Title: “We All Breathe the Same Air”
Abstract:
Following the Cuban Missile Crisis, President John F. Kennedy famously remarked in his “A Strategy for Peace” speech, “We all breathe the
same air. We all cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal.” But is this true? My life’s work questions this very premise, and I fear the
answer is “no.” Many vulnerable individuals breathe air that is far more hazardous than others. This disparity is often underestimated, as
discussions about air pollution tend to focus on ambient (outdoor) conditions. This talk will delve into this issue, presenting key findings from several GCARE projects over the past two decades – such as RECLAIM Network Plus, GP4Streets, GreenCities, INHALE, Healthy Sailing, iSCAPE, CO-TRACE, and SAMHE – focused on indoor/outdoor environments and both active and passive solutions. This talk will also showcase the extensive work of the GCARE team, including the Guildford Living Lab, which has developed guidance, tools, policy briefs, and co-designed nature-based solutions for mitigating air pollution and climate change. This talk will explore how various communities, particularly vulnerable groups like the elderly and children, are exposed to air pollution in different environments. Additionally, I will discuss how passive solutions can serve as effective exposure control strategies, alongside policy changes aimed at promoting behavioral shifts.
About the Speaker:
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 Guilford Living Lab, and the Trustee of Zero Carbon Guildford. He 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. Winner of the 2023 “Haagen-Smit Clean Air Award,” often regarded as the “Nobel Prize of Clean Air,” he was recognised as a top 1% Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate in both 2022 and 2023. He received the University of Surrey’s Vice-Chancellor Award for Researcher of the Year in 2017, and his recent paper on green infrastructure won the “2023 Haagen-Smit Prize for Best Paper” from Elsevier. With ~400 journal articles published in prestigious journals like Science, Nature Cities, and Chemical Society Reviews, he has garnered ~26,000 citations (h-index=78, i10-index=334). He has successfully secured over £15M in individual research funding from UKRI, including roles as Principal Investigator on the £1.2M RECLAIM Network Plus and £2M GP4Streets projects, as well as support from industry and international organizations. His research frequently appears in prominent media outlets, including the BBC and The Times. Further information can be found at www.surrey.ac.uk/gcare.
