Aerosol Science for Public Health and Public Policy through Commercial Avenues--EXTENSION
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Leicester
Department Name: Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
Extension from 2 to 3 year fellowship--see case for support document
Organisations
- University of Leicester (Fellow, Lead Research Organisation)
- Horiba (Collaboration)
- Raymetrics Limited (Collaboration)
- Jaguar Land Rover Automotive PLC (Collaboration)
- ZigZag Systems Ltd (Collaboration)
- LEICESTER CITY COUNCIL (Collaboration)
- Cerner Limited (Collaboration)
- Plumecast Ltd (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI (Collaboration)
People |
ORCID iD |
| Joshua Vande Hey (Principal Investigator / Fellow) |
Publications
Blair GS
(2021)
The Role of Digital Technologies in Responding to the Grand Challenges of the Natural Environment: The Windermere Accord.
in Patterns (New York, N.Y.)
Boyd A
(2019)
Data Resource Profile: The ALSPAC birth cohort as a platform to study the relationship of environment and health and social factors.
in International journal of epidemiology
Boyd A
(2018)
Enhancing Environmental Data Resources in Cohort Studies: ALSPAC Exemplar (ERICA)
in ISEE Conference Abstracts
Cordell R
(2021)
Volatile Organic Compound Composition of Urban Air in Nairobi, Kenya and Lagos, Nigeria
in Atmosphere
Fletcher DH
(2021)
Using demand mapping to assess the benefits of urban green and blue space in cities from four continents.
in The Science of the total environment
Lin C
(2020)
Observation of PM2.5 using a combination of satellite remote sensing and low-cost sensor network in Siberian urban areas with limited reference monitoring
in Atmospheric Environment
Panagi M
(2020)
Investigating the regional contributions to air pollution in Beijing: a dispersion modelling study using CO as a tracer
in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
Panchal R
(2022)
Personal air pollution exposure during morning commute car and active transport journeys
in Journal of Transport & Health
| Description | This fellowship has enabled me to: 1) engage with global corporations needing environmental science and data, provide them with science-based advice, and open up future research opportunities with them; 2) engage with policy stakeholders in Nairobi to start building routes to impact for air quality science there, and more broadly in Kenya; 3) develop a pipeline for environmental data including air pollution data into future healthcare informatics applications; and 4) to contribute to development of data and messaging that is anticipated to inform local air quality and transport policy in Leicester. A key insight I have gained through stakeholder engagement in Nairobi is that regardless of what the science community views as "known", local data, for example on the health effects of air pollution, are required for local policy decision making. Also, I have developed an approach for engaging with major industrial partners, including industry-relevant communication and project management. I have used existing and new environmental science and data to help inform technical and business decisions at multiple companies. |
| Exploitation Route | The route to uptake for my industrial partners is clear. Also, policy uptake is likely to develop over the next year. For other academics and practitioners, I need to identify an appropriate dissemination approach. |
| Sectors | Chemicals,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Environment,Healthcare,Government, Democracy and Justice,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology,Transport |
| Description | My findings have been used to inform decision making in industry, as detailed elsewhere in the Researchfish submission. Public policy and economic impacts are continuing to emerge. Findings supported in part through this funding have informed a feature on an automotive product released this year. My findings are currently informing local government transportation strategy, by using a KE approach to link air quality science and data to messaging and prioritisation of local air pollution reduction intervention planning for example by Leicester City Council. Findings from this collaboration are expected to feed into preparation of the new Leicester air quality action plan. The partnership building with Leicester City Council supported by this award has grown into a strategic partnership around air quality, transport, and public health, and our linkages through projects and a CASE PhD studentship have expanded our ability to feed research into local policy and practice, for example on wood burning policy. Additionally one of my team has recently submitted her thesis and gone to join the council in a full time research and data analysis role. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2016 |
| Sector | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Government, Democracy and Justice,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology,Transport,Other |
| Impact Types | Economic,Policy & public services |
| Description | Influencing Leicester City Air Quality and Transport Strategy Development |
| Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Description | Inputting into public health reports |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| URL | https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/chief-medical-officers-annual-report-2022-air-pollution |
