution to mental health and brain conditions. Speakers: Dr Susan Mitchell, Head of Policy at Alzheimer’s Research . Professor Frank Kelly, Imperial College London Larissa Lockwood, Director of Clean Air , Global Action Plan.
To register, visit: https://globalactionplan.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_2Fcxoj0eQy2ImFQxdMNpuA#/registration
14:00-15:00 Online
TRANSITION Clean Air Network are hosting a webinar: “The future of hydrogen in transport – our route to net zero?” Join for an interesting and engaging discussion about the role of hydrogen in transport systems and implications for the environment, economy and human health.
Register your free place online now: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-future-of-hydrogen-in-transport-our-route-to-net-zero-tickets-636565312987
16:00 – 19:00 The Exchange Birmingham
Join the West Midlands Air team at The Exchange for a West Midlands-focused discussion around particulate matter (PM2.5) and an opportunity to network with colleagues interested in clean air, health and planning from across the region. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/clean-air-day-event-new-pm25-targets-implications-for-the-west-midlands-tickets-609346430577?aff=ebdssbcategorybrowse
TAPAS and SAQN: Joint Online Networking Session: Indoor Air Measurements
Date: Thursday 26th January 2023
Time: 11:30-12:30
With the publication of the Indoor Air Quality report by Defra’s Air Quality Expert Group, it is a good time to talk about indoor air measurements. SAQN, with TAPAS, will jointly present their next regular online networking session on ‘Indoor Air Measurements’. The featured presentations will include a live demonstration of classroom ventilation controlled via an automated window system connected to air quality and weather sensors both inside and outside the classroom, and an update on one of SAQN’s Proof of Concept studies. If you would like to join this joint networking session and/or give a 1-minute pitch at this session, please follow the link for registration.
CleanAir4V
- On Wednesday 1st March 2022 CleanAir4V will be hosting a Stakeholder event in Birmingham. This will be organised in collaboration with Connected Places Catapult (CPC). If you would like to be involved please let Eleanor know on e.holt@bham.ac.uk.
- The CleanAir4V Pilot Study is continuing to recruit. If you have Asthma or COPD and would like to get involved and share your experiences of Indoor Air Pollution, or know anyone who may be interested, please contact Eleanor on e.holt@bham.ac.uk.
UK Clean Air
On 7th March 2023 UK Clean Air are being represented at the Future Build event in London titled “Indoor Air Pollution in Buildings: why it matters”. More information can be found here.
TAPAS
TAPAS (Tackling Air Pollution at School) are hosting another whole network meeting on 9th March 2023 at St Matthew’s Conference Centre, London SW1P 2BU.
Tracy Enger, Program Manager at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and head of the U.S EPA Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools program, will be the keynote speaker for the day. We will also hear short presentations from TAPAS students and early career researchers. A main focus for the day will be to network with our industry partners and discuss the last year of the TAPAS project. Please save the date and register your interest on Eventbrite.
For more information about this please see their website.
TAPAS ‘Engaging with Schools’
TAPAS hosted their second full network meeting ‘Engaging with Schools’.
Date: Wednesday 19th October
Location: The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, England, CB2 1RP
Time: 11:00 – 15:00
Agenda for the day
11:00 Welcome refreshments
11:30 Opening remarks – Prof Paul Linden
11:40 Verity Cook, Department for Education
12:05 Clive Rosewell, Headteacher of Willowfield School and TAPAS Advisory board member
12:30 Breakout Session: 3 top tips for engaging with schools
12:45 Discussion
13:00 – 13:45 Lunch
13:45 Hannah Battram, Global Action Plan
14:10 Vimal Bedia and Katie Puplett, Policy Officers, Children and Young People’s Transformation Programme
14:20 Gina Eyles, Asthma Specialist Nurse, Children and Young People’s Transformation Programme
14:45 Closing discussion and remarks
15:00 Session Ends
Series of ECR specific seminars being held by HEICCAM
Fri, 7 October 2022 10:00 – 13:00 and future events listed here
The first HEICCAM ECR online seminar aims to introduce R statistical software to air quality researchers, including mapping applications. Click hyperlink for EventBrite page.
Air quality is a pervasive and long-lasting problem. Although people spend the majority of their time indoors, air pollution epidemiology generally ignores the indoor environment which is a significant modifier of exposure partly due to the relative difficulty of obtaining detailed measurements in homes. Low-cost sensor technologies enable the collection of measurements at high spatial and temporal resolution in a way that has not been possible before. The acquisition of unprecedented and diverse volumes of environmental data from multiple sources calls for innovative methodologies for big data assimilation, analysis and modelling. The first part of the seminar aims to introduce R statistical software to air quality researchers. We will use a small sample of measurements collected in kitchens of volunteers to demonstrate how we can extract useful information to inform indoor air quality modelling studies. In the second part, the R environment will be used to map modelled indoor and outdoor air pollution concentrations across different spatial resolutions, to estimate exposure under a range of environmental and housing policy scenarios. This allows for the spatial distribution of air pollution exposure to be evaluated, which may be implicated in health inequalities.
