Dr Karn Vohra PhD

Dr Karn Vohra

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
Research Fellow

Contact details

Email
k.vohra@bham.ac.uk
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In Karn Vohra's research, he make extensive use of ground- and space-based observations, and state-of-knowledge chemical transport and health risk assessment models to improve our understanding of the influence of air pollution and its sources on atmospheric chemistry and public health.

Qualifications

PhD in Environmental Health and Risk Management, University of Birmingham, 2021

MTech in Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, India, 2015

BTech in Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, India, 2013

Biography

Karn Vohra obtained his PhD in Environmental Health and Risk Management from the University of Birmingham, funded by the University’s Global Challenges Studentship. He makes extensive use of multiple data sources to understand the influence of novel air pollution sources, determine long-term changes in air quality and quantify impacts on human health and inequities at multiple scales, from cities, to regions, to the globe.

He completed my Bachelors and Masters in Civil Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, India in 2015. Prior to moving to the UK, he worked with McKinsey and Company as a data analyst for 2 years.

Passionate about early career researcher development, he also served as a PhD representative at the University of Birmingham, acting as a liaison between the PhD cohort and the departmental administration. He also mentored junior members of my research group at UCL and currently, he serves on the international iCