The fifth WM-Air (‘Clean Air Science for the West Midlands’) annual meeting took place at The Exchange on 18th October 2023. It was the largest event to-date, with nearly 80 delegates including the WM-Air team, wider University of Birmingham colleagues, local authorities, external stakeholders and cross-sector partners from across the region and beyond.
At the meeting, members of the WM-Air team and external partners provided a series of short updates on recent work, available capabilities and key case studies being undertaken with partners across the region, including: Climate Risk and Vulnerability Assessment (CRVA), exploring the sources of PM2.5 in the West Midlands, traffic reduction scenarios, low traffic neighbourhoods, and using integrated policy to create healthier cities. There was also a keynote presentation, ‘Air pollution in the 21st Century: evidence and the case for action’, by Dr Gary Fuller, Senior Lecturer in Air Quality Measurement at Imperial College London’s Faculty of Medicine, UKRI Clean Air Champion and member of Defra’s Air Quality Expert Group. Following the main event, there were opportunities for discussion and networking over lunch, and a workshop demonstrating the new Air Quality-Policy Evaluation Tool (AQ-PET).