Editor’s choice
Clean Air Day graphic
SEI York undertakes world-leading research on air quality, climate and environmental change. It is co-leading two projects on indoor air quality in the UK and contributing to the national debate on managing air quality for health.
Media coverage / Along with experts and representatives from the UK government, Dr Sarah West from SEI York contributed to a debate on indoor air quality.
SAMHE stands for Schools’ Air quality Monitoring for Health and Education. The project brings together scientists, pupils and teachers across the UK to understand indoor air quality in schools. Poor air quality impacts pupils’ health and attention levels, so it is important it is monitored and understood.
If you are part of a UK school, you can sign up via the SAMHE website to receive a free air quality monitor and linked Web App where pupils can view and investigate air quality in their classroom and try curriculum-linked activities and experiments.
Media coverage / The children's news programme visited a school where pupils were investigating their classroom's air quality using the SAMHE monitor and Web App.
Press release / Dr Sarah West from SEI York joins a panel of experts to discuss indoor air pollution with representatives from the UK government.
Media coverage / The Schools' Air Quality Monitoring for Health and Education (SAMHE) project receives a boost from the UK government, reported Schools Week.
Project / A citizen science project monitoring indoor air, created with and for UK schools.
If you are interested in air quality management, children’s health or citizen science and can get to Manchester UK on 15 June, do join us at this forum on childhood exposure to air pollution. Dr Rhys Archer will discuss her work on the SAMHE project and how it utilizes citizen science methods to increase relevance and engagement on air quality.
Past event / SEI York's Dr Rhys Archer presented the SAMHE project at the UK Institute for Air Quality Management (IAQM) forum on air pollution and childhood exposure.
The SAMHE monitor and app have provided our Y4/5 science group with a wealth of data to interrogate and analyze. There is tangible excitement at being able to access the data in real time at home!
Elengani School
The INGENIOUS project investigates air quality in UK homes, focusing on Bradford which has high levels of deprivation and some of the highest childhood illness rates in the UK. Watch an animation introducing INGENIOUS on the project website.
Project / This project investigates air pollutants inside homes in the city of Bradford, UK: their sources, interactions and health effects on those living there.
Air pollution transcends national boundaries and tackling it effectively requires efforts at regional and global scales. SEI works across many projects to understand and tackle indoor and outdoor air pollution across the world.
We are working with regional and global partners to coordinate a continent-wide integrated assessment of air pollution and climate change in Africa. Watch a short documentary explaining the aim of the project. A strong coordinated multi-stakeholder based road map and partnerships are necessary to implement the measures effectively across Africa. To this end, a partnership forum for integrated action on air pollution and climate change in Africa has been set up.
We also work at a country level. In Togo, we supported the University of Lomé to undertake an integrated assessment of air pollutants, short-lived climate pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions. This enabled decision-makers in Togo to identify priority measures to simultaneously reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve local air quality.
We have undertaken a number of research projects exploring air pollution issues and solutions in Kenya, particularly through the SEI Initiative on City Health and Wellbeing and the AIR Network. In the latter, we also used a conceptual transdisciplinary research framework to examine and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of our approach. Our long-term partnership with lawmakers in Nairobi enabled the creation of a new Air Quality Policy and Air Quality Bill for Kenya’s capital. Listen to Romanus Opiyo discuss our air pollution work in Africa.
Project / A scientifically robust and policy-relevant framework to identify and assess priority measures that maximize the multiple-benefits for air quality and climate.
Journal article / This study used ongoing reflection diaries to evaluate research approaches and presented recommendations for future transdisciplinary work.
Perspective / Chris Malley explains how Togo's integrated climate change and air pollution mitigation assessment has resulted in a more ambitious climate change target.
Feature / A long-term partnership with lawmakers in Nairobi ushers in a Air Quality Policy and Air Quality Bill for Kenya's capital, reducing air pollution and deaths.
South Asia suffers badly with the severe and widespread health and economic impacts of air pollution. Recently we undertook research in Cambodia, Vietnam, Lao PDR and Thailand to improve the state of knowledge on air pollution and workers’ exposures in southeast Asia, focusing on both informal and formal labour. We have also identified opportunities for more equitable and inclusive policymaking on air pollution. Together with the Climate and Clean Air Coalition, SEI York is supporting the revival of the Malé Declaration as a forum for regional cooperation on this pressing issue.
SEI report / Policymakers should consider socio-economic and sociopolitical dimensions that mediate air pollution impacts, such as gender and how it intersects with factors.
SEI brief / Four case studies are part of a larger study examining air pollution and workers' occupational exposures in southeast Asia.
SEI brief / This brief examines the relationship between air-pollution exposure, socio-economic status, and working conditions in Bangkok; it urges related policy changes.
Perspective / Eight countries are recommitting to work together to reduce the severe and widespread health and economic impacts of air pollution in the region.
The Global Methane Pledge was launched in 2021 with the aim of reducing global anthropogenic methane emissions by 30% in 2030 compared to 2020 levels. We have assessed whether this could be achieved through methane-targeted mitigation actions included within countries’ Nationally Determined Contributions.
We work with a range of stakeholders, including business and industry, and recently published a first-of-its-kind guide for businesses to measure air pollutant emissions across value chains. The guide played a key role in IKEA’s latest sustainability and climate report.
We published novel research this year showing the global climate and health benefits of switching biomass cookstoves in low- and middle-income countries to electricity and LPG and contributed to Pakistan’s first Clean Air Policy.
Journal article / This paper assesses whether a roadmap to achieve the Global Methane Pledge can be developed through targets from countries’ Nationally Determined Contributions.
Press release / A sustainability and climate report by global retailer IKEA used a landmark guide which was developed by researchers from the Stockholm Environment Institute.
Journal article / A novel analysis shows the global climate and health benefits of switching biomass cookstoves in low- and middle-income countries to electricity and LPG.
Media coverage / Chris Malley and Syeda Hadika Jamshaid write about Pakistan’s first Clean Air Policy in an op-ed published in Pakistan's largest newspaper.
Explore some of our other current and recent projects and wider initiatives which investigate and tackle air pollution.
Initiative / This initiative enables integrated national planning for Nationally Determined Contributions and Sustainable Development Goals.
Initiative / This initiative investigates how rapidly growing cities affect residents' wellbeing and how this interacts with the overall health of city systems.
Project / Improving understanding about early life origins, burden, determinants, and prognostic significance of non-communicable lung disease in Kenya.
Initiative / This initiative focuses on integrated analysis and planning for the mitigation of air pollution and greenhouse gases, including short-lived climate pollutants.
Clean Air Day is an annual event designed to focus public and political attention on the problem of air pollution in the UK. Held since 2017, the event is promoted by the environmental charity Global Action Plan and comprises several hundred independent events organized by local community groups, schools and colleges, NHS trusts, health charities, local authorities, government departments, businesses, and individuals.
Project / Investigating scenarios to reduce GHG and air pollutant emissions from agriculture in China.
Tool / Compilation of emission inventories to develop effective policies to protect public health and the environment from harmful effects of atmospheric pollution.
Feature / SEI Asia’s new online learning modules on “air pollution and the world of work” aims to advance our understanding of the effects of air pollution.
Feature / Find out what SEI is doing to protect #TheAirWeShare.
Feature / SEI researchers discuss the health impacts of air pollution, and the related health questions and policy lessons emerging from the Covid-19 pandemic.
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