Air Quality Detector by open-seneca 

Around 7 million premature deaths globally are caused by air pollution every year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). A recent study by Harvard University has even linked air pollution to COVID-19 mortality in the US.

Started in 2018, the open-seneca initiative has deployed pilot citizen science networks of low-cost air quality (AQ) sensors in cities in the UK (Cambridge), Argentina (Buenos Aires and Mendoza), Kenya (Nairobi), and Brazil (Belo Horizonte). AQ is usually monitored using large and expensive reference stations, which only provide data from one fixed location that is not always representative for an entire city nor for the experience of individuals moving around.

As more low-cost AQ sensors have become available, open-seneca deployed networks for AQ monitoring in urban environments, supplementing existing official monitoring stations, filling spatial and temporal gaps, and uploading data to global platforms. The team has in-depth experience in the design of open-source, mobile, low-cost AQ monitors and capacity building in partner cities, the education and engagement of citizens, and calibration, analysis, and visualisation of the data collected to aid with decision making.