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POMMEL project started in February 2018, under the EPA´s Research programme 2014-2020 (Climate, 2017). Our aim is to produce a reliable and fully operational pollen forecast system for Ireland. For it, pollen monitoring is being studied and compared by both, volumetric methodology (Hirst) and novel methods (including spectroscopic/optical sampling). Moreover, phenological data are compiled to solve the lack of aerobiological studies in Ireland up to now. Other important aim already completed is the reconstruction of historical datasets from the late 1970's (unpublished data) and their comparisons with the airborne pollen content nowadays, being this a helpful tool used in studies about climate change. |
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group members
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- Dr. David O’Connor is a lecturer at Technical University Dublin and since March 2020 the project manager for POMMEL. He previously worked at both University College Cork (Post-doctoral researcher) and University of Denver (IRC ELEVATE/Marie Currie fellowship). He was an EPA Doctoral Scholarship holder and has worked extensively on the EPA funded UCC BioCheA project. To date, his work has been developed mostly in atmospheric chemistry and air quality, with participation in aerobiological studies. Moreover, he was a CO-Principal investigator for the EPA funded project OLBAS EPA research programme 2014-2020 and the PI in the EPA funded project Fungal mOnitoring aNd Algorithm (FONTANA). >more information - Dr. Aoife Donnelly is a lecturer in Environmental Health in the School of Food Science and Environmental Health at Technical University Dublin. She completed a PhD at the Trinity College Dublin in air quality and was subsequently awarded two EPA funded post-doctoral research fellowships. In that period she developed a novel and fully operational real-time air quality forecasting system for Ireland. Aoife’s research addresses meteorological and anthropogenic influences on air quality and she has experience quantifying effects using statistical modelling techniques. >more information - Dr. Paul Dowding is a senior lecturer (Emeritus) at the Trinity College Dublin having previously studied Botany and Forest Pathology (PhD) in Cambridge. He has been involved in phenological studies and he also worked extensively in the field of pollen monitoring and forecast. He was the founder and director of Irish Pollen counting/forecasting Service from 1976-2006. During his professional career he has supervised more than 30 PhD and more than 50 MSc students. >more information - Dr. Matt Smith is a lecturer at the University of Worcester, UK. He obtained a Marie Curie scholarship and also was a Visiting Professor at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Poland. He has wide expertise in Aerobiology and forecasting modeling, with participation in researching about aeroallergens (i.e. airborne pollen and fungal spores). Up to date, he has being involved in numerous research projects such as the European Union’s Health Impacts of Airborne Allergen Information Network (HIALINE) and Monitoring Network of Allergens by Immuno-Sampling (MONALISA). He has successfully co-supervised three PhD research degrees at the University of Worcester and Adam Mickiewicz University, participating as a Management Committee for two European COST Actions (ES0603 “EUPOL” and FA1203 “SMARTER”). >more information - Professor John Sodeau is a Professor Emeritus at the University College Cork (Ireland) having served as a professor in Physical Chemistry from 1998-2016. He has a substantial track record in the study of atmospheric chemistry and bioaerosol monitoring. He has been coordinator/participant in 6 major International programmes, having managed over 20 Postdoctoral fellows. He has held 9 EPA grants since coming to Ireland in 1998. Moreover, he has publications in Aerobiology due to his extensive and interesting work by using the WIBS-4 technique for the on-line detection of pollen grains. >more information - Professor Patrick Goodman (BSc MSc PhD), Technical University Dublin, is a recognised expert in the area of air pollution and health, being also a qualified meteorologist. He has supervised over 30 postgraduate students to completion. He has obtained grant funding from Irish, EU and US funding agencies and he has been an expert advisor in the area of air pollution to the USEPA, the EU and the WHO. >more information - Emma Markey is a PhD student at Technological University Dublin. She graduated from Technological University Dublin in 2019 with a BSc. in Forensic and Environmental Chemistry, during which she conducted research pertaining to the analysis of persistent organic pollutants. She was awarded a Government of Ireland Postgraduate Award scholarship for her PhD research, which focusses on the sampling, modelling and chemical interactions of pollen. >more information - Jerry Clancy is a Master’s student at Technological University Dublin. He completed a BSc Environmental Science at University College Cork (Ireland), after which he was awarded an EPA funded Master’s scholarship. He has carried out environmental licensing work with the EPA and has completed research projects in the field of remote sensing, and in monitoring and modelling methods for both air pollutant and plant dispersion. >more information |
Former group members
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- Dr. Jose Maria Maya Manzano is a researcher in Technical University Munich (Germany) and POMMEL project manager from February 2018 to March 2020, before moving Munich. He completed his PhD in Aerobiology at the University of Extremadura (Spain). He obtained two Master's degree: Biological research and Advanced techniques in Statistics. He has developed experience and training in GIS, programming, remote sensing technologies, dispersion of pollutants, forecasting models and phenological analysis. >more information. |
