Profile

I live in Tunbridge Wells and work at King’s College London in central London. I have two children, aged 11 and 8, a fox-red Labrador called Basil, a cat called Iris, tropical fish and I also have lots of honey bees (but I don’t keep them at home!).

Me and my daughter with the bees

I like doing stuff outdoors like running, mountain biking, rock climbing, hiking, camping and kayaking. I’m also a scout leader so try to help other children have adventures and create great memories that will stay with them for life!

Air pollution monitoring equipment in central London

Air pollution problems, especially those relating to particulate matter (aerosols), are complex due to the number of sources (e.g. vehicle exhaust and non-exhaust, industry, power generation, domestic fuel burning, construction activities, etc) and atmospheric reactions. The Aerosol Science Team at King’s College London specialises in highly time-resolved measurements of aerosol physical and chemical characteristics, as well as detailed measurements of gas concentrations, to better understand the influence of these sources.

My specialist area is working with the construction and demolition industry to try to better understand their contribution to local air pollution as well as raising awareness and trying to introduce better work practices to reduce the dust and emissions.

Testing emissions from huge excavators

Unlike many scientists most of my analytical equipment is out in the field rather than hidden away in a laboratory as we make continual real time measurements of air pollution. More details can be found at www.londonair.org.uk

I manage an award winning project called The London Low Emission Construction Partnership which is funded through the Greater London Authority (GLA) and Transport for London (TfL). More details can be found at www.llecp.org.uk

I get up early and walk the dog then travel into London on the train. Sometimes I work in the university buildings analysing data and writing scientific reports and on other days I am dressed up in personal protective equipment (PPE) and will be working on active construction sites measuring the emissions that come out of the huge machines required to build our cities. Occasionally  I just have meetings all day and on others I can be giving presentations to groups of up to 150 people at a time making them aware of how their industry impacts the air that we breath and what they can do to help reduce this public health risk.

I’d spend the money developing some interactive online tools especially designed for children to help them better understand the causes of air pollution and how to reduce their exposure to it.

We currently have a number of award winning websites and apps and have worked with schools to better understand how poor air quality affects both lung function and lung development in children in east London (EXHALE Project). It would be great to be able to provide some entertaining (and educational) teaching resources that can be used in the classroom that link back to real data.