ScienceFest! A celebration of clean air

15th March 2023

Mums for Lungs are proud to present … our first ever ScienceFest! In this celebration of clean air we've collaborated with some of the most prestigious scientific organisations in the UK to create an army of junior citizen scientists, who are learning about, measuring and assessing the air around us.

Our scientists, aged 4 to 16 from Lambeth and Southwark, are working with real life scientists from Imperial College London, University College London, Nottingham University, as well as the Dyson Foundation and Marston Holdings, to examine and understand the air they breathe.

Scientists from Nottingham University are working with students from Elmgreen Secondary School in Lambeth, to build eight air pollution monitors and filtration systems to reduce pollution in their classrooms. The low-cost systems, which can be easily assembled without specialist training, use smart technology which ensures the filtration system only operates when pollution levels are high. 

Dunraven Secondary School are working with engineers from the Dyson Foundation, building air purifying fans and learning about how engineering and design can help tackle air pollution. Their three-hour workshop looks at the causes of air pollution, possible solutions such as purifying lamp posts, as well as low-fi solutions made from cardboard, duct tape and Dyson machine parts. 

Dr Pia Hardelid, an epidemiologist who works at UCL and Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health is giving a workshop at Dulwich Wood Primary School, and another Southwark school. She will be introducing Key Stage 2 children to epidemiology, the power of asking the right questions and how she uses data for child public health research. She will also talk about how children's home life and their walk to school may be affected by the quality of air they breathe. 

Dr Diana Varaden, a scientist at Imperial College, is exploring the area around a Lambeth school with its pupils. They will be measuring the quality of the air using sensitive filters, and looking at the variations between different types of road.

Finally, Nick Ruxton-Boyle, a chemist and transport scientist at Marston Holdings, will be working with a Lambeth primary school, measuring the air pollution around them, and helping the children talk about their findings to their parents and teachers.

We believe that by teaching children about the impact and importance of air pollution, we are empowering them to reduce their exposure to it, as well as their families’ production of it. We hope that this series of events, experiments and workshops will inspire them to engage with the science, and help us combat one of the biggest threats to our health.

The project to build monitors and purifiers at the Elmgreen School, with the University of Nottingham, was featured on BBC London News.