Summary
Dr Sean Beevers is Reader in Atmospheric Modelling in the School of public Health, leads the Environmental Research Group's Air Pollution Modelling team, and is a member of the MRC Centre for Environment and Health.
I have over 15 years’ experience in modelling policies aimed at reducing the air pollution exposure of city populations, and have worked closely with London policy makers to implement major changes to the city, from the London Congestion Charging Zone to the recent London Ultra Low Emissions Zone.
I have been Co-I or PI on 18 research council funded projects since becoming an academic in 2009 and have over 80 journal publications on air pollution and health, air pollution policy and climate related topics.
Research Interests
My research interests include the development of advanced human exposure models to better understand the sources of air pollution exposure indoors, outdoors and whilst travelling. I have led the development of coupled regional and local scale air pollution models able to provide predictions at detailed spatial and temporal scales for cities, countries and even continents. I am studying the co-benefits of air pollution and climate policies, using modelled exposure estimates in epidemiological studies, and am leading research into vehicle detection using satellite imagery.
Leadership
A member of the MRC-PHE Centre for Environment and Health
A member of the Environmental Research Group's management team and manage ERG's Air Pollution Modelling team
A PLuS Alliance Fellow at Arizona State University, United Stated and University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
Research Projects
2020 - 2024 The Public Health Impacts of UK's Clean Air Zones. MRC. £2.2M
2020 - 2022 Developing a UK Community Emissions Modelling System. MERC/Met.Office £1.25M
2020 – 2023 The air quality health and economic costs and benefits of a zero carbon UK. NIHR, PI, £900K
2019-2021 SAQM Satellite Air Quality Modelling Demonstration Project. European Space Agency, PI, £1.3M
2019-2022 APEx: An Air Pollution Exposure model to integrate protection of vulnerable groups into the UK Clean Air Programme; NERC, Co-I, £1.3M
2019-2022 Component-Specific Air pollutant Drivers of Disease Risk in Early to Midlife: a pathway approach. (DREaM); NERC, Co-I, £1.3M
2019-2023 Investigating the impact of London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone on Children’s respiratory health (ULEZ); NIHR, Co-I, £230k
2017-18. Satellite Air Quality Modelling – a study looking at the use of high resolution satellite imagery for the development of details city scale air quality models. European Space Agency, PI, €500K
2017. Impacts of air pollution on mental illness in early adulthood: Feasibility study combining UK twin cohort data with modelled air pollution exposure: NCAS, CO-I, £75k
Education and supervision
Programme lead of the MSc: Global Air Pollution and Health: Management and Science (GAP) and module lead on Air Pollution Science and Health for the King's College London MSc in Urban Informatics.
Lecture on air pollution emissions and modelling
I currently supervise five PhDs :
William Hicks a DfT/NERC Case studentship with industrial partner Robert Bosch Ltd, developing non-exhaust vehicle emissions inventories and the future impact of hybrid and electric vehicles;
Carl Desouza (Greater London Authority (GLA) studentship) – characterising non-road mobile machinery emissions using portable emissions testing and emissions inventory development;
Dylan Wood (MRC studentship), investigating the association between air pollution and cognitive function in the UK;
Annalisa Sheehan (NERC DTP studentship) Counting moving vehicles using satellite imagery and machine learning approaches and developing non-exhaust emissions inventories in Barcelona, ESP;
Weiyi Wang an Imperial College MRC studentship investigating Land Use Regression techniques for predicting air pollution.
Selected Publications
Newbury JB, Arseneault L, Beevers S, Kitwiroon N, Roberts S, Priante CM, Kelly FJ, Fisher HL. 2019. Association of air pollution exposure with psychotic experiences during adolescence https://tinyurl.com/y3aswthq JAMA Psychiatry vol 76 issue 6
Williams M.L., Lott M.C., Kitwiroon N, Dajnak D., Walton H., Holland M., Pye S., Fecht D., Toledano M.B., Beevers S.D. 2018. The Lancet Countdown on health benefits from the UK Climate Change Act: a modelling study for Great Britain. The lancet Planetary health. Vol 2 issue 5.https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpla/article/PIIS2542-5196(18)30067-6/fulltext
Ian S Mudway, et al (2018). Impact of London's low emission zone on air quality and children's respiratory health: a sequential annual cross-sectional study. The Lancet Public Health. www.thelancet.com/public-health Published online November 14, 2018. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667(18)30202-0
Smith JD, Mitsakou C, Kitwiroon Barratt BM, Walton HA, Taylor JG, Anderson HR, Kelly FJ, Beevers SD. 2016. The London Hybrid Exposure Model (LHEM): Improving human exposure estimates to NO2 and PM2.5 in an urban setting. Environmental Science and Technology. Vol 50.No 21. 06.10.2016. p.11760-11768.
Woodcock Mr, Edwards P., Tonne C., Armstrong B.G., Ashiru O., Banister D., Beevers S et al. 2009. Public health benefits of strategies to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions: urban land transport. The Lancet. Vol 374. Issue 9705.
Beevers S.D., Carslaw D.C. 2005. The impact of congestion charging on vehicle emissions in London. Atmospheric Environment. Vol 39. Issue 1.
Tonne C., Beevers S., Armstrong B., Kelly F., Wilkinson P. 2008. Air pollution and mortality benefits of the London Congestion Charge: Spatial and socioeconomic inequalities. Occupational and Environmental Medicine. Vol 65. Issue 9.
Carslaw D.C., Beevers S.D., Ropkins K., Bell M.C. 2006. Detecting and quantifying aircraft and other on-airport contributions to ambient nitrogen oxides in the vicinity of a large international airport. Atmospheric Environment. Vol 40. Issue 28.
Carslaw D.C., Beevers S.D., Bell M.C. 2007. Risks of exceeding the hourly EU limit value for nitrogen dioxide resulting from increased road transport emissions of primary nitrogen dioxide. Atmospheric Environment. Vol 41. Issue 10.
Wilkinson P., Smith K.R., Beevers S., Tonne C., Oreszczyn T. 2007. Energy, energy efficiency, and the built environment. The Lancet. Vol 370. Issue 9593.
Publications
Journals
Hicks W, Green DC, Beevers S, 2023, Quantifying the change of brake wear particulate matter emissions through powertrain electrification in passenger vehicles., Environ Pollut, Vol:336
Scales J, Chavda J, Ikeda E, et al., 2023, Device-Measured Change in Physical Activity in Primary School Children During the UK COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown: A Longitudinal Study., J Phys Act Health, Vol:20, Pages:639-647
Ronaldson A, Stewart R, Mueller C, et al., 2023, Associations between air pollution and mental health service use in dementia: a retrospective cohort study., Bmj Ment Health, Vol:26
Bos B, Barratt B, Batalle D, et al., 2023, Prenatal exposure to air pollution is associated with structural changes in the neonatal brain., Environ Int, Vol:174
Karamanos A, Lu Y, Mudway IS, et al., 2023, Associations between air pollutants and blood pressure in an ethnically diverse cohort of adolescents in London, England, Plos One, Vol:18, ISSN:1932-6203, Pages:1-18