Chats for the Goals: Innovative Solutions for Fighting Air Pollution

Air pollution is killing an estimated seven million people per year, causing increasing environmental damage and climate change. Mitigating air pollution, especially in our cities, is core to achieving several critical SDGs and is one of the highest priorities of the World Health Organization. Now, new technologies, from low-cost sensing to smart green walls, are helping us to tackle this challenge in new ways. Come and hear from UTS researchers working at the forefront of this important space and get excited about how we can make the air cleaner and healthier for all.

About your presenters

Fraser Torpy

Associate Professor Fraser Torpy leads the Plants and Environmental Quality Research Group in the Faculties of Science, Engineering and IT and Design, Architecture and Building at the University of Technology Sydney. His team produces leading research on the diverse services provided by Nature-Based Systems, including air pollution mitigation, the Urban Heat Island effect, energy use reduction, urban livability and biodiversity provision. He received his BSc (Biotechnology) with the University Medal from UTS in 1993, and his PhD in microbial ecology from UTS in 2000 before working in teaching-focused roles at UTS, before transitioning to a research focus in 2010.

He has gained a high international ranking across his fields of research, with over 85 peer reviewed publications, 84.3% of which are in the top 25% journals and 56.9% in the top 10% journals (CiteScore). The global impact of his work is demonstrated by his rankings in the fields of Bioremediation (3rd in Australia, 67th globally); Heat Island; Buildings Green Roofs and Vertical Gardens (3rd in Australia, 31st globally) and first internationally for SciVal topic T.37087 Indoor air; Indoor air pollution; Indoor plants.

His research is focused strongly on industry and government translation, including projects with a broad array of leading green infrastructure companies from Australia and internationally, along with many local and state government bodies and academic institutions from Australia, the Republic of Korea, Germany, Italy and the USA. He has been lead CI on 11 and co-CI on 20 projects, for funding of >$5.25 M. 

Andrew Tovey

Andrew is a smart city researcher and program lead working at the Institute for Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology Sydney. His work centres on smart city strategy development, smart sensing technologies, and how to deliver impact through better management, interpretation, sharing and activation of data. He has worked to design and deliver a variety of critically acclaimed smart city projects since 2017, in collaboration with a diversity of organisations including local, state and Commonwealth governments in Australia, multiple other universities, public and private sector corporations across multiple sectors, SMEs and start-ups.

Andrew’s background is in environmental sustainability and social impact, with an MSc in Human Ecology and a BSc hons. in Geography. He has worked previously in environmental NGOs and Corporate Social Responsibility and has straddled the space between community advocacy, industry and public sector research, providing an ideal background for leading collaboration in the smart city sector. Andrew is also a PhD candidate, exploring the applications of smart sensor technologies to urban sustainability.