Reducing health harms associated with air pollution
FUVN Co-I, Jim Stewart-Evans, with the Radiation, Chemicals and Environmental Hazards Directorate of the UK Health Security Agency have published a new Issue of the Chemical Hazards and Poisons Report to coincide with national Clean Air Day. The theme of this issue is Reducing health harms associated with air pollution and it is available to download from the gov.uk website. Content covers: You can find an index of nearly 800 articles from previous reports at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/chemical-hazards-and-poisons-reports
Infection resilient environments: time for a major upgrade
“The pandemic has warned us of the risks that are around the corner and we need better buildings to help us live with covid and future diseases. Now is the time for the major upgrade to our indoor environments” says Breathing City Principal Investigator Prof. Cath Noakes. A new report from the Royal Academy of Engineering’s National Engineering Policy Centre takes a systems look at infection resilience in buildings to consider across design stages and operations on how we can make them healthy alongside being safe and sustainable. Noakes was involved with workshops with input across buildings and transport sectors and, with colleagues, commissioned three associated studies into research capacity, international best practice and the economics of improving buildings for infection resilience. The report estimates the cost of seasonal diseases is £8billion per year and the societal cost in a pandemic year is £23billion per year. This is disruption and…
A meeting of air quality minds
In April, members of the TAPAS network, the FUVN network, the CSTB and the OQAI met to discuss national indoor air quality strategies in France and the UK. The meeting of these four initiatives, together with invited experts from academia, industry and government science organisations, happened over two days in Paris and involved a series of presentations and workshops. A key focus of the meeting was on “observing indoor air” – how we can develop coordinated approaches to capturing data on indoor air quality at scale and over long periods of time and how this can be used to understand health effects and support policy and practice. The knowledge sharing and informative discussions will shape both the French and UK networks’ future indoor air quality studies and campaigns. The UK networks, TAPAS and FUVN, are 3 year funded projects designed to bring together stakeholders across academia, education, public health, policy,…
Engineering a reduction in air pollution
In December 2021, members of the Breathing City network attended a joint National Engineering Policy Centre and Chief Medical Officer roundtable on air pollution to help inform the 2022 CMO Annual Report. The report intends to focus on evidence for potential solutions to reduce the public health impacts of outdoor and indoor air pollution and offer recommendations based on this evidence. A roundtable meeting note has been published today, ‘Engineering a reduction in air pollution’, which provides an overview of the roles of engineering in reducing the harmful health effects of air pollution. Members of the Breathing City network were involved with the second roundtable which focused on solutions for the built environment. The first explored transport solutions to reduce air pollution. The group discussed a number of built environment interventions that could have significant impact on indoor and outdoor air pollution including: reducing traffic, modal shifts in transport use,…
Event: Career Paths in Air Quality
Fri, 1 July 2022 09:30 – 13:00 BST. This is an event for early career researchers and professionals who work in air quality to share their projects, discover opportunities to collaborate, and find out more about career paths in air quality. Register on Eventbrite Watch on YouTube The half day event will open with a talk from Prof. Cath Noakes who will be highlighting some of the big-picture indoor/outdoor air quality challenges over the next 20 years. This will be followed by presentations from early career researchers/professionals in academia, the public sector, and industry, showcasing their work on both indoor and outdoor air quality. Speakers include: The talks will be followed by a panel discussion where early career professionals can put forward their questions to a panel of air quality experts. The panel includes: There will also be short breaks and opportunities to network online. The event is run jointly by the Institute…
Job vacancy: Environmental Public Health Scientist, UK Health Security
Job vacancy: Environmental Public Health Scientist, UK Health Security https://www.healthjobsuk.com/job/v4202617 UKHSA (UK Health Security Agency – formerly Public Health England) are currently recruiting an enthusiastic and competent scientist, with experience of undertaking research, especially on indoor air quality / ventilation modelling (preferred languages: C++, R) ), to join the highly multidisciplinary Air Quality and Public Health Group. This is a permanent post that be based at one of the following UKHSA sites: Chilton / Birmingham / Bristol / Nottingham / Newcastle / London, depending on the successful candidate’s location. Application closing: 8/6/2022
Event: Air Quality, Buildings & Materials: Challenges and Solutions
11.30 – 12.30, Thursday 24 March Breathing City and the STFC Air Quality Network are pleased to invite you to an online networking session to share ideas around the theme of ‘Air Quality, Buildings and Materials’. The session is aimed at anyone with an interest in air quality who would like to make interdisciplinary connections with others in the community. Prof Tom Woolley, chair of the UKRI SPF Clean Air Programme, will give an overview of the topic, and share key research gaps, data needs and measurement challenges. We will then hear a series of lightning presentations from other participants, which might highlight some research, present further questions or share some recent work. If you’d like to offer a 60 second presentation in this slot, you can do so when you register. After the presentations, we will move to Wonder, an online platform for free-flowing networking and discussion of the…
Another fantastic seminar season comes to an end
We’ve enjoyed some fantastic talks from this season’s seminar series. The talks have covered a variety of topics, from the role of people and their behaviour on ventilation strategies to understanding the latest development in air quality models! Below you can see our wide range of talk titles and fantastic speakers who have joined us this season. There’s also a link so you can catch up with what you missed. Keep an eye out on our website and Twitter account to see what the summer seminar series will bring…
TRANSITION Clean Air Network Discovery & Innovation Summit
The TRANSITION Clean Air Network Discovery & Innovation Summit (Online – 10th Feb 14:00-16:30) will showcase four TRANSITION-funded Clean Air Discovery & Innovation projects: More information and free registration at: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/transition-clean-air-network-discovery-innovation-summit-tickets-228252237587
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&A 15:25 Breakout rooms and networking 15:50…