Funded by EPSRC, BreatHE IN will focus on improvements to the built environment in both existing and new buildings.
BreatHE IN will provide a platform to train the new generation of experts to design healthier indoor environments.
Led by Dr Bruño Fraga, Professor Christian Pfrang and Dr Suzanne Bartington at the University of Birmingham, with Professor Sonia Antoranz Contera, University of Oxford and Professor Zhiwen Luo, Cardiff University, EPSRC-funded BreatHE IN is a micro network + led by the University of Birmingham and supported by partners including Oxford, Cardiff, Nottingham, UCL, Bath, the UKHSA, Hertfordshire County Council, Siemens, ANSYS, BIOREME and the Met Office.
Officially launched with an event at the University of Birmingham on 19 November 2025, the Network aims to establish a platform to address the gaps identified by EPSRC and the UK research community in engineering healthier indoor environments. Focussing on improvements in design, retrofitting and usage of buildings to improve health and wellbeing, BreatHE IN will bring together an interdisciplinary research community, raising awareness on the health impacts of indoor air quality, promoting new ideas, providing guidelines for interventions - with a particular emphasis on vulnerable demographics - and accelerating technology and knowledge transfer to maximise societal benefit.
Dr Bruño Fraga, Principal Investigator, said: "We have often assumed that the quality of the air we breathe in the places where we live, work, and study is merely an extension of the outdoors; something we do not have much control over. But there are distinct sources of pollutants within indoor spaces and unique mechanisms of dispersion and removal, yet we tend to underestimate them.
The push towards airtight indoor spaces, to preserve energy and isolate us from the outside weather and noise, can also have undesired consequences. BreatHE IN provides a platform and resources to facilitate the interaction between researchers and stakeholders from different disciplines and sectors and to train the new generation of experts to design healthier indoor environments."
BreatHE IN will fund research focused on healthier indoor environments. The Network will also host two in-person Sandpit events where attendees will have the chance to pitch research ideas, enrich them through new collaborations and apply for funding of up to £72k for high-risk/high-reward feasibility studies. The Network is also committed to supporting early-career researchers with bursaries to attend events and a mentorship scheme.
Follow BreatHE IN on LinkedIn for updates and ways to engage.
Associate Professor
Staff profile for Dr Bruño Fraga
Professor of Atmospheric Science
Professor Pfrang's work is focusses on gas-phase and heterogeneous atmospheric chemistry exploring the fate of atmospheric aerosols and their impacts on air quality and climate change.
Clinical Associate Professor in Environmental Health
Staff profile for Dr Suzanne Bartington, Clinical Associate Professor in Environmental Health in the Department of Applied Health Sciences, University of Birmingham.