| Description | Shaping Practice in Health Protection Knowledge Mobilisation as Knowledge Mobilisation Lead for the NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Environmental Exposures and Health at the University of Leicester |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Membership of a guideline committee |
| Description | ARTES 4.0 Generic Programme Line Business Applications and Space Solutions (Prof Andre Ng, PI) |
| Amount | € 1,774,799 (EUR) |
| Organisation | European Space Agency |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | France |
| Start | 04/2021 |
| End | 03/2023 |
| Description | CEOI Flagship Proposal: MAP Airborne Demo |
| Amount | £797,980 (GBP) |
| Organisation | UK Space Agency |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2021 |
| End | 03/2023 |
| Description | DEFRA Air Quality Grant |
| Amount | £249,600 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Department For Environment, Food And Rural Affairs (DEFRA) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 04/2021 |
| End | 09/2022 |
| Description | EPSRC I-CASE PhD Studentship |
| Amount | £84,900 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | EPSRC I-CASE Voucher Number 18000096 |
| Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 10/2018 |
| End | 09/2023 |
| Description | Environmental health in sub-Saharan Africa: leveraging local and global air pollution data for epidemiological research |
| Amount | £288,954 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | FF\1920\1\52 |
| Organisation | Royal Academy of Engineering |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2020 |
| End | 03/2023 |
| Description | HPRU Development Award (Prof Anna Hansell, PI) |
| Amount | £1,000,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | National Institute for Health Research |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2020 |
| End | 03/2025 |
| Description | NERC/MRC/COS Improving Health with Environmental Data |
| Amount | £123,870 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | ERICA Project led by University of Bristol |
| Organisation | Chief Scientist Office |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 02/2017 |
| End | 08/2018 |
| Description | National Space Innovation Programme (D-Orbit UK Ltd. lead partner) |
| Amount | £183,158 (GBP) |
| Organisation | UK Space Agency |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 11/2020 |
| End | 03/2021 |
| Description | University of Leicester Wellcome Trust Institutional Strategic Support Fund Interdisciplinary Fellowship |
| Amount | £50,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | University of Leicester |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2017 |
| End | 08/2018 |
| Description | Air quality concept support for Plumecast |
| Organisation | Plumecast Ltd |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | I have engaged with this SME to review marketing and partnership opportunities, and to facilitate introductions to potential industrial partners, and university support of the SME Plumecast. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The collaborator has shared the Plumecast accidental air pollutant release emergency response tool concept, and engaged with the university to identify potential collaborative opportunities. |
| Impact | The outcomes to date are a series of successful meetings Plumecast has had with potential partners I have introduced them to. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Cerner Partnership--Collaboration with Global Health Care Data and Analytics Company |
| Organisation | Cerner Limited |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Through the NERC Follow-on Fund Pathfinder Project I was enabled to build a strong foundation for a partnership with Cerner. We engaged to create a demonstration of integration of environmental data and synthetic health data within a hospital trust setting, and have moved on toward joint stakeholder engagement. I came forward with the idea of near real time environmental data integration and advised Cerner on environmental data sources. We also developed a demonstration environmental dataset for integration with synthetic patient data. Finally, this grant commission an applications survey carried out by RED Informatics, Ltd., an SME, which provided a foundation for understanding of current activities and opportunities in environmental health in the UK. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Cerner fully engaged in this project as a non-funded partner. I do not yet have an estimate of the value of their contribution, but they invested staff time in supporting the development of the environment and health data analysis dashboard, and they are now being proactive in joint stakeholder engagement in hospital trusts. This is feeding directly back into my research, guiding the concepts I am developing toward operational status. As of March, 2018, Cerner are fully engaged in the partnership, committing staff time in kind to facilitate stakeholder engagement and research. |
| Impact | Outputs of this collaboration are a demonstration healthcare data and environmental data interrogation dashboard, and and a joint initiative to specify and develop an operational system though stakeholder engagement. |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | HORIBA MIRA Collaboration on Air Quality |
| Organisation | Horiba |
| Department | HORIBA MIRA |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Through engagement with the partner and market assessment, we have identified infrastructure needed to advance vehicle air quality testing opportunities for H-MIRA. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The partners have engaged with us to develop a strategic partnership for future vehicle testing opportunities. The partner has identified potential in kind match for future research. |
