Our Team
The development of the AIR Index has been led by the world’s leading academics in the fields of emissions and air quality and they make up AIR’s Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC).
AIR was formed in 2017 as a not-for-profit organisation by Nick Molden, founder of Emissions Analytics, and Massimo Fedeli of Fair Play Consulting.
The activities of the organisation are supported and funded by members, who are both public and private organisations, aligned with the aims and objectives of the AIR Alliance to help reduce the negative impact of vehicle emissions in the short and long term.
The development of the AIR Index has been led by the world’s leading academics in the fields of emissions and air quality and they make up the AIR Alliance’s Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC).
They review, and support, the rating system based upon the latest European CEN methodologies CWA 17379 and CWA 17934 which are sufficiently robust for car and van makers and policy makers to take immediate action to solve the NOx crisis and reduce exposure to harmful pollutants inside the vehicle
Members of the AIR Alliance’s Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC)
The members of the SAC represent themselves and their opinion, and not those of the institutions they work for.
Professor Helen ApSimon
Professor of Air Pollution Studies,
Imperial College London
Helen has worked extensively for task forces under the UN ECE Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution. She has strong interests in urban air pollution, particularly in London, where she co-founded the APRIL (Air Pollution Research In London) network and chairs the subgroup on emissions, modelling and measurements.
She has been a member of numerous expert groups and committees, including the Airborne Particles Expert Group, the National Expert Group on Transboundary Air Pollution, and the Air Quality Expert Group of the UK’s Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
Dan Carder
Director of the Center for Alternative Fuels, Engines and Emissions
West Virginia University, US
Dan Carder, Director of the Center for Alternative Fuels, Engines and Emissions at West Virginia University in the United States. For more than 20 years, Carder has specialised in the measurement and control of heavy-duty mobile source exhaust emissions and alternative fuels research.
In September 2015, Carder found himself at the centre of the worldwide “Dieselgate” firestorm involving the world’s largest auto manufacturer concerning a report his team had delivered intimating Volkswagen had intentionally deceived American consumers regarding its cars’ levels of environmental pollution for more than seven years.
Carder has been named by Time magazine as one of its Top 100 most influential people in the world and has appeared in countless global news broadcasts and publications. In addition to his research and study for West Virginia University, he also contributes toward topics on emissions and pollution for automotive and engineering trade publications, including SAE International (Society of Automotive Engineers) and ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers).
Dr. Claire Holman
Chair, Institute of Air Quality Management (IAQM)
Claire is currently the Chair of the Institute of Air Quality Management (IAQM), a Fellow of both IAQM and IES, and a Chartered Environmentalist and Chartered Scientist.
She has worked extensively on air quality management for the past 30 years, mainly as a consultant. She worked at Edinburgh and Birmingham Universities in research posts, was a Commissioner for a Sustainable London 2012, and was on the South West Regional Environmental Protection Advisory Committee of the Environment Agency.
Professor Heejung Jung
Professor of Mechanical Engineering & College of Engineering-Center for Environmental Research and Technology (CE-CERT),
University of California Riverside (UCR)
Professor Jung specialises in air pollution & air quality, with specific interest in combustion generated nanoparticles and aerosol science. He received his PhD from the University of Minnesota and both masters and bachelor degrees from Seoul National University in Mechanical Engineering. Upon completion of his masters, he joined Hyundai Motor Company as a research engineer.
Professor Jung later completed his postdoc research at UC Davis studying health effects of particles before joining CE-CERT and UCR. In 2012 he received the SAE Ralph Teetor Award. He was a principal investigator for the CARB funded PMP project and the CRC funded E-99 project. His PMP project was the first in-depth study on sub 23nm particles. His E-99 project was to improve accuracy and reduce uncertainties of the gravimetric method for light duty vehicles. In recent years, he has contributed to standardizing vehicle cabin air quality measurement methods.
Dr. Guido Lanzani
Head of Air Quality Unit, Regional Environmental Agency,
Lombardy, Italy
Guido has been the head of the Air Quality Unit at the Regional Environmental Agency in Lombardy since 2001. He coordinates all the activities concerning air quality monitoring and modelling, as well as evaluations of the effects of the measures.
In addition, he coordinates technical support with the local government in order to create strategies and to adapt methods which can improve air quality.
Dr. Norbert Ligterink
Senior Research Scientist,
TNO, Netherlands
Dr Norbert Ligterink is a Senior Research Scientist at TNO, an independent research organisation based in the Netherlands which focuses on key issues in the science industry, such as real-world vehicle emissions and real-world fuel consumption of passenger cars.
Since 2007, Norbert Ligterink has been responsible for reporting average real-world emissions of vehicles in the Netherlands and internationally, for example, for air-quality assessments. Norbert Ligterink has academic backgrounds in Theoretical Nuclear Physics and in Mathematical System Theory, and he is Chartered Physicist (CPhys) in the UK.
Since 2011-2012, when it became clear that lowering limits in type-approval laboratory tests no longer sufficed to ensure reduction of real-world emissions, he has participated nationally and internationally in the effort to make on-road emission testing, the new standard e.g. RDE. Norbert chiefly concentrates on the study of vehicle emissions, measurements and modelling at TNO. He supports the Dutch Government in Brussels and Geneva, in their wish for robust vehicle emission legislation and test procedures.
Martin Lutz
Head of Sector Air Quality Management, Berlin Senate Department for Environment, Transport and Climate Protection
Martin started in the late 1980s working in Berlin’s Environment Department on winter smog alarm management. After research on the sources of photochemical pollution in the 1990s he worked for several years for the European Commission on an ozone abatement strategy for Europe.
Back in Berlin he led investigations in the sources of PM10 and PM2.5 pollution. Martin is now in charge of developing and implementing Berlin’s air quality strategy, including the low emission zone scheme with access restrictions for polluting vehicles.
Separately, he is also advising local environment agencies in Eastern Europe, South and East Asia and Mexico on urban air quality management. Since 2010 he has been a member of the Research Association for Diesel Emission Control Technologies (FAD) advisory board.
Dr. Xavier Querol
Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research,
Spanish Council for Scientific Research
Xavier worked as a research Professor for the Spanish Research Council from 2004 at the Institute of Earth Sciences. Since 2009, he has worked at the Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research, IDAEA-CSIC.
Between 2012 and 2016 Xavier was the scientific coordinator of the 23 centres of research on Natural Resources from CSIC. His main areas of research focus are air quality, air quality plans and testing of the efficiency of air quality measures in urban areas, the impact of natural pollution sources on air quality and the health effects of air pollution.
Dr. Marc Stettler
Reader in Transport and Environment, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Imperial College London
Marc is a Reader in Transport and Environment, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Imperial College London. Previously, he was a research associate in the Centre for Sustainable Road Freight and Energy Efficient Cities Initiative at the University of Cambridge.
Marc’s research aims to quantify and reduce environmental impacts from transport using a range of emissions measurement and modelling tools. His research interests include real-world vehicle emissions, their impact on air pollution, and low emissions vehicle technologies.