William (Bill) Bloss
PROFESSOR of ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCE
School of Geography, Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham
Atmospheric processing affects the current and future composition of our air, with impacts upon human and environmental health, air quality and climate.
My group's work improves scientific understanding of the causes of poor air quality, and hence the development of effective policy measures for Clean Air. We focus upon the sources of atmospheric pollutants, and the chemical processes which remove some air pollutants and produce others.
Introduction
Atmospheric processing affects the current and future composition of our air, with impacts upon human and environmental health, air quality and climate. My research group addresses areas of atmospheric chemistry and clean air science, including
- Understanding the sources and transformations of air pollutants in the urban atmosphere, ranging from trends in the UK to developing megacities such as Delhi
- Quantifying the sources and sinks for atmospheric oxidants: impacts from processes such as new reactive nitrogen emissions and particulate-mediated renoxification
- Applying air pollution science to improve local and regional air quality policy measures
Our work combines atmospheric field measurements, simulation chamber and laboratory studies and numerical modelling approaches. Fundamental understanding of the atmospheric chemical system is placed in an applied context: working with partners to apply clean air science for improved human and environmental health.
This is my personal research website. Please also see my official University of Birmingham homepage.
Scroll down for news, current projects and research group members.
Opportunities: I'm happy to discuss ideas for PhD research projects and applications for funded fellowship schemes. Please send me an email (ideally with your CV and an outline of your interests and ideas). Our funded job opportunities within research projects will always be advertised externally through sites like jobs.ac.uk, and on the University jobs pages.
Research Projects
WM-Air
WM-Air: Clean Air Science for the West Midlands
WM-Air is a five-year project to apply Birmingham's environmental science expertise to deliver improved air quality and health across the West Midlands, working in partnership with over 20 public and private sector stakeholder organisations.
ASAP-Delhi
Air Pollutant Sources in the Delhi NCR
ASAP-Delhi will provide authoritative assessment of the sources, formation process, burden and characteristics of air pollutants in Delhi, with a philosophy of deriving pollutant source, budget and behaviour insights from direct atmospheric observations.
AIRPRO-Beijing
Air Pollution Sources and Processes in Beijing
The AIRPOLL and AIRPRO projects will identify the emission sources and chemical transformations giving rise to poor air quality - haze - in Beijing.
ARNA
Atmospheric Reactive Nitrogen Cycling over the Ocean
Photoenhanced reactions on aerosol particle surfaces may convert NOx sinks into NOx precursors, changing atmospheric oxidising capacity. We are investigating this new mechanism in the laboratory and through field measurements at the Cape Verde atmospheric observatory.
BAQS / OSCA
Birmingham Air Quality Supersite (BAQS)
BAQS is one of three national urban air quality supersites, providing detailed online characterisation of air pollution levels, responses to policy interventions and emerging trends
TRANSITION
Transition is an interdisciplinary network undertaking innovative research to address emerging indoor/outdoor air quality challenges across UK surface transport, in the Net Zero context
Research Group (See also WM-Air Team)
Dr Salim Alam
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
APHH India - Delhi
Birmingham Air Quality Supersite
Dr Roberto Sommariva
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Total Ozone Reactivity / Marine HONO Production
Dr Vasileios Matthaios
Marie Curie Fellow
Real world vehicle emissions & in-cabin exposure
Dr Daniel Rooney
Research Technician
Working on ASAP-Delhi and WM-Air projects
Dr Siqi Hou
Air Quality Supersite Researcher
Birmingham Air Quality Supersite (BAQS)
Dr Andrea Mazzeo
Regional Air Quality Modelling
WM-Air Project
Karn Vohra
Doctoral Researcher
Earth Observation tools for determining urban air quality and vegetation health
Led by Eloise Marais
Helen Pearce
Doctoral Researcher
Modelling traffic-derived air pollution
(with Zhaoya Gong, Xiaoming Cai)
Maryam Makanvand
Doctoral Researcher
Air Quality and Health
Manna Al-Wadei
Doctoral Researcher
Particulate Matter (PM2.5) Composition, Sources and Toxicity in Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
With Zongbo Shi
Steven Thomson
Doctoral Researcher
Oxidative Potential of particulate matter from Beijing
With Zongbo Shi
Nicole Cowell
Doctoral Researcher
Novel Air Quality Sensors for PM Measurement
Led by Lee Chapman
Research Group Alumni
Former PhD / Graduate Students
Dr Tara Rasoul
ClNO2 Modelling
Danny Blenkhorn
Now at Kore Technology Ltd
Lubna Al-Saadi
Lecturer at the University of Qatar
Hao Huang
Air Monitors UK, Gloucester
Jian Zhong
WM-Air Research Fellow, University of Birmingham
Suad Al-Kindi
Lecturer at Higher College of Technology, Muscat, Oman
Salim Alam
Research Fellow at Birmingham
Vivien Bright
Postdoc position at Cambridge
Kate Faloon
Postdoc positions at Leicester and Leeds / NCAS
Lucy Concannon
MPhil Student: Moved to Azko Nobel
Former Postdocs
Louisa Kramer
Now at Ricardo AEA
Leigh Crilley
Now at York University, Toronto
Mike Newland
Postdoc positions at UEA and the University of York
Marie Camredon
Lecturer at LISA, Paris
Juan Najera
CIBION, Buenos Aires
Shana Saha
BSP Optical Performance Centre, Birmingham
Catherine Bale
Postdoc position at the University of Leeds
Microsoft ExCel - Advanced
Microsoft Word - Advanced
Power Point - Proficient
Adobe - Proficient
French - Mother Tongue
Spanish - Advanced
SKILLS
William Bloss - Biography
Publications
Publons / Reseacher-ID Profile
Research Funding
UKRI funding via Grants-on-the-Web
External Profiles
Career
Professor of Atmospheric Science, University of Birmingham
2007+ : School of Geography, Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham
2001 - 2006: Research Fellow; Lecturer, School of Chemistry, University of Leeds.
1999 - 2001: Caltech Postdoctoral Scholar, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
1995 - 1999: Ph.D. (Physical Chemistry), University of Cambridge
1992 - 1995: BA (Natural Sciences – Chemistry), University of Cambridge.
1991 - 1992: Institute of Oceanographic Sciences, Deacon Laboratory
Professional
Head of School, Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences; University of Birmingham (2016 - 2020)
NERC: Core Peer Review College (2015 -)
Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC)
Chair, RSC Environmental Chemistry Group (2013 - 2015)
Co-editor, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (to 2016)