Welcome to the Clean Air Research Group website.
Our group combines field measurement, laboratory analyses, machine learning and numerical modelling approaches to deliver fundamental understanding of the atmospheric processes and their interaction with the biogeochemistry of the earth system in order to provide key information to protect human and environmental health and to predict the status of the future earth system.
This website is hosted by Professor Zongbo Shi at the University of Birmingham. On these pages, you will find resources and training materials relevant to air quality research and information on current research projects led by Prof. Shi.
To learn about ongoing research, please see the projects page. For more information about Zongbo Shi, see the about page.
Opportunities
Enquiries about PhD research projects and fellowship schemes (Leverhulme / Wellcome / UKRI-NERC / Marie Curie) are welcome. Please send your CV and an outline of your interests or ideas to z.shi@bham.ac.uk. Our funded job opportunities will be advertised externally through www.jobs.ac.uk, and on the University jobs pages.
4 new positions – climate mitigation policies, air quality and health
2 year Research Fellow: This 2-year research fellow will develop greenhouse gas (GHG) and air pollutant emission inventories for the West Midlands region using local activity data. The post-holder will also be required to apply inversion modelling to estimate CO2 and air pollutant emissions based on observations. Future emissions will be simulated by considering policy interventions on top of the existing SSP scenarios.
3 year Research Fellow – This 3-year post will collect real-world air quality and greenhouse gas observational data to evaluate the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of climate mitigation actions in the West Midlands to support policy decisions.
3 year Impact Research Fellow – This 3-year post will work closely with other researchers and stakeholders within the Heal-NZ project to apply air quality, machine learning and/or health economics models for improving understanding on the air quality and health impacts of Net Zero policies, and to translate the science evidence into policymaker-friendly reports and briefing documents. The postohlder may be seconded to regional and/or local authorities to support their policymaking processes.
3 year Project Manager: This post is created to assist the management of the Heal-NZ project.
Applications close from 21 to 25 June 2023 (depending on the positions).
https://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DAE231/research-fellow-1-heal-nz
https://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DAE238/research-fellow-2-heal-nz
https://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DAE359/research-fellow-impact-fellow-heal-nz
https://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DAE372/project-manager-heal-nz
Contact
For general queries and suggestions, please contact us at z.shi@bham.ac.uk.
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Projects
UK-China collaboration to optimise net zero policy options for air quality and health (COP-AQ)
COP-AQ is a consortium of universities and research institutes in the UK working with partners in China to identify research priorities to optimise Net Zero and Carbon Neutrality strategies and maximise co-benefits for air quality and health. Led by Prof Zongbo Shi at the University of Birmingham, the project is funded by the UK Research and Innovation—Natural Environment Research Council.
Atmospheric Pollution and Human Health in a Developing Megacity (APHH-Beijing)
A joint UK-China programme funded by NERC-MRC-NSFC-Newton Fund, working to identify the concentrations and sources of urban air pollution in Beijing, identify how people are exposed, to understand how it affects their health, and to determine what can be done about it.
UK Air Quality Supersite Triplet (AQST)
Air pollution is the most significant environmental risk in the UK, leading to economic costs of £20b/y and significant health inequalities. Quantifying the changing causes of air pollution motivated NERC investment in three fixed air quality supersites – located in urban background locations within London, Birmingham and Manchester, operated via the UKRI SPF project OSCA.
Shipping Emissions in the Arctic and North Atlantic Atmosphere (SEANA)
Ship emissions are a significant source of aerosol particles in the marine atmosphere. They have a major impact on the climate by reflecting sunlight back to space and by changing cloud properties. Quantifying the impact of ship emissions on the climate is challenging, however, due to a lack of understanding of natural emissions as well as uncertainty in quantities of pollutants emitted from current and future shipping industries.