The resulting indoor air quality modelling kit has well-quantified accuracy and delivers scientific rigour, policy impact and community engagement. It enables air pollution epidemiology to explore associations between detailed personal exposure and health under future scenarios and interactions between indoor and outdoor emissions, changing societal trends and multifactorial vulnerabilities as we move towards net zero. Additionally, it can provide the necessary underpinning scientific information to engineers to transform the potential conflict between energy efficiency and indoor air quality as we adapt to a changing climate.
Biographies
Lia Chatzidiakou is a Research Associate at the Centre for Atmospheric Science, Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge. Lia has an extensive background in the fields of air quality measurements, activity profiling and quantification of health impacts.
Lauren Ferguson is a Research Fellow at the Institute for Environmental Design and Engineering, University College London. Her expertise lies in developing large population exposure models to environmental hazards, such air pollution and environmental heat, quantifying how exposure varies across different subgroups of the population and geographical regions.
BioAirNet workshops – Assessment of bioaerosol exposures and their associated health impacts
BioAirNet is organising a series of three virtual workshops on the topic of assessment of bioaerosol exposures and their associated health impacts in September.
They are looking for people with expertise in bioaerosol exposure assessment and/or measurement of the biological responses or health outcomes resulting from bioaerosol exposures. They hope to gather a small but strong working community of practice that spans disciplines and locations so that they can use their expertise to identify where the knowledge gaps are and how to address these.
They intend to create a collaborative position paper on the assessment of bioaerosol exposures and their associated health impacts. The participants will be invited to contribute to this paper as a named authors. Workshops’ aim, format, timing and registration details can be accessed on the BioAirNet webpage
ASBP Healthy Buildings Conference 2022
The Alliance for Sustainable Building Products’ Healthy Buildings Conference returns for a 6th year, taking place online on Thursday 24th February 2022, 2-5pm. The conference will feature expert speakers at the forefront of their professions, with talks on indoor air quality and healthy product research, important new health & wellbeing standards, and cutting-edge case studies.
Programme
- 14:10 KEYNOTE: Impact of building materials on indoor air quality and research around comparison of standard materials and low emission materials – Professor Nic Carslaw, Professor in Indoor Air Chemistry, University of York
- 14:30 Bio-based products and formaldehyde-free binders – Professor Avtar Matharu, Director of Green Chemistry, University of York
- 14:50 CASE STUDY: The Phoenix Project, Lewes: Local and sustainable materials on a meaningful scale, joined up thinking on Build and Design and the ‘Impact Framework for Remarkable Places’ – Andy Tugby, Site Manager, Human Nature
- 15:10 Q&A15:25 Breakout rooms and networking
- 15:50 An update on PAS3003, BS40102 H&W and indoor air quality studies – Dave Kieft, Managing Director, EFT Energy Consultants
- 16:05 PAS 6463: Design for the mind – Neurodiversity and the built environment – Jean Hewitt, Senior Inclusive Design Consultant, Buro Happold
- 16:20 Transparency and fighting against greenwash – New building product code for construction product information – Amanda Long, Chief Executive, Considerate Constructors Scheme
- 16:35 CASE STUDY: Velindre Hospital and research on benefits to disadvantaged and marginalised people in getting involved with natural building – Mark McKenna, Founding Director, Down to Earth
- 16:50 Q&A
- 17:00 Close
Key details
Thursday 24th February 2022. 14:00-17:00
Location: Online (Zoom)
Registration: £37.50 for members of [YOUR ORGANISATION NAME]. £25 for ASBP members; £50 general admittance. 25% early bird discount until 21/01. All tickets exclusive of VAT.
Further information and to book: https://asbp.org.uk/healthy-buildings-2022
TAPAS Lunchtime Seminar Series
Every Thursday, 1pm-2pm, online
Our partner network, TAPAS have an online weekly seminar series: you can find out more and see the schedule here
CleanAir4V Lunchtime Seminars
Our partner network, CleanAir4V, has 2 upcoming seminars this September. Full joining details and abstracts can be found on their events page.
Wednesday 15th September 12-1pm: Professor Zhuohui Zhao (Fudan University)
Title: “Intervention Studies on Air pollution and health in China”. Professor Zhaos’ research interests particularly focus on indoor air pollution, environmental exposure and health and childhood environmental exposure. She has publications on topics covering PM2.5 and PM1 to bioaerosols and microorganisms. Much of the work links air pollutants to health impacts such as sick building syndrome and chronic respiratory diseases.
Wednesday 22nd September 12-1pm: Dr Li Liu (Tsingua University)
Title: “Occupational exposure risk of healthcare workers and patients during the COVID-19 pandemic”. Dr Liu over the last 18 months has focused on indoor transmission of COVID-19. His work has included ventilation strategies in various settings and environmental monitoring techniques in infection control.
Social Research and Air Quality: STFC, Social Sciences and SAQN
Tuesday 26th January, 12.30 – 14.30, online
How do social sciences undertake and interact with air quality research? What capabilities does STFC have to support social science research in this field? Can we build collaborations between different disciplines to address air quality challenges?
In this interactive, online session, we will hear from social scientists researching air quality, and from STFC departments with the potential to support these types of research. There will be opportunities to discuss how to work across social and physical sciences, and to break down disciplinary barriers to enable better collaboration. We will focus on the next steps needed to include social sciences more fully in air quality research.
The workshop is for STFC staff, all air quality researchers and anyone with a background in social science. Attendance is free, but registration in advance is required.
Further networking time will be available for an hour after the meeting closes.