CIEH Air Quality Conference

Professor Catherine Noakes OBE FREng FIMechE FIHEEM FISIAQ, Professor of Environmental Engineering for Buildings at University of Leeds. Catherine is a chartered mechanical engineer, with a background in fluid dynamics. She leads research into ventilation, indoor air quality and infection control in the built environment using experimental and modelling-based studies. She is Co-Director of the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Fluid Dynamics and Deputy Director of the Leeds Institute for Fluid Dynamics. From April 2020-2022 she Co-Chaired the Environment and Modelling sub-group of the UK Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) focusing on the science underpinning environmental transmission of COVID-19. She has also contributed to multiple working groups focusing on respiratory transmission including for WHO, the NHS, the UK and Scottish Governments and various professional bodies including the Royal Academy of Engineering.

Dr Chunli CAO CEng FCIBSE MIMechE, Managing Director at Healthy Air Technology. Chunli has an extensive background in building-engineering and air quality science. She worked for the Building Services Research and Information Association (BSRIA) between 2007-2009 as head of the Computer Modelling Group, and went on to work at the Building Research Establishment (BRE) as a principal consultant. A chartered engineer and registered energy assessor (to level 5), Chunli contributed to writing the ‘Practical Guide to building Thermal Modelling’. With her PHD in aerodynamics and background in building design she went on to co-found Healthy Air Technology, a specialist air purification company aiming to improve indoor air quality globally.

Shirley Rodrigues, Deputy Mayor of London for Environment and Energy. Shirley works to deliver the Mayor’s vision of making London greener, fairer and healthier through his London Environment Strategy. This includes programmes to reduce air pollution, including the implementation of the world’s first Ultra Low Emission Zone, and greening and rewilding the city. Her key focus is on ensuring that London’s economic and social recovery from the impacts of Covid-19 is a green and fair one by tackling the climate and ecological emergency with the ambitious aim for London to be a net zero carbon city by 2030. Previously Shirley oversaw a global climate change grants portfolio at the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), and in other senior roles she delivered a range of environmental policies in London, nationally and internationally.

Somayya Yaqub, Head of Corporate Health and Safety at London Borough of Ealing. Somayya has held a variety of local government roles with an emphasis on environmental health, including air quality, pollution and nuisance mitigation. She has thorough experience in large-scale regeneration projects and design risk mitigation, as well as giving evidence at planning enquiries and being cross-examined. She is also co-author of the Professional Planning Guidance document to supplement the National Planning Policy framework. Somayya is a member of the Institute of Acoustics (IOA) Environmental Noise Committee, non-executive board member of Broadway Living, and member of the CIEH Environmental Protection panel.

Professor Sir Stephen Holgate FRCP FRCPath FMedSci, Medical Research Council Clinical Professor of Immunopharmacology and honorary consultant physician at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton. Stephen has utilised many approaches to study asthma and related allergic diseases resulting in more than 1000 peer review publications. He co-founded Synairgen to develop inhaled interferon-beta for viral respiratory diseases. Stephen was previously President of the British Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology (BSACI), the British Thoracic Society (BTS) and the British Association for Lung Research. He is Special Advisor to the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) on Air Quality. Stephen received the RCP President’s Medal in 2018 and he is the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Clean Air Champion. He was appointed to CBE in 2011 for clinical science and knighted in 2020 for contributions to medical research.