Study team
Dr Suzanne Bartington
Dr Suzanne Bartington is a Clinical Research Fellow in Environmental Health (Institute of Applied Health Research, University of Birmingham) and Honorary Consultant in Public Health (Public Health England). Her research interests include assessment of the health impacts of air pollution, environmental public policy and sustainable development across diverse settings worldwide. She is Co-Principal Investigator for the OxAria study and previously led the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) PHR funded OxAria1 study assessing feasibility of low-cost sensor network deployment in Oxford City. Suzanne is public health lead for the NERC funded West Midlands Air Quality Improvement Programme – WM-Air and Co-Investigator for the ANTICIPATE programme investigating the unintended consequences of public policy for air quality. She is also a member of the Central England NIHR Public Health Intervention Responsive Study Team led by the University of Hertfordshire, with a focus upon transport and air quality intervention evaluation.
Dr Felix Leach
Felix Leach is an Associate Professor of Engineering Science at the University of Oxford, a post held jointly with that of Fellow and Tutor in Engineering Science at Keble College. His research interests are in emissions and efficiency of thermal propulsion systems and air quality. In addition to the OxAria project (both the feasibility phase and this phase) Felix has developed world-leading instrumentation capabilities enabling identification of emissions hot-spots – deployed recently in trials on buses in service on routes in Oxford jointly with Cambustion, Oxford City Council, and Oxford Bus Company. In addition, he has spent over a decade working in close collaboration with Jaguar Land Rover using world-leading measurement capabilities to develop a clean engine for the 21st Century. Felix also founded the annual Oxford Air Quality Meeting (www.oaqm.org) which draws together experts in vehicle emissions, air quality measurement, public health, and policy. Felix is a Chartered Engineer (MIMechE), a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and a Member of the Society of Automotive Engineers.
Tony Bush
Tony is an independent environmental consultant and part-time research assistant at the University of Oxford, and is the sensor data lead on OxAria. Tony has spent around 20+ years’ in the corporate consulting sector supporting local and central governments in the UK, Europe on air quality policy support and compliance issues. In 2016, he set up Apertum, a start-up company focusing on environment & data consultancy.
Prof Francis Pope
Francis is an expert on the causes and effects of air pollution. Before gaining his Professorship in Atmospheric Science in 2018, he held a Birmingham Fellowship (2012-2017), which allow outstanding, high potential researchers to establish world-leading research groups (currently 4 Postdocs, 10 PhDs, 1 Masters students, and a group administrator. He has led several multi-institute and multinational projects to completion. He provides policy directed research for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), Department for International Development (DFID), Department for Transport (DfT), and Transport Scotland. He publishes widely (73 peer reviewed papers, 4 book chapters and many government reports). He is an editor for the prominent ‘Atmospheric Measurement Techniques’ journal.
Brian Stacey
Brian Stacey is Ricardo Energy & Environment’s Knowledge Leader within the Air Quality Monitoring team. He has extensive experience in all aspects of air quality monitoring, including field and laboratory studies, data handling and processing. He was involved in establishing the Environment Agency Air Pollution Monitoring Networks, and currently oversees QA/QC of field operations for major air monitoring programmes managed by Ricardo Energy and Environment. Brian devised the ISO17025 accredited field test procedures and is responsible for maintaining the accreditation of this activity. He participates widely in collaborative programmes on air quality monitoring techniques both within the UK and Europe. These include acting as a committee member on a number of European Working Groups: AQUILA (EC National Reference Laboratories – Chairman Emeritus), BSI EH/2/3, CEN TC 264 WG12 (Measurement of gases – Convenor), CEN TC 264 WG15 (Measurement of PM10 and PM2.5 – Convenor) and CEN TC 264 WG42 (Measurement with low cost sensors). Brian is an Associate Lecturer at the University of Birmingham.
Prof Neil Thomas
Professor Thomas is the Regional Director, NIHR Research Design Service West Midlands and Professor of Epidemiology and Research Methods in the Institute of Applied Health Research of the College of Medical and Dental Sciences, The University of Birmingham. Professor Thomas has an international portfolio of research in Europe, Africa and Asia investigating in the fields of cardiovascular disease epidemiology, prevention and control with a particular focus on atrial fibrillation, air pollution and lifestyle exposures. Major ongoing studies include the NIHR Global Group in Atrial Fibrillation management, Brazil, China, and Sri Lanka; Elderly Health Centres Study (air pollution, lifestyle, mortality outcomes), Hong Kong; the 30,000 plus Guangzhou Biobank Cohort Study (lifestyle, chronic disease outcomes), China; and one of the largest CVD endpoint studies assessing the effectiveness of a PolyPill in Iran (CVD, mortality outcomes).