Committee

Dr Daniel McCluskey is Interim Dean of School for Physics, Engineering & Computer Science at the University of Hertfordshire. He is responsible for the strategic leadership in engineering education, research and enterprise across the Engineering department. Daniel is an Associate Professor of Research within the School and a key point of contact with a track record in successful, multidisciplinary collaborations between Industry, Academics and Research staff across the Engineering spectrum, leading the delivery of projects with consistent success.

He joined the Microfluidics & Microengineering Research Group in 2009 with his subsequent work focussing on the rapid development of turn-key, aerosol and fluid dynamics based, integrated biodetection systems. His work typically focusses on applied engineering solutions to challenging real world environments. His current biodetection R&D projects concern integrated systems incorporating autonomous airborne pathogen collect/detect systems, sample processing &handling, real-time analysis using DNA amplification and remote reporting, with a particular emphasis on early detection of biowarfare agents for the protection of military and civilian populations.

Bryan Bzdek is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Chemistry, University of Bristol and is Director of the Bristol Aerosols and Colloids Instrument Centre. His research interests include the physical and analytical chemistry of aerosols, with applications spanning atmospheric science and health. Dr Bzdek is a recipient of the Juan de la Mora Prize and the Sheldon K. Friedlander award from the American Association for Aerosol Research. In 2022, he received the Philip Leverhulme Prize. During the COVID-19 pandemic, his research altered UK government guidance in the performing arts and the NHS infection control and prevention manual. He also gave many print and radio interviews about aerosols and COVID-19 to organisations including US public radio, BBC, CBS, and CNN.

I am a Senior Research Fellow for the National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS), based at the University of Manchester. Part of my work is as an instrument scientist for the Atmospheric Measurement & Observations Facility (AM0F), which is a support facility for NCAS providing a suite of aerosol instrumentation for use by Universities and industry alike.

My other activities include research into the physical and chemical properties of aerosol particles in our atmosphere, making measurements from sea level up to 30,000 ft. I also have an interest in aircraft particulate emissions, especially from the emerging regulatory perspective.

Chiara Giorio is Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry at the Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge (UK). Chiara graduated in Chemistry in 2008 from the University of Padua (Italy), where she remained for her PhD in Molecular Sciences (awarded in 2012). She was a postdoc at the University of Cambridge in the group of Professor Markus Kalberer until 2016, a researcher at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) in 2017, and tenure-track Assistant Professor at the University of Padua until the beginning of 2020, when she returned to Cambridge. She is now leading a multidisciplinary research group working on air quality and climate science. She is the recipient of the 2021 RSC Environment, Sustainability & Energy Division Early Career Award and a Fellow of the Community for Analytical Measurement Science (CAMS).

Dr Laura Urbano is a Senior Lecturer in Pharmaceutics at the University of Hertfordshire. With a background in pharmaceutical nanobiotechnology and toxicology, her interdisciplinary research focuses on the formulation of nanomaterials for drug delivery and the investigation of health impacts associated with aerosolised particles. She is the institution lead for the University of Hertfordshire within the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Aerosol Science and serves as the Wellbeing Lead on the CDT’s Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee, where she actively promotes an inclusive and supportive training environment.

I am a Principal Scientist at Defence Science & Technology Laboratory (Dstl) with interest in understanding pathogen survival, transmission and detection in the aerosol phase. This has involved taking a multidisciplinary approach to support integration of aerosol science into microbiology to support risk analysis and provide greater understanding of how the physics and chemistry of aerosols impact on biological components. I have been point of contact for Dstl for the EPSRC CDT in Aerosol Science, and have been developing an internal Aerosol Community of Practice expanding knowledge of the wide range of Dstl aerosol expertise, capabilities and current and future requirements.

My research focuses on developing state of the art chromatographic and mass spectrometric techniques to study the composition of organic aerosols, a key method to understanding their formation and processing in the atmosphere.

Rachael Miles (she/her) is a Lecturer in Aerosol Science at the University of Bristol, and the Course Manager for the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Aerosol Science. Rachael oversees delivery of the Aerosol Science CDT training programme, as well as acting as Chair of the CDT Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Commitee. Rachael has a keen interest in increasing the accessibility of postgraduate research in Aerosol Science and in providing development opportunities and support to early career scientists. Rachael’s research interests focus on the physical, chemical and optical properties of aerosol particles and their applications in atmospheric science and industry.

A postdoctoral researcher at the National University of Ireland, Galway working in Dr. Miriam Byrne’s group within the Centre for Climate and Air Pollution Studies. Graduated with a Ph.D. in 2014 at the National University of Ireland, Galway, and the thesis entitled “Development of a Probabilistic Multi-Zone Multi-Source Computational Model for Indoor Air Pollution Exposure Assessment”. The model focused on overcoming the uncertainties surrounding the parameterisation of previous exposure models. The model had the ability to fully assess the distribution of air pollutants under time-varying conditions throughout residential buildings.

My current research project is a computational study that examines the implications of radon concentrations following energy efficient retrofit scenarios based on the impacts of the Energy Efficiency Directive (2012/27/EU). Previous areas of research have incorporated thermal characteristics into the exposure model within a single computational structure. Simulating individuals’ thermal comfort and exposure to airborne pollutants, allowing an assessment of the heat loss to surroundings as a result of changes in ventilation rates.

A past recipient of the Aerosol Society’s C N Davies Award and the Aerosol Society’s Early Career Scientist travel grant which was to attend the Indoor Air 2014 Conference in Hong Kong, and the Healthy Buildings Conference in Eindhoven, 2015. Co-opted onto the Aerosol Society Committee at the Annual Aerosol Conference in Birmingham in November 2014, and elected an ordinary committee member the following year.

Ben Forbes is Professor of Pharmaceutics at King’s College London.  He has a BPharm from King’s College London (1987) and a PhD in Drug Delivery from Strathclyde University (1996).Before doctoral studies, he worked in hospital pharmacy in London and Sydney, and for Inveresk Clinical Research in Edinburgh.  Professor Forbes was appointed to the academic staff of King’s College London in 1997.  He is a registered pharmacist in the UK.

He originated the term ‘Inhalation biopharmaceutics’ to describe the factors that influence the rate and extent of drug absorption from the lungs and has authored many publications in this area, including: (1) inhaled medicine formulation, (2) the development and application of techniques to study respiratory drug transport and metabolism, (3) respiratory toxicology/disease.

He is founder and coordinator of the APSGB ‘Drug Delivery to the Lungs’ Network, a UK-based international academia-industry-regulatory group dedicated to pre-competitive collaboration: www.apsgb.org/drugsinthelungs/

I have been a member of the Aerosol Society since its formation and have played an active role, including President, within the Society. I was made an honorary member in 2013.

I have written a number of books on aerosol science the most recent being “Aerosol Science – Technology and Applications”. Nowadays my research concentrates on indoor air quality, bioaerosols and the impact of nanoparticles on the environment.

I am now an Emeritus Professor and continue to be involved in aerosol research at the University of Essex.

Simon has a background in air quality, aerosol sampling and deposition from turbulent flows in a range of environments. He has worked on modelling and simulation of aerosol transport and dispersion, specialising in the built environment and enclosed spaces. In recent years he has focused on understanding and mitigating the mechanisms for virus transmission.