Health in Urban Environments Series: Clean Air Day- air pollution and York

Event details

Air pollution, its all over the news and all over our cities, but what do you really want to know about it?  Come along to find out about air quality research at the University of York, how it relates to this beautiful city and where it impacts on our everyday lives. Take the opportunity to quiz experts from the University and York City Council on all things air pollution, and consider the simple things that can be done to help improve the air we breathe.

Hosted by the Wolfson Atmospheric Chemistry Laboratories at the University of York, this event aims to raise awareness of air pollution issues - particularly in York - ahead of Clean Air Day (20^th June), the UK’s largest air pollution campaign.

Speakers

Dr David Carslaw is a Reader in the Department of Chemistry at the University of York. His research is focussed on developing a better understanding of urban air pollution, particularly around emissions of nitrogen dioxide (NO₂). Much of his work is aimed at better quantifying vehicle emissions under urban driving conditions. Another area of focus is the development of receptor modelling approaches to improve understanding of the influence of different emission sources on ambient concentrations.

Alastair Lewis is Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry at the University of York working within the Wolfson Atmospheric Chemistry Laboratories. He is also currently Deputy Director of, and Director for atmospheric composition, at the National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS). He has participated in over 30 major atmospheric science field projects, from polar regions to tropical oceans, city centres to remote forests. He is a member of a number of expert advisory groups including for Defra, the World Meteorological Organisation and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Liz Bates is a University of York alumni employed as a specialist air quality officer at City of York Council and City of Bradford MDC. She helped develop the Air Quality Action Plan (AQAP) and Low Emission Strategy (LES) for York and has a specialist interest in low emission planning. She helps to co-ordinate Clean Air Day activities in York.

Health in Urban Environments Event Series

This event forms part of the Health in Urban Environments Event Series where the York Environmental Sustainability Institute (YESI), Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), Interdisciplinary Global Development Centre (IGDC), Wolfson Atmospheric Chemistry Laboratories (WACL) and several Research Champions are joining forces to host an event series to explore Urban Living-related research and innovation at the University of York.

Through a series of workshops, lunchtime seminar, full day events and discussion sessions, we will gain insight into the historical development of the world’s cities and the social and environmental consequences of urbanisation.

By bringing together the social, physical and life sciences we will be able to explore this topic from many angles and celebrate the interdisciplinary nature of research at the University of York.

The series, which will begin in January and conclude in June in alignment with Clean Air Day, will be open to researchers, staff and students at the University of York.