Webinar: Low-Cost Source Apportionment (LoCoSA) of air pollution

Join Us for a Special Guest Lecture on Tackling Air Pollution by:

• Dr. Emmanuel Tebandeke, GAHP National Coordinator, Uganda

• Prof. Francis Pope and Dr. Dimitrios Bousiotis, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom

Air pollution poses one of the greatest environmental risks to human health globally. Still, to act effectively, we must go beyond measuring how much pollution is present and pinpoint where it comes from. Traditional source apportionment (SA) techniques, relying on regulatory-grade instrumentation, have long been the gold standard. Still, their cost, bulk, and infrastructure demands limit their deployment, especially across dense urban grids or in resource-constrained settings.

The Low-Cost Source Apportionment (LoCoSA) initiative aims to drive a paradigm shift in how pollution sources are identified by leveraging networks of affordable sensors combined with advanced computational techniques. By making source apportionment more accessible, LoCoSA seeks to democratise the ability to trace pollution back to its origins—enabling this crucial capability in locations where it was previously impractical or cost-prohibitive.

In this talk, we will introduce the core concept of LoCoSA and its potential to transform both air quality science and environmental governance. We will review the global landscape of LoCoSA applications across indoor and outdoor environments, highlighting key developments and challenges. The presentation will include real-world case studies showcasing LoCoSA in action, with a particular focus on the collaborative project “Source Apportionment of Traffic-Related Air Pollution in Kampala, Uganda.” This initiative is part of the EPP programme and is delivered through a partnership between the University of Birmingham, AirQo, Makerere University, and the Global Alliance on Health and Pollution (GAHP). The project is funded by the UK International Development through the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

By the end of the talk, you will see how LoCoSA is a powerful tool for scaling up air-pollution source knowledge, which unlocks richer insights and better-targeted interventions in the fight for cleaner air.