Welcome to the October 2021 HEICCAM newsletter!

This newsletter presents an update on the HEICCAM network activities and announcements, upcoming events, funding opportunities, and new developments in the area of clean air research.

If you have any new scientific developments, announcements, or recently published papers that you would like to share with the HEICCAM community, please send them to info@heiccam.org

Network Updates and Announcements

HEICCAM Annual Assembly, 22-23 November 2021, Online

As the proposed date of our first annual assembly fell during the mid-term holidays, we have decided to reschedule the annual assembly for 22-23 November 2021. Our 2021 annual assembly will bring together multi-disciplinary senior and early-career researchers, stakeholders, and industry partners to discuss challenges associated with indoor and outdoor air quality under climate change mitigation. The assembly will be an online event and will be run for two days. On Day 1, the discussion will be centred around key research questions, knowledge gaps and priorities of the HEICCAM project, and networking across project members and partners. Day 2 will focus on HEICCAM science working groups’ objectives, ongoing research activities and plans for future research under HEICCAM. Specific details on the assembly agenda and schedule will be available shortly. 

If you have any suggestions for annual assembly organization or objectives, please send us your inputs at heiccam@ed.ac.uk.

SPF Data Science in Air Quality and Health Research Workshop, 16th & 17th September 2021

Last month, HEICCAM network members have actively participated in the data science workshop organized under SPF clean air programme/champions. The objective of this meeting was to bring together colleagues from all air quality research fields and health data organisations to enable the effective use of data throughout the Clean Air Research continuum. To complement the online workshop and help build connections, an exclusive networking site for this community was launched. All information relating to the workshop, i.e. agenda, zoom links, speakers' presentations as well as outputs from the workshop discussions are available on the website. 

You can also find several discussion themes including the links to the data resources pertinent to air quality and health on the website: Datasets of interest to data science in air quality and health - Discussions-Articles - CleanAirProgrammeDataScience (ning.com)

Round table discussion with SPF champions, 28th September 2021 

The SPF Clean Air Champions recently organized a roundtable discussion to discuss the current progress, challenges and future plans of the SPF clean air networks that are funded under Wave 2. Each network presented the project updates and achievements followed by a Q&A session and general discussion. Prof Ruth Doherty (PI, HEICCAM) presented the updates on behalf of HEICCAM. Several interesting themes including capacity building of the early career researchers, stakeholder engagement, pathways to impact etc. were discussed during the event.

Early Career Researcher Spotlight

Starting from October, we will feature the profile of one early-career researcher working in the area of clean air research in our monthly newsletter. This month we hear from Lauren Ferguson from University College London, who has recently joined the HEICCAM network as an early-career member.
                                

Lauren is a final year PhD student at UCL’s Energy Institute and Institute for Environmental Design and Engineering, who joined UCL after working at The Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine. Her PhD project collaborated with Public Health England to assess how population exposure to indoor air pollution varies across socio-economic groups. The project applies a modelling methodology to examine how building characteristics - such as volume, airtightness, ventilation – and occupant behaviour contribute to population exposure, and how these factors may vary across households of different socio-economic status. The tool can assess how changes in building and/or environmental policies may modify population exposure to indoor air pollution. Her recent work examined the building, environmental and behavioural factors which contribute to indoor air pollution inequalities in London, UK.  

Upcoming Events

Breathing City 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”. Alan Clarke and Kate de Selincourt will discuss the rationale for retrofitting MVHR in homes and educational buildings, share some practical experience, and discuss findings relating to air quality and occupant experience. 

16/11/2021 12.00-13.00 GMT Chris Dore, Director at Aether Ltd and Chair of the UN/ECE’s Taskforce on Emission inventories and Projections. Title to be confirmed 

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”. 

14/12/2021 12.00-13.00 GMT Ben Fenech, Group Leader in Noise and Public Health at Public Health England “Integrating sound and noise into indoor environmental quality research”. 

For more details visit the Breathing City website.

News

Joining Forces to Improve Air Quality and Health in the UK

On 12th and 13th October 2020, UK Research and 5 Innovation (UKRI) Strategic Priorities Fund Clean Air Champions, the Met Office and the National Physical Laboratory jointly help an online workshop on “Joining Forces to Improve Air Quality and Health in the UK”. The event was run as one of the knowledge exchange events by the Strategic Priorities Fund Clean Air programme. In order to improve the linkages between air pollution measurement, modelling and atmospheric research aimed at improving the health of the UK population, the following key actions were outlined:

1) Development of leadership in the area of clean air research through a National Taskforce/Alliance

2) Improved communication, engagement, and involvement across multiple disciplines and sectors, as well as public

3) Strategy to enhance engagement with Stakeholders

4) Cross-disciplinary collaboration, funding and capacity building

5) Data sharing

The full report on the outcomes of the workshop can be accessed here.

New Regional Champions appointed by UKRI

UKRI and the MetOffice have appointed four regional champions under the SPF CleanAir Programme. They join the existing Clean Air Champions as central points for air quality research & innovation in their region:

• Midlands to north of England: Dr Suzanne Bartington

• Wales: Professor Paul Lewis

• Scotland: Dr Heather Price

• Northern Ireland: Dr Neil Rowland

The new regional champions will work to increase collaboration and impact across and beyond the Clean Air Programme. Hearty congratulations to the new team from HEICCAM!