Events

We host a variety of network events, seminars and workshops. See below for our upcoming and previous events. We have recordings of all past events on our YouTube channel.

Career Paths in Air Quality

Friday 1 July 2022. 09:30 – 13:00 BST. Register on Eventbrite

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.

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 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 of Air Quality Management and the Future Urban Ventilation Network.

2022 Spring/Summer Seminar Series

10/05/2022 12.00-13.00 BST. Dr. Ian Clifton. Consultant Physician in Respiratory Medicine and Honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of Leeds. ‘You are what you breathe – air quality and lung health’. Watch again on YouTube.

24/05/2022 12.00-13.00 BST. Dr. Tim Foat. Principal Investigator at Defence Science and Technology Laboratory Dstl. ‘Indoor dispersion at Dstl and its recent application to COVID-19 transmission’. 

07/06/2022 12.00-13.00 BST. Dr. Omduth Coceal. Research Fellow at University of Reading. Urban flow and dispersion modelling, spanning building-resolving, neighborhood and urban boundary layer scales. *POSTPONED TO OCTOBER*

21/06/2022 12.00-13.00 BST. Dr. Sarah West. Centre Director and Senior Research Associate in the Stockholm Environment Institute at the University of York. Citizen science approaches applied to air quality projects and beyond. Watch again on YouTube

05/07/2022 12.00-13.00 BST. Dr. Christina Vanderwel. Associate Professor and UKRI Future Leaders Fellow in the Aerodynamics and Astronautics Department at the University of Southampton. Title to be confirmed (expertise in experimental fluid mechanics, turbulence, and dispersion). Join on Zoom

Air Quality, Buildings & Materials: Challenges and Solutions

Thursday 24 March 2022. 11.30 – 12.30

Breathing City and the STFC Air Quality Network hosted an online networking session to share ideas around the theme of ‘Air Quality, Buildings and Materials’. The session was 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, gave an overview of the topic, and shared key research gaps, data needs and measurement challenges. We also had a series of lightning presentations from other participants, which highlighted some research, presented further questions or shared some recent work. After the presentations, we moved to Wonder, an online platform, for free-flowing networking and discussion of the topic.

2021/2 Autumn/Winter Seminar Series

02/11/2021 12.00-13.00 GMT. Alan Clarke and Kate de Selincourt, writer and editor in the environment, sustainable building, and energy “Retrofitting MVHR – rationale, practicalities and results”. Watch again on YouTube

16/11/2021 12.00-13.00 GMT. Justine Raoult, Aether Ltd. supporting international emissions inventory projects and working with the Chair of the UN/ECE’s Taskforce on Emission Inventories and Projections. “Outdoor emissions inventories and their role in source apportionment and policy formation”. Watch again on YouTube

30/11/2021 12.00-13.00 GMT. Paul Agnew, manager of the Air Quality and Composition team at the Met Office. “An overview of Met Office air quality modelling developments”. Watch again on YouTube

14/12/2021 12.00-13.00 GMT. Ben Fenech, Group Leader in Noise and Public Health at Public Health England and Cairan Van Rooyen Doctoral Researcher in the Physical Characterisation of Buildings Group at UCL Energy Institute The Bartlett School of Environment, Energy and Resources. “Integrating sound and noise into indoor environmental quality research”. Watch again on YouTube

26/01/2022 (*Wednesday*) 12.00-13.00 GMT Dr. Abigail Hathway. Senior Lecturer Department of Civil and Structural Engineering University of Sheffield. “Ventilation in the real world: ventilation performance and role of people and controls”. Watch again on YouTube

08/02/2022 12.00-13.00 GMT Dr. Jessica Few. Research Fellow in the UCL Energy Institute. ‘Ventilation in occupied homes: measurement and sociotechnical perspectives’. Watch again on YouTube

22/02/2022  12.00-13.00 GMT Dr. Christos Halios. ‘Integrating mass balance and experimental approaches: Indoor Air Quality applications’ UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), (formerly Public Health England). Watch again on YouTube.

08/03/2022 12.00-13.00 GMT Dr. Ben Jones. Associate Professor at the University of Nottingham Department of Architecture and Built Environment. “The New Paradigm of IAQ: Quantifying the health impacts of exposure to common contaminants found in indoor air.” Watch again on YouTube

Metrics for Indoor and Outdoor Air Quality

Wednesday 22nd September 2021. 09.30 – 12.30

Watch again on YouTube

Outdoor air quality in the UK is often measured with the Air Quality Index. Some of the metrics used to measure indoor air quality are relative humidity, particulate matter concentration, volatile organic matter concentration, and exposure limits.  However, there is no agreed universal metric. Understanding these metrics in different indoor environments will help to monitor and improve indoor air quality.

