Shaping future standards for cleaner air
“We have taken the lead in representing the UK bioaerosols science community. The Hub will help us continue to foster an internationally competitive, cross-disciplinary network, creating opportunities for early career and senior researchers, industry and policymakers to collaborate in tackling pressing air quality challenges.”
Frederic Coulon, Professor of Environmental Chemistry and Microbiology, Cranfield University.
What’s the challenge we’re facing?
There are significant gaps in our knowledge about how bioaerosol sources and emissions are affected by physical and social factors, including people's behaviour, and how these interactions influence exposure and health risks. We also have limited understanding of dose-response relationships and how bioaerosols and other air pollutants combine to impact allergenicity, toxicity, and infectivity. The Indoor/Outdoor Bioaerosols Interface and Relationships Network, or BioAirNet, is funded by the UKRI Clean Air Programme. It aims to tackle major air quality issues caused by changing emission sources and exposure patterns indoors and outdoors and, ultimately, develop solutions for better air quality and public health.
What advances are we aiming for?
The goal of BioAirNet is to understand how bioaerosols are emitted and dispersed, how people are exposed to them, and their health effects in different indoor and outdoor environments. Using a transdisciplinary approach, the network operates through four interconnected themes:
Bioaerosol sources and dynamics; identifying and researching a range of bioaerosol sources in indoor and outdoor settings,
Bioaerosol sampling and characterisation; addressing the complexity and needs of sampling microbial systems,
Human health, behaviour, and wellbeing; focusing on human exposure to bioaerosols, public health risks, and prevention,
Policy and public engagement; communicating evidence for healthy environments in an accessible way.
What have we achieved so far?
Through specialist workshops, translational research, and public and stakeholder outreach, we have conducted knowledge gap analyses across four themes, identifying future research priorities. We have developed evidence reviews, communication frameworks and toolkits to support both research and policy. This included a report for the Environment Agency: Antimicrobial resistance in bioaerosols: towards a national surveillance strategy. This work has strengthened the evidence base on exposure assessment and toxicity, defining biologically clean air, and understanding inequalities in bioaerosol-related health and wellbeing.
Where next, through the Hub?
Leveraging the Hub’s expanded research capacity, we are exploring how to refine methods to assess the health risks of bioaerosols by integrating real-time monitoring, multi-exposure models, and advanced bioanalytical techniques. This will lead to more accurate evaluations of how bioaerosols affect human health.
Our main goal is to develop the concept of biologically clean air, setting evidence-based standards for built environments and informing air quality regulations. This commitment to translating technological advances into practical policy changes is key. Building on insights from BioAirNet, our work within the Hub can support urban planning, improve ventilation strategies, and better manage bioaerosols in public spaces.