UK Research and Innovation has today (July 22) awarded £3m to six research networks looks to tackle air pollution.
The new multidisciplinary networks will investigate solutions to air pollution and drive research and innovation for air quality challenges both indoor and outdoor.
Home, school, work and public transport will all be included in the investigations, covering topics such as exposure to airborne biological material; urban and building ventilation design; air quality impacts of decarbonisation and low emission transport; and protection for groups most at risk, including designing healthy schools.
According to DEFRA’s Clean Air Strategy, poor air quality is the largest environmental risk to public health in the UK, shortening lifespan and damaging quality of life.
Professor Stephen Holgate, a Strategic Priorities Fund Clean Air Programme Champion said:
“These six new research and innovation networks focused on cleaning up the air we breathe recognise the importance of the indoor environment, the total exposure of an individual and the sources of such pollutants as major drivers of adverse health.
“In bringing together atmospheric, health and behavioural sciences, the new interdisciplinary networks offer a unique opportunity for a new paradigm for translational research in this field to create solutions for the wicked problem that air pollution continues to create.”
The networks that have been awarded funding include researchers at Cranfield University, and the Universities of Birmingham, Leeds, Cambridge and Edinburgh.
