Reducing the environmental impact of our cities
Estimating the long-term health effects of air pollution
Air quality is a major factor in public health, quality of life and city attractiveness. This has become a major concern for cities in a competitive world. Research into air pollution allows public health researchers to identify the areas at highest risk of disease, so that health resources can be targeted accordingly. This project draws on the University’s strengths in environmental statistics to develop a framework for the estimation of long-term health effects from air pollution.
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- Environmental statistics
Citizen engagement and carbon reduction
Much of the developed world is struggling to meet the stringent international carbon reduction targets set for 2020. Considerable investment in taking place in renewable technology, smart grid, smart metering and more efficient appliances and services. However, much of the targeted reduction could be achieved if citizens and communities were simply educated to use less energy. The University’s Department of Sociology is working with the Glasgow Future City Demonstrator on a series of media packages (traditional and social media), that will alert participants to the implications of their individual and collective energy usage and attempt to change their behaviour with the aim of reducing energy consumption. The aggregate benefit from this will be reduced consumption of home energy, more efficient use of motorised transport and a more considered use of everyday resources (i.e., water electricity, gas, petrol, food, etc.).
As with the disruption project (http://www.disruptionproject.net), this citizen engagement attempts to disrupt habitual patterns of energy consumption through a large scale education process. As more energy can be saved through reduced demand, there will be less need for significant investment in renewable technology (wind and nuclear), as well as a greater overall reduction in carbon emissions.
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MSC Environmental Statistics
A Masters level course focused on the principles, theory and practical skills of environmental statistics.
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- MSc Environmental Statistics