Prof. Prashant Kumar
University of Surrey, UK
Practical solutions to mitigate air pollution exposure to school children
ABSTRACT
Children are exposed to higher concentrations due to their low breathing height. They are more vulnerable to exposure to vehicular emissions due to their incomplete lung development, low breathing height, and high physical activity and breathing rates. Therefore, they are more likely to suffer from short and long-term health conditions due to traffic-related air pollution, including asthma, bronchitis, and stunted lung development. Our studies have found high levels of harmful PM2.5 (particles less than 2.5 micrometres in diameter) pollution from traffic emissions near schools and nurseries, endangering the health and well-being of nearby children. This talk will present the key findings from the GCARE’s projects such as CO-TRACE/SAMHE focused on indoor environments, in combination with the extensive body of work done by the GCARE team around this topic area, including a school guidance, to discuss the following question: how the exposure to children can be mitigated in and around schools and the role of passive solutions in exposure control mitigation strategies?
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Professor Prashant Kumar is Chair in Air Quality and Health, the founding Director of the Global Centre for Clean Air Research (GCARE), the founding Co-Director of the Institute for Sustainability, and the founder of a successfully running Guilford Living Lab, a GCARE platform to facilitate deeper cooperation between researchers, communities, and stakeholders.
Prof Kumar obtained his PhD (Engineering) from the University of Cambridge (UK) after winning a Cambridge-Nehru Scholarship and Overseas Research Scholarship award. He earned his Master’s Degree in Environmental Engineering & Management from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, where he won the ‘Outstanding Postgraduate Student Award’ for his exemplary performance.
He was bestowed with the global accolade of being recognised in the top 1% of ‘Highly Cited Researchers’ by Clarivate. The award reinforces Prof. Kumar’s ‘significant and broad’ contribution across scientific fields as one of the world’s top cited researchers in Web of Science. He was the winner of University of Surrey’s Vice-Chancellor award ‘Researcher of the Year’ in 2017. He has published around 350 journal articles attracting ~20,000 citations (h-index=70, i10index=263). He has successfully secured >£11M of individual research funding from the UKRI (including PI on UKRI-funded £1.2M RECLAIM Network Plus), industry and international bodies. His research has regularly featured in well-read media outlets such as the BBC and The Times. Further information on his work can be seen here: www.surrey.ac.uk/gcare.
