£1.3 million awarded to equip a new Health and Pollution Research Hub
Despite growing evidence of the harm caused by the environmental pollution we are exposed to every day, much remains unknown about how it affects human health.
Microplastics have been detected in organs throughout the body, yet their long-term health impacts remain unclear. Scientists can measure chemicals leaking from landfill sites into surrounding soils, but the full environmental and health consequences are still not fully understood.
Understanding the health impacts of pollution
Researchers at Queen Mary University of London (Queen Mary) are set to address these knowledge gaps through a new Health and Pollution Research Hub. Environmental scientists will work alongside clinicians and others to investigate the relationship between environmental pollution and health outcomes, by drawing direct links between environmental exposures, biological mechanisms and health outcomes.
Building on Queen Mary’s longstanding expertise in water quality, air pollution and maternal and foetal health, the initiative aims to generate evidence that can inform future health and environmental policy, with a view to improving health outcomes.
Among other things, the Hub will support research into microplastics, “forever chemicals” such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), and pollution in air, water and food.
Addressing environmental inequalities
Based in the East London borough of Tower Hamlets, where air quality in every neighbourhood breaches World Health Organisation guidelines and access to green space is among the lowest in the UK, Queen Mary is ideally located to study the burden of environmental pollution on under-served communities.
This work will tie in with the University’s existing, world-leading research into the impact of environmental pollution on health – research that includes studying the relationship between air pollution and the introduction of ULEZ on children’s growth and development and how historic landfills are impacting our health.
Investing in research infrastructure
The Foundation’s award of £1.3 million will fund advanced laboratory equipment capable of analysing air pollution, microplastics and complex chemicals such as PFAS, and will fundamentally change our ability to understand the links between environmental pollution and health. The resulting research will support clinical and population health studies, helping to shape policy and improve public health in London and across the UK.
- Watch – How Queen Mary research influenced the introduction of the Ultra Low Emission Zone in London.
- Learn how the Wolfson Centre for Applied Health Research in Bradford, awarded £1 million in 2016, develops quicker ways of translating research into patient benefit.
- Read the latest news on how the introduction of London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone linked to improved lung growth in children.
All images: Credit Queen Mary University of London.
