With May being National Clean Air Month, we spoke to Professor Brian Castellani from our Department of Sociology and the Wolfson Research Institute for Health and Wellbeing about his work on the impact of air pollution on our health.
The environment and its impact on health is on most people’s minds today. Our research is focused on what we call Environ-Mental health. We focus on three key issues:
InSPIRE is a collaboration of academic experts across the UK and Continental Europe whose evidence-based research aims to inform those making policy about Environ-Mental health. Our vision is that the places where people are born, live, work and grow old matter very much in terms of the quality of air they breathe and the brain and mental health they experience. Within our consortium, we examine how exposures such as outdoor air quality and noise pollution combine with living in poor urban areas or near congested roads to negatively impact people's mental and brain health. This includes looking at urban pollution and indoor air quality to school and workplace stressors to deprivation and social media exposure.
While public policies have been developed to mitigate the impact of air pollution on a variety of health outcomes – from asthma to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease – their value for brain and mental health are only just beginning to be explored. In response, InSPIRE has made several contributions. We published the first comprehensive plan for governments, researchers, and the general public to address the impact of air pollution on brain and mental health, including dementia. We also published one of the first scoping reviews which showed that poor air quality is linked to cognitive decline. Also, we have developed policy briefs for MPs and governments as well as lesson plans for primary and secondary schools on brain health and air quality.
Our Department of Sociology is ranked 1st in the UK for Criminology and 3rd in the UK for Sociology in The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024.
In our rapidly changing global environment, there has never been a more important time to look at the world through a social lens and engage in theoretically-driven learning that makes a difference.
Feeling inspired? Visit our Sociology webpages to learn more about studying with us.
Durham University is a top 100 world university. In the QS World University Rankings 2024, we were ranked 78th globally.