Centre for Environmental Health and Sustainability
Dr Josh Vande Hey
Head of Earth Observation Group, Associate Professor in Environment and Health
My expertise is in atmospheric science and sensing, knowledge exchange, and translation of environmental science into applications in industry and health, with 16 years professional experience in industry and academia. In 2014 I was awarded the Springer Theses “Best of the Best” thesis prize for my PhD work on developing a commercially viable cloud and aerosol sensor, and the same year began my NERC Knowledge Exchange Fellowship on commercial and local policy applications of air pollution science and data. Since then I have been building interdisciplinary collaborations in environment, health and informatics, and co-delivering research with non-academic partners; for example, I am conducting active research with Leicester City Council to underpin local transport policy decisions and public messaging with air quality sensor and model data. I have managed over £1 million of grant funding and over £350,000 of industrial contract research relating to measurement, modelling and mitigation/treatment of indoor air pollution including particulate matter, VOCs and bioaerosols. My measurement expertise includes satellite and ground-based remote sensing of aerosols and trace gases, and low cost in situ sensors. In 2017 I was awarded a British Council Newton Utafiti Institutional Links grant as co-PI with University of Nairobi to develop air pollution monitoring, health impact assessment and mitigation strategies appropriate for the local context in Kenya, as well as air quality science and local government capacity building. I am currently leading a three-year Royal Academy of Engineering project on indoor and outdoor air quality data for longitudinal health research in South Africa with University of Witwatersrand and South African Medical Research Council. I am science co-director for the UK Space Agency’s Centre for Earth Observation Instrumentation (CEOI) and in 2020 I became a senior member of IEEE.