SAMHE (Schools Air quality Monitoring for Health and Education) is an indoor air quality research project funded by EPSRC that utilises Citizen Science methods to co-design, collect and analyse data on classroom air quality.

SAMHE is aiming to have indoor air quality monitors in 2000 schools, which will produce an unparalleled data set of UK classroom air quality. Schools that participate in SAMHE receive a free indoor air quality monitor that collects data on levels of carbon dioxide, particulate matter, and total volatile compounds, as well as temperature and relative humidity. Schools can also view their classroom data on air quality in their classroom using the specially designed Web App, where they can also access curriculum linked resources and example experiments.

During this webinar, SAMHE researcher Dr Rhys Archer will discuss the project further, with particular insights given to the Citizen Science methods used. 

SAMHE is a collaboration between five UK universities (University of Cambridge, Imperial College London, University of York (through the Stockholm Environment Institute's York centre), University of Surrey, University of Leeds) and the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA)

Our speaker

Dr Rhys Archer is a Research Fellow and Citizen Science Research group coordinator at the Stockholm Environment Institute at The University of York and holds a PhD in Materials Engineering from The University of Manchester. Her research interests include participatory approaches to STEM research, particularly around sustainability and sustainable materials engineering.

She works on the SAMHE (Schools Air quality Monitoring for Health and Education) project which involves the co-design of the SAMHE webapp with schools to monitor classroom air quality. Rhys also has keen interest and expertise in leading outreach and public engagement, and as a result was awarded the Robert Perrin Medal in 2020 “For outstanding and sustained commitment to outreach activity in Materials Science and Technology targeted at 11-19 students” from the Institute of Materials, Minerals, and Mining.