

Research
Working towards a vision of pollution-free urban and rural environments, our focus is to understand the impact of both conventional and emerging air pollutants from transport, industrial and non-vehicle sources, air quality, public health and the built infrastructure.
We are looking at developing engineering driven solutions and regulatory strategies for their mitigation by means of advanced measurements and modelling techniques.
Making an impact
Professor Prashant Kumar discusses his work on mitigating air pollution on the local and international stages.
Studentships
Lung-deposited surface area deposition of airborne nanoparticles in different environments
Funding information:
The studentship funding covers academic fees for UK/home students. Your home fee will be covered. You will also receive a standard EPSRC stipend amount of £20,688 per annum to cover your living expenses. Additional funding will be made available to present your work at a conference and for project-related costs. Any international candidate, who is not qualified as home/UK student, should have to cover the home and international fee difference of around £16,000 per year. There may an opportunity for this component of the fee waiver for international candidates should they have an exceptional academic track record and prior research publications.PhD on artificial intelligence for air pollution
Funding information:
A stipend of £19,000 for 22/23, which will increase each year in line with the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) rate, plus Home rate fee allowance of £4,596 (with automatic increase to UKRI rate each year). The studentship is offered for 3.5 years. For exceptional international candidates, there is the possibility of obtaining a scholarship to cover overseas fees.Research areas
Particulate matter
- Aerosols
- Ultrafine particles
- Nanoparticles
- Engineered nanoparticles.
Cities and megacities
- Low-cost sensing
- Energy-pollution nexus
- Emission modelling.
Smart cities
- Environmental sensing
- Urban mobility
- Transport accessibility.
Indoor air quality
- Sources and control measures
- Biophilia
- Exposure assessment
- Ventilation and interzonal flows
- Building airtightness and Infiltration
- Filtration
- Standards, regulation and certification schemes
- Post-occupancy evaluation
- Health, wellbeing and comfort.
Outdoor air pollution
- Sources and control measures
- Processes
- Exhaust and non-exhaust emissions
- Dispersion modelling
- Exposure and health impact assessments
- Effective chimney heights
- Standards and regulation
- Meteorological measurements.
Gaseous pollutants
- Nitrogen oxides (nitrogen dioxide, nitric oxide)
- Carbon monoxide
- Carbon dioxide
- Ozone
- Sulphur dioxide
- Volatile organic compounds
- Formaldehyde.
Built environment
- Green infrastructure
- Green/grey infrastructure interactions
- Air pollution impacts on built infrastructure
- Nature-based solutions (green, blue and hybrid approaches)
- Sustainability.
Natural environment
- Biogenic
- Peatlands
- Wildfire and other naturally occurring phenomena which have a significant impact on rural/urban environments
- Scenario and impact modelling of natural hazards.
Viruses
- Covid-19
- Airborne transmission and infection
- Social distances
- Ventilation requirements
- Filtration
- Face masks.
Interfaces of air pollution
- With water, energy, land use
- Nanotechnology
- Transportation
- Built infrastructure.
Co-pollutants
- Noise
- Light
- Global climate related pollutants (eg. CO2 and CH4).
Climate change
- Greenhouse gas emissions
- Weather and climate related natural hazards (floods, droughts, heatwaves)
- Climate-proof nature-based solutions.
What we are researching
We have numerous case studies to support our research areas and we are also working to support the fight against Covid-19 with various projects in collaboration with partners around the world.
