Analysis and solutions: responding to the clean air challenge

Poor air quality can impact children’s health and attention levels. SAMHE  (Schools’ Air quality Monitoring for Health and Education) is a citizen science project which has established a network of air quality monitors in schools across the UK to help us better understand schools’ indoor air quality.

We presented findings and reflections from SAMHE at the UKRI/Met Office Clean Air Programme Conference.

The conference addressed four overarching themes:

1. The lifetime impact of air pollution: New tools to address the health impact of air quality on the population, with a focus on vulnerable groups and the importance of both indoor and outdoor exposure.
2. Innovative developments driving impact: The new methods and technologies developed during the Clean Air program that are improving our understanding of air quality issues and reducing their impact.
3. From research to the real world: Implementing the outputs from air quality research findings in diverse user communities including communicating benefits, the standardization of methods and informing future clean air policies.
4. The evolving clean air landscape: Positioning the clean air community to meet future challenges such as the transition to a low (net zero) carbon economy

SAMHE at the conference

Members of the SAMHE team presented aspects of the project on Thursday 3 October, day two of the conference.

13:00-14:00 posters

SEI’s Professor Sarah West presented a poster sharing reflections from our experience of engaging with teachers and pupils to co-design and carry out the project.

Dr Sarkawt Hama and Professor Prashant Kumar, from the University of Surrey, will presented a poster on “Environmental quality in school classrooms in England: insights from real-world measurements.”

14:00-15:15 presentation

Alice Handy, from Imperial College London, presented the results of her work “Investigating how ventilation alters particulate matter concentrations in classrooms”. This is part of Session 1.2 – Characterizing Indoor Air Quality.

INGENIOUS at the conference

Sarah West is also Co-Investigator on the INGENIOUS (Understanding the sources, transformations and fates of indoor air pollutants) project, which investigates indoor air quality in homes. Members of the INGENIOUS team showcased the project’s work at the conference.

See the full conference program.