In Brief

The Challenge

Bioaerosols such as pollen, fungal spores and bacteria have a massive impact on people’s health and sense of well-being. Bioaerosols encompass a wide range of organic atmospheric particles (pollen, fungal spores, bacteria etc.) and can affect people’s health by, for example, triggering asthma attacks, and may also damage plants we rely on for food. To date, no monitoring of these particles is undertaken here in Ireland and so no data is available for people to understand the impact of these particles or for their mitigation (via forecasts of potentially high concentrations). 

The Solution

BOHEMIAN will utilize novel real-time devices (Swissens Jupiter) and cutting-edge artificial neural networks and machine learning algorithms to detect both the anthropogenic (caused by humans) and biological components of the atmosphere. This has never been attempted before with this device. This quality data will be the bedrock for the production of the first Irish specific forecast model for bioaerosols. 

The Team  

  • Team Lead: Dr David O’Connor, Dublin City University  
  • Team Co-Lead: Dr Jiayao Chen, University College Dublin  

Societal Impact Champion  

  • Dr Saji Varghese, Met Éireann