This half day event, hosted by Breathing City (the Clean Air Fund’s Future Urban Ventilation Network), showcases the latest research and strategies associated with air quality metrics. Both the indoor and outdoor environments are discussed by a range of experts in behavioural science, metrology, atmospheric chemistry, public health and environmental exposure.

Speakers:

Click on the title to access the slides. The talks are followed by a panel discussion and feedback activity.

This event is suitable for researchers, public health practitioners and professionals with an interest in air quality.

Perspectives on ventilation and air quality modelling

Tuesday 14th September 2021. 10.00-15.00

Watch again on YouTube

We are developing a technical framework to enable a new integrated health evidenced approach to urban building design and technology innovation. Theme one of our network, focuses on mechanisms for ingress and egress of pollutants in buildings and the tools and techniques for quantifying this exchange. Theme one leads, Malcolm Cook and Maarten van Reeuwijk are hosting an online workshop to identify how mathematical models are used currently by building stakeholders, to explore stakeholder needs in terms of ventilation and air quality, to explore reality versus modelling and to identify opportunities from emerging technologies.

Invited presentations from different stakeholders in this area:

Breakout groups discuss topics to include multiple-stakeholder design; what models do different stakeholders require; what data do we need?; active/passive ventilation; and urban planning

Clean Air Day

Thursday 17th June, 2021 12:00 – 13:00  

Watch again on YouTube

As part of Clean Air Day 2021, we hosted an event around engaging and involving the wider public in clean air research. Along with our partner networks, we asked how the research community can ‘translate’ air quality science into messaging, media stories and social media campaigns that cut through to the public, and enable them to join the conversation.

Clean Air Day is focused on improving public understanding of air pollution and building awareness of how air pollution impacts our health. This event is organised jointly by the the six SPF-Clean Air funded air quality networks. The event was hosted by Prof Cath Noakes, Professor of Environmental Engineering for Buildings at the University of Leeds. Speakers were as follows:

  • Charlotte Zamboni, Marketing Director, Global Action Plan: Playing on the positive  – Turning clean air research into compelling communications
  • Lukasz Walasek, University of Warwick: How do we turn communications into action? Insights from behavioural science.
  • Mike Morrison, Michigan State University: How to ‘speed up’ science and make it bitesize and user friendly.

2021 Spring Summer Seminar Series:

13/04/2021 12.00-13.00 BST. Jim Stewart Evans. Principal Environmental Public Health Scientist at Public Health England. Talk title “Characterising environmental hazards to health: outdoor and indoor exposures”. Watch again on YouTube

27/04/2021 12.00-13.00 BST. Dr. Maarten van Reeuwijk. Reader in the Fluid Mechanics section in the department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Imperial College. Talk title “Understanding personal exposure in outdoor environments using large-eddy simulation”. Watch again on YouTube

11/05/2021 12.00-13.00 BST. Dr. Megan Davies Wykes. Lecturer in the Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge. Talk title “Models for natural ventilation: sash windows and cross-ventilation”. Watch again on YouTube

25/05/2021 12.00-13.00 BST. Prof. Nicola Carslaw. Professor in Indoor Air Chemistry Department of Environment and Geography at the University of York. Talk title “‘Indoor air pollution: should we be worried?”. Watch again on YouTube

08/06/2021 12.00-13.00 BST. Dr Jim McQuaid and Dr. Kirsty Pringle. School of Earth and Environment at the University of Leeds. Talk title “BiB Breathes: Measuring Children in Bradford’s Exposure to Air Pollution” [Jim McQuaid: BiB Breathes: Project design and the Bradford Clean Air Zone, Kirsty Pringle: BiB Breathes: Sensors, testing and school engagement]. Watch again on YouTube

22/06/2021 13.00-14.00 BST. Professor John Thornes. Public Health England Principal Climate Change Scientist and Emeritus Professor of Applied Meteorology at the University of Birmingham. Talk title “Intervention of Upgraded Ventilation System to Reduce Noxious Air Quality at Birmingham New Street Railway Station”. Watch again on YouTube

06/07/2021 12.00-13.00 BST. Jenny Brierley PhD Researcher in the School of Architecture at the University of Sheffield. Talk title “Zero-carbon and breathable homes – is there a missing link?” Watch again on YouTube

Launch Event

On Monday 18th January 2021, the Future Urban Ventilation Network hosted a launch event online. Professor Cath Noakes (PI) provided an overview of the project (slides here) and four air quality experts delivered fantastic presentations.  

You can view these talks again on our YouTube channel, or click on the title to download the slides:

The afternoon provided more information about the project themes: ‘Coupled indoor-outdoor environments‘; ‘Health-centred ventilation design‘, and ‘Breathing City into Practice‘. This was followed by four online interactive discussion boards.

You can view these talks again on our YouTube channel, or click on the theme title to download the slides:

The day was concluded with a lively discussion panel to share a variety of perspectives on the topic. The invited panel were:

You can watch the panel discussion again on our YouTube channel: