Rose speaks to year 12 geographers at North Bristol Post-16 Centre

Rose was invited to speak to year 12 Geographers at North Bristol Post-16 Centre at Redland Green School on Tuesday. She talked to students about carbon management and climate change, both internationally, and emissions accounting and mitigation options locally in Bristol. The students discussed issues ranging from international climate politics, renewable energy feasibility, and spatial planning policies, to energy efficiency in the home and public transport in Bristol. The morning aimed to provide students with a climate change case study for forthcoming AS and A2 exams.

Air Quality and Carbon Management CPD available from UWE

With the recent multitude of changes to the LAQM process and the increasing predominance of climate change on the political agenda, now is the time for employers and staff to ensure that they are in command of all the facts.

The University of the West of England’s Air Quality Management Resource Centre (AQMRC) have developed a range of training and development opportunities to build skills and understanding in the fields of air quality and carbon management. Whether you are a recent graduate or needing to update your skills in an existing role, this training will give you the opportunity to focus your development in a way that is specific to your needs and requirements.

Supported by the Institute of Air Quality Management and the Institution of Environmental Science, these training opportunities are available from 2010 for CPD. A flexible package of CPD is available for delivery at your location or at UWE. For more information about the training opportunities and to discuss your specific needs, please contact Jo Barnes (aqmrc@uwe.ac.uk) and visit the training pages of the AQMRC website (http://www.uwe.ac.uk/aqm/training.html).

Rose has abstract accepted for the Second International Conference on Climate Change

Rose has had an abstract accepted for presentation at the Second International Conference on Climate Change: Impacts and Responses, to be held at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia from 8-10 July 2010. More information can be found on the conference website: http://www.climate-conference.com

Roses's abstract is entitled "Envisioning the Future: a Methodology for City-Scale Carbon Management".

Using the example of Bristol in south west England, the paper will discuss a methodology for how cities could respond to the challenge of climate change and capitalise on their unique mitigation opportunities. By engaging local stakeholders through an innovative Delphi-like process, a number of low-carbon scenarios for the future city-region are imagined. Using backcasting techniques, together with conventional forecasting, a robust pathway from the present to a future desirable low-emission city can be described. This will bring benefits to planning and policy making, by providing a low emission-pathway beyond the short-term, and creates buy-in from key stakeholders through the Delphi-process, who have helped to define the city’s future.

Read more about Rose's research on her webpage.

Tim becomes Chair of IAPSC

At the end of the IAPSC meeting in Birmingham last Wednesday, it was formally announced that Tim will be the next chair of IAPSC committee, following Mark Daly's departure from the role.

(IAPSC = Investigation of Air Pollution Standing Conference http://www.iapsc.org.uk/ )

Dotun presents research in Brussels

Dotun will be giving a presentation on "Managing local traffic-related air pollution in England" at the on Polis Conference 2009 in Brussels (10th and 11th of December). He will be presenting key findings from his recently concluded PhD research on the integration of air quality management into the second round of local transport planning (LTP2) process.

Tim Keynote Speaker at IUAPPA Regional Workshop

Tim has been invited to give a keynote presentation on “Managing Transport Impacts in Asian Mega-Cities” at the IUAPPA North African Regional Workshop in Tunis (23^rd-25^th November).

Mofoluso to present a paper at IAA conference in Nigeria

Mofoluso is attending the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) 3rd African Regional Conference being held at the Sheraton Hotel, Abuja from 24 to 26 November, 2009. The theme of the Conference is "Space for Africa: Joint Participation, Knowledge Development and Sharing".

Mofoluso will be presenting a paper entitled, "The need for improved sensing technology for estimating emissions and concentrations of pollution at ground-level in the lower latitudes".

Check out Mofoluso's research page to see the presentation on his return.

We all wish Mofoluso a safe journey and all the best in his presentation.

Tim on Environment Panel at Music South West

Last Friday Tim represented the Institute for Sustainability, Health and Environment in a panel discussion at the Music South West conference in Bristol.

The discussion was chaired by Matt Booth of the Bristol Music Foundation.  Other members included Alison Tickell of Julie’s Bicycle, and Ben Chalis and Clare O’Neil of A Greener Festival

Tim appears on the BBC

On Monday 2nd November, the BBC screened its regional Inside Out programme containing a feature on air pollution. Focussing in particular on Bedford, the programme contained interviews with Tim from AQMRC, along with Ed Dearnley of EPUK and Barry Williams from Bedford Borough Council.

The programme is available on the BBC I-Player site here.

15th IUAPPA World Clean Air Congress - Call for abstracts

Abstracts are now invited for the 15th International Union of Air Pollution Prevention and Environmental Protection Association's World Clean Air Congress
Date: September 12-16, 2010
Place: Vancouver, British Columbia
Conference Theme: Achieving Environmental Sustainability in a Resource Hungry World
Abstract Submission Deadline: March 12, 2010
Further details available here or visit their website www.iuappa2010.com.

AQMRC/EPUK-SW Annual Conference - Presentations now available online

The presentations from the AQMRC, UWE and Environmental Protection-UK SW Divison Annual Conference ' Air Quality Management: the 11th hour' are now available on the AQMRC website http://www.uwe.ac.uk/aqm/training.html.

The conference provided a positive message for the future of air quality management through integration with other disciplines, such as transport (John Murlis), climate change (Guy Hitchcock), land use planning (Claire Holman) and noise (Steve Crawshaw and Tim Clarke), and Mark Broom presented Neath Port Talbot as a case study of collaborative agency working with regard to the industrial steelworks. There was also a policy update from Robert Vaughan reporting on Defra's approach to the NO2 time extension and a reminder from Ben Barratt to ensure that policy measures are accountable to the science. Ben Williams, the 2008 winner of the EPUK student conference presented his research measuring nuisance dust from a waste transfer station and Phil Mulligan's summary of the EP-UK Biomass and Air Quality event from the previous week highlighted one of the new and increasing considerations for air quality management.

In all, the feedback from the day was equally as positive and the presentations were extremely well-rated.

If you have any suggestions for future conference topics, do let us know at aqmrc@uwe.ac.uk.

Tim is Keynote Speaker on Health and Planning

On Monday, Tim attended the GO-East "Multi-Professional Symposium on Health and the Built Environment" in Cambridge. He was invited as one of the keynote speakers to make a presentation on "Urban Design and Health", alongside Neil Blackmore from the NHS Healthy Urban Development Unit and Dr Tim Crayford, Chief Medical Advisor for DfT.

Tim's presentation can be viewed here.

In the afternoon, Tim got back to his roots and participated in the Norfolk workshop with members of Norwich City Council, NHS Norfolk, and Tim O'Riordan (Emeritus Professor at UEA and Sheriff of the City of Norwich).

Port Talbot Study Presented at Openair Workshop

Tim attended the Openair/Aitrack workshop "Towards Smarter Air Quality Analysis" at the Institute of Physics on Thursday. At the workshop he presented a poster illustrating the work that AQMRC has carried out for the Welsh Assembly Government, using Openair and R to analyse pollution data from 11 monitoring stations in the Neath Port Talbot area.

A copy of the poster can be viewed here

AQMRC - EPUK SW Annual conference success

The Air Quality Management Resource Centre, UWE and Environmental Protection - South West Division joined forces once again yesterday to deliver an "excellent" Annual Conference entitled 'Air Quality Management - the 11th hour'. The conference was held, as in previous years, at the very welcoming Bristol Zoo which afforded delegates and speakers a extremely pleasant venue, access to the gardens and a splendid spread for lunch and tea. The talks, which were all excellently presented and thoroughly informative, explored the various ways in which air quality management can be achieved holistically through integration with other disciplines and by working with related parties, giving a highly positive feel to a, perhaps, ominously titled event. Further information on the individual talks together with the presentations themselves will be posted shortly on the AQMRC website.

Emissions of air pollutants down in EU-27

The European Community's air pollutant emission inventory report released by the European Environment Agency finds that in 2007, sulphur oxides (SOx) emissions were down by 72% from 1990 levels. The downward emission trend of three main pollutants which cause ground-level ozone continued in 2007: carbon monoxide (CO) fell by 57%, non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs) were down by 47% and nitrogen oxides (NOx) have dropped 36%. EU-27 emissions of all four pollutants were lower in 2007 than in 2006.

Read more ... <http://www.eea.europa.eu/highlights/emissions-of-air-pollutants-down-in-eu-27?&utm_campaign=emissions-of-air-pollutants-down-in-eu-27&utm_medium=email&utm_source=EEASubscriptions>

Air quality vacancy at Bristol CC

Bristol City Council are now recruiting an Environmental Technical Support Officer for their environment team. The role will be mainly working on air quality, covering Bristol's monitoring sites and also working on other air quality projects, EMAS, water quality and GIS. Click here for further details.

Jimi chairs Defra review of monitoring for acidifying and eutrophying pollutants

Jimi Irwin has chaired a review of monitoring for acidifying and eutrophying pollutants for Defra. Such measurements have been an important part of the United Kingdom measurement programme since the first national precipitation chemistry network was established in 1986. They have played an important role in determining pollutant deposition over the country and in identifying areas where research was necessary to improve our understanding of atmospheric chemistry and deposition processes. More recently, they have provided a tool for the implementation of a critical loads and levels approach to environmental protection.

The Review Panel reviewed current monitoring with regard to species measured, locations, frequency of measurement, methodology and quality assurance. They also considered the status of the UK supersites at Harwell and Auchencorth Moss within the European Evaluation and Monitoring programme. In reaching their conclusions the Panel drew on material provided by the network operators, past reports and also the findings of a user survey. Relevant material is available on the NERC open research archive.

AQMRC - EPUK SW Annual Conference back on!

The 11th Annual Conference organised by Air Quality Management Resource Centre, UWE and Environmental Protection SW Division is back on after being postponed from its usual slot in March. The conference will now be held on Wednesday 30th September. The title of the event is 'Air Quality Management - The 11th Hour' focusing on the fact that the Air Quality Objective dates have now largely been reached and EU Limit Values are on the horizon.

The presentations selected will highlight the benefits of integrating air quality with other disciplines, e.g. transport, carbon management, health and land use planning. Defra's Robert Vaughan will set the scene with his keynote address and will be joined by speakers from Bristol City Council, King's College, London, University of London, Peter Brett Associates, Exeter University and Portsmouth University, including Ben Williams, winner of the 2008 Environmental Protection Student Day event. There will also be a conference exhibition for suppliers, consultants and academics to display their wares and research.

The venue remains the same, Bristol Zoo, and the conference fees will include delegate packs (including CPD certificate), buffet lunch and refreshments. For details and a link to the conference flier and registration form, please visit the AQMRC website http://www.uwe.ac.uk/aqm/training.html or ring 0117 32 81626 for further information.

Jim and Simon go to Westminster

Jim and Simon were invited to the Great Western Research (GWR) event 'Innovation through Collaboration', Portcullis House, Westminster on 29th June. The event celebrated the achievements of the Great Western Research project to date and called for further funding to maintain momentum. Jim gave an enthusiastic presentation on his experiences as a research supervisor on Simon's PhD - made possible through the GWR initiative – and Simon presented an academic poster on his research. The event was well attended by GWR, Students, Fellows, Supervisors and Business Partners and joined by senior academics from across the South West and representatives of the SW-RDA, HEFCE, Research Councils, and the Technology Strategy Board. The event was sponsored by Phil Willis MP Chair of the Commons Select Committee responsible for science and technology. Go to Simon's webpage to see the poster and find out more about his research.

Jo presents at EPUK East Midlands Division AGM, Buxton

Jo Barnes gave a presentation on the 2009 LAQM Technical Guidance to the EPUK East Midlands Division AGM at the Tarmac Lime and Cement plant at Tunstead Quarry, in Buxton, Derbyshire last Thursday, 25th June. Malcolm Brown and Rhonda Newsham (British Geological Survey) also gave a very interesting talk on the use of GIS in assessing assessment of contaminated land exposure and Peter Grosvenor and Frank Emerson (Tarmac) spoke about the operations at the quarry and gave us a fascinating tour of the works. The presentations and tour were well-received by the audience of Environmental Protection Officers and Councillors from the region. [Photographed L-R Jo Barnes (UWE), Peter Grosvenor and Frank Emerson (Tarmac), Malcolm Brown and Rhonda Newsham (British Geological Survey.]