My research interests focus on the impact of indoor air quality on building users physical and psychological health and the role of architecture in the design of healthy buildings. I am particularly interested in multidisciplinary approaches to explore the relationship between architectural design, environmental exposure and childhood respiratory health.
My interest and involvement in this area stemmed from the outcomes of the HEMAC network, which was established to bring together researchers and practitioners from the fields of indoor air quality (IAQ), health and the built environment to identify shared research agendas and develop research questions and activity, with a particular focus on challenges concerning IAQ in modern UK dwellings. The steering committee (over 30 members) is made up of researchers from medicine (including participants from the Respiratory group, University of Aberdeen and Public Health England), indoor air science and ventilation, microbiology, engineering and architecture communities, mainly from the UK but also includes researchers from Ireland, the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium and China. The network was established through funding received from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AH/N006607/1) which supported a series of initial events (May 2016 - May 2017), including a symposium, a workshop and a sandpit (see www.hemacnetwork.com for more information). The activity of the network identified both the existing knowledge base and also significant research questions, including a strand of research concerned with children’s health and the indoor built environment.
This theme was pursued through a HEMAC workshop and sandpit entitled Cross sectional study on children’s health and indoor environmental quality, which resulted in a recently funded 12 month pilot study to explore the role of the home environment on the aetiology of asthma and allergies in Scottish children. The context of the proposed research is existing evidence of higher allergy levels in UK, Australia, and New Zealand; and a current impetus to address air pollution in the UK. This recently initiated study hopes to replicate a methodology used by Prof Jan Sundell (Tsinghua University) in previous studies in China.
In parallel to this, I am working on a research proposal that aims to compare bedroom ventilation rates and concomitant effects (moisture, temperature, air pollutants) with the frequency of asthma events and lung function of children (aged 5-11) with asthma living in modern homes. The proposed study is a joint collaboration between the Mackintosh Environmental Architecture Research Unit at the Glasgow School of Art and the Institute of Medical Sciences at the University of Aberdeen. We are currently working with Asthma UK Centre for Applied Research to organise a consultation with parents of asthmatic children (aged 5–11), to acquire knowledge to inform and strengthen the proposed research project, which has received support from Allergy UK, Asthma UK and the SPEAK Asthma Group for children and young people.