Evotech attends its first air quality conference of the year

Air quality is one of the most important issues of our time and it is vitally important that we come together to learn how to tackle and improve air quality. Evotech Air Quality attended its first conference of the year at the Air Quality News Northern Conference in Manchester on 23 March 2023. 

The event brought policymakers, charity workers, academics and air quality professionals together to tackle poor air quality which not only contributes to climate change but adversely affects our health and wellbeing. 

We listened intently to speeches from some of those at the forefront of air quality campaigning and some who are implementing change to improve air quality, including Baroness Jones The Baroness of Moulescoomb, Member of the House of Lords, Prof. Alastair Lewis, chair of the UK Government’s Science Advisory Body on Air Pollution, Prof. Rosie McEachan, Director of the Born in Bradford initiative, and Andy Hickford, Senior Project Manager Sustainable Energy & Air Quality at Leeds City Council, to name but a few of the great speakers. 

Baroness Jones was responsible for introducing the Clean Air (Human Rights) Bill (also known as Ella’s Law) to Parliament and in her speech, she covered some important and serious issues, interjected with some humorous insights into the tactics used in Parliament. 

Prof. Rosie McEachan talked about the Born in Bradford (BiB) initiative, a research programme that has been tracking the wellbeing of 40,000 Bradford-born children from birth, with the oldest cohort now reaching adolescence; and the BiB Breathes study which will evaluate the health and economic impact of the Bradford Clean Air Zone. 

Prof. Ally Lewis, spoke on the subject of air pollution as a trans-boundary issue, stated that only half the PM2.5 in the UK is actually controllable, however, he also emphasised that reducing the amount of particulates in the air is very much needed. 

Andy Hickford talked about the Leeds Air Quality Strategy and brought up the subject of indoor air quality, observing that where we live and work is just as important as how we get there. 

It was an excellent event with highly experienced speakers that provided a great chance to network with delegates and exhibitors alike who are addressing air quality challenges every day. We’ll see many of them again later in the year at the London event.