| Impact | The output/outcome to date is the development of a working specification for future facility needs in vehicle air quality testing. This is a multi-disciplinary collaboration, involving environmental/atmospheric science, and engineering. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Jaguar Land Rover Partnership on future vehicle air pollution sustainability |
| Organisation | Jaguar Land Rover Automotive PLC |
| Department | Jaguar Land Rover |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | I have engaged with the company to develop a relationship upon which we can build future research for impact platforms. I am also conducting industrial engagement with the partner to understand their future needs and opportunities for environmental science underpinning vehicle sustainability, and highlighted potential future national research infrastructure investments which could help meet this goals. I have specified a PhD projects that are expected to produce important information for the company while at the same time being scientifically novel, funding still pending |
| Collaborator Contribution | The partners have agreed to make an industrial contribution to an EPSRC I-CASE PhD to explore future air pollution related sustainability. They have agreed to host the student on a part time basis. Note that I have also listed this studentship in the "further funding" section of Researchfish for this award, where I listed the full value of the studentship. Here I am detailing the industrial contribution portion of that studentship. |
| Impact | The outcomes of this particular partnership to date are an understanding of what future national research infrastructure could underpin future vehicle sustainability R&D relating to air pollution, and a funded PhD studentship starting later this year. This collaboration is multi disciplinary, including environmental science, physics, chemistry and engineering. This year (2022) Jaguar Land Rover launched a new vehicle model that has a feature whose design was informed by our research. |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | Local Authority Engagement with Leicester City and Leicestershire County on Sustainable Transport |
| Organisation | Leicester City Council |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | I have engaged with the city and county to understand their challenges relating to sustainable transport and reducing emissions, and to strategise on potential collaborative opportunities. I also engaged with the city to understand how potential environmental health projects should be managed to achieve both policy and research goals. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The partners have engaged with multiple meetings, has explained the programmes and needs of the councils, and has provided useful transport related data access. |
| Impact | So far the outcomes have been agreed co-developed objectives for future developments in sustainable transport, including uses for real-time environmental data streams. |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | Raymetrics collaboration on air quality lidar |
| Organisation | Raymetrics Limited |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | The partnership with Raymetrics has recently been brokered through the KE fellowship, and has led on to Research England SPRINT funding to bring space technology and air quality science toward new air quality product development. So far my team has contributed novel environmental sensor design approaches. We are now contributing detailed atmospheric and air quality science driven information toward specification of a future product. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Through the current SPRINT project, Raymetrics is providing in kind contributions of 20% and cash contributions of 20% of the project value. I have noted these in the partner contribution section, but please note they are associated with another grant, and not just direct contributions to my fellowship work. They are additionally providing a high level of engagement, and supporting the educational development of one NERC PhD student (Howe). |
| Impact | So far the outcome of the collaboration is further funding of £50k through the research England SPRINT program. The collaboration is multidisciplinary, involving optical and mechanical engineering, and atmospheric physics / air quality science. |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | University of Nairobi & University of Leicester Air Quality Collaboration |
| Organisation | University of Nairobi |
| Country | Kenya |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | In specific, my research team has contributed scientific leadership on the air quality monitoring approach, specification of key components of the air quality monitoring station, and design and hosting of an intensive scientific project workshop in June with the Nairobi academic team. We have also provided strategic steer on the atmospheric science publication plan In general the University of Leicester is working to form an institutional level strategic partnership with the university of Nairobi, partly growing out of the strong relationships formed through this project. |
| Collaborator Contribution | In specific, the Nairobi research team has contributed the overarching framing of the ideas, scientific leadership on atmospheric science in the Nairobi environment, major effort on coordinating local partners, securing monitoring sites and infrastructure, designing and kicking off local bus emissions monitoring plan, and leading on bus retrofit work package. In general, the Nairobi team have been highly engaged, extremely welcoming, and providing excellent programmatic and scholarly leadership and collaboration. An excellent and sustainable partnership is being built through the Institutional Links project. |
| Impact | No outcomes yet. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | ZigZagee collaboration on smart cities opportunities in air pollution |
| Organisation | ZigZag Systems Ltd |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | I have been working with ZigZagee Ltd., an internet of things SME in Loughborough, to identify potential market opportunities in the smart cities space relating to air pollution management. I have engaged with the company in a number of one-to-one meetings, introduced them to another potential commercial partner, and joined them via Innovate UK in engaging Chinese businesses in this space. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The collaborator has gathered support from Chinese businesses and local authorities for potential future projects, engaged with market research in smart cities, and facilitated meetings between the university and other businesses. |
| Impact | To date, the collaboration has resulted in a concept for smart cities air quality control systems using the internet of things. Provided research funding or commercial investment, we can take this forward in a pilot. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Air Pollution Media Interview on BBC East Midlands Today and BBC Radio Nottingham |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | I appeared on East Midlands Today television and BBC Radio Nottingham in interviews following release of a report noting Nottingham was on a list of cities with particulate matter levels higher than those recommended by the WHO. I provided practical advice about reducing pollution by using active transport or public transport if possible, and then if must drive to choose lower polluting technology. I also noted that while the WHO limits are ideally what we should be following, Nottingham was not exceeding it's legal limits, which is important to understand when engaging with local government. I do not know how many people this message reached, but I do know that a large number of acquaintances in the area saw the TV interview and discussed the issue with me after. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Air Pollution and Health Interview BBC Radio Leicester |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | I was interviewed in response to the 2017 annual Leicestershire public health report released by the county's director of public health, which included a section on the calculated local health effects of air pollution and highlighted air pollution as the "largest environmental risk to public health in the UK". I explained in layman's terms how the air pollution attributable mortality estimates were reached, and made sure to be constructive, avoiding communicating on this with a "scare factor". I concluded by giving clear advice that we need to get out of our cars to address this problem. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Kenya Air Quality Network Workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | This workshop brought together policymakers, government department representatives, NGOs, local community members, and scientists to address air quality in Nairobi and also more broadly in Kenya. I presented alongside my University of Nairobi collaborators our plans for future air quality monitoring and testing of pollution mitigation technologies. This meeting is extremely important in connecting stakeholders from the multiple national government agencies and county government along with external scientists to address key challenges and strategies. Data on the local environment and local health effects collected by independent research organizations is very important for policymakers, hence the need for interaction and relationship building. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | UN Global Science - Policy - Business Forum on the Environment |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | The UN Environment Programme headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, hosted this forum at the beginning of December, 2017, as a lead up to the UN Environment Assembly which immediately followed it. The objective of the forum was to bring scientists, policymakers and business together to discuss joint solutions for pollution issues, and to strengthen ties among the three groups on the international scale. Through the forum, I was able to engage with representatives of a a variety of governments, companies, and science organizations. I was also invited to contribute to a special session hosted by the US EPA on the role of low cost sensors in managing air pollution. In addition, I met key players from Kenya working on air pollution, and also leaders of the international citizen science community who are extremely keen to engage. The outcome of this event is stronger links between business, policy and science organizations, and advice to the assembly that followed on how business can play a critical role in solving our local and global pollution problems. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | http://web.unep.org/environmentassembly/un-global-science-policy-business-forum-environment/ |