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University of Hertfordshire > Research > Science and Technology > Research areas > CAIR > Atmospheric dynamics and air quality > Current research > Air quality in cities around the world > Analysis and synthesis of air quality
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Analysis and synthesis of air quality and related data for health and policy applications

Science and stakeholder interactions

Air pollution research can be regarded as one of the science disciplines whose outcome has a direct relevance to the needs of society, for example, knowledge on pollutants can influence the policy agenda by providing input into establishing limit values. Areas of air pollution research such as pollutant characteristics, changes in emissions and source distributions, assessment methodologies and identifying future needs are all important when formulating pollution management and control policies.

Details on projects that have involved interaction with stakeholders include:

  • TRANSPHORM Transport related Air Pollution and Health impacts - Integrated Methodologies for Assessing Particulate Matter (FP7 project) (www.transphorm.eu)
  • MEGAPOLI Megacities: Emissions, urban, regional and global atmospheric pollution and climate effects, and integrated tools for assessment and mitigation (FP7 project) (http://megapoli.info/) 
  • CAIR4HEALTH Clean Air for Health. EU FP6 project on research needs for sustainable development policies, 2007-2009 (www.cair4health.eu)
  • HENVINET. Health and environment network. EU FP6 project on Global Change and Ecosystems. (www.henvinet.eu)
  • ENVIRISK. Assessing the risks of environmental stressors. EU FP6 project. Scientific support to policies, 2007-2009. (http://envirisk.nilu.no)

Pollutants and health impacts

There is an increasing concern about the occurrence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the environment as they are ubiquitous in ambient air and some of them are among the strongest known carcinogens. PAHs and their derivatives are produced by the incomplete combustion of organic material arising, partly, from natural combustion such as forest and volcanic eruption, but with the majority due to anthropogenic emissions. Many countries have proposed a non-mandatory concentration limit for PAHs, whereas the health risk studies conducted in relation to PAH exposure, urge that these pollutants should be given a high priority when considering air quality management and reduction of impacts.

Selected references

Jane Newbold et al (2008). CAIR4HEALTH WP3 report. Structured overview of the urban air quality research needs relevant to sustainable development strategies.

Acknowledgements

This work is funded by European Commission.

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