Mamatha Tomson

Why did you choose to come to Surrey?  

As an international student, I wanted to step out of my comfort zone and experience a world-class education at a top university. When I was looking for PhD opportunities, my primary criteria were my supervisor and the research team that I was going to work with. Then I met Professor Prashant Kumar, Founding Director of the Global Centre for Clean Air Research (GCARE) at the University of Surrey. I was impressed with his excellent research with the GCARE team and their vision of ‘clean air for all’.  

What was your experience like when you moved here? 

When I took a flight to the UK, it was the first time I had left India. I was both excited and nervous to relocate. As expected, the first few weeks were challenging in a new country with new people, but it passed and since then it’s been the best experience.  

Why did you choose to study your PhD? 

I chose to study for a PhD for a few reasons. Primarily, it’s because I have a passion for research and want to become an expert in my field. Secondly, it’s to enhance my career opportunities: a PhD is essential for an academic job at a university, such as tutor, researcher or lecturer. Thirdly, it’s an excellent opportunity to broaden my network and connect with individuals with the same interests, knowledge and passion.  

Why are you passionate about your subject? 

Good air quality is a fundamental aspect of quality of life and is an important component of sustainable development. Air pollution is a major environmental hazard, which is responsible for 6.4 million deaths annually. Scientific research emphasises the urgency of controlling air pollution and highlights the complexities of the challenge to meet the latest World Health Organization guidelines. It is evident that cities across the world continue to struggle with poor air quality and with climate change, it is the most important environmental risk for humanity.   

Green infrastructure (GI) has been identified as one of the best strategies to reduce atmospheric pollutant concentration. GI offers benefits to public health by diverting and diluting pollution away from people, and via direct capture of pollutants on leaf surfaces through deposition. Quantification of pollutant reduction due to the presence of GI and its optimised design can improve air quality significantly.  

There is a clear need for studies to give GI recommendations for urban environments, including different GI types and configuration strategies. My research aims to address these issues through undertaking studies to quantify the pollutant reduction behind hedges in a real street canyon and the pollutant deposition capacity of various green wall species and their relationship with various leaf characteristics. My research provides a reason to initiate evidence-based GI design and implementation recommendations, upon which future research can progress for improved air quality in urban environments.  

Which facilities or other resources have you used during your PhD? 

GCARE’s air quality lab is a world-class air quality monitoring facility with advanced equipment to monitor fine/ultrafine particulate matter number, concentration and their size distribution, as well as a weather station, a high-precision microbalance, a leaf porometer and data loggers. For data collection during the experimental field campaigns, I used most of the air quality monitoring equipment in the GCARE lab. I have also used some of the state-of-the-art instruments in the MicroStructural Studies Unit (MSSU), the electron microscopy facility at the University.  

How has your supervisor helped you to achieve your aims during your studies? 

My supervisor is Professor Prashant Kumar, who has been very supportive from the beginning of my PhD. He has provided me with opportunities to be part of larger research projects and offered constant support throughout difficult times during the Covid-19 pandemic; I had to spend a year at the University of Wollongong (UoW), Australia as I have a dual PhD and it was difficult to plan and execute my experiments in two countries with constantly changing travel bans around the world. He provided me the best directions to organise my research during that period. He also motivated me to apply for the Turing scholarship while I was at UoW so that I could win it with his support and encouragement. He is highly encouraging as a supervisor and gives timely guidance for my research. He is a wonderful mentor, and I feel privileged to work with him.