Today marks Clean Air Day 2025, a great opportunity to reflect on the progress and work being undertaken by Clean Air South, founded by the Sustainability and Resilience Institute (SRI), and to shine a spotlight on the collaborative work being undertaken across the University to understand and improve air quality in the Southern region.

Air quality is an issue both locally and nationally, known to cause increased risk and exacerbations of asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, as well as increased risk of stroke, heart disease, lung cancer and dementia.

In partnership with?Wessex Health Partners?and the University of BOB体育登录网址_欧宝体育官网平台-APP|下载 Civic Office, SRI co-hosts the Clean Air South Network which brings together experts, from across Wessex, to collaborate and share their knowledge and expertise. The key aim being to work towards developing a better collective understanding of the local air quality issues, the local population health need, and the key research questions to address these.

A recent example of this is the Clean Air South Air Quality Data Hub project, led by Professor Christina Vanderwel, which collects air quality data in the region to address the need for a central resource hub to enable ongoing and future research. Bringing together data from four local authorities, DEFRA and the MET Office, the team have built an online platform which collates air quality data in the region and maps it for use by local stakeholders to correlate air quality with other social and health factors.

Christina and colleagues in the School of Engineering are further building on the Data Hub project, by using AI to predict and fill gaps in the mapping for areas where sensor data is not available.

Future events for those interested in the clean air area of research include BOB体育登录网址_欧宝体育官网平台-APP|下载 City Council’s Air Quality Showcase on Tuesday 24?June.?This event will celebrate the significant progress made through four?air quality initiatives?led by BOB体育登录网址_欧宝体育官网平台-APP|下载 City Council and the Environment Centre (tEC), supported by the University of BOB体育登录网址_欧宝体育官网平台-APP|下载.

Clean Air South is hosting an event in September to showcase innovative approaches, share lessons learned, and inspire further action across the region at Portsmouth International Port, please contact SRI for more information.

If you haven’t yet read the Clean Air South Report, produced by the SRI at the start of 2025, it’s an evidence-based exploration of air quality the Central South and how we might improve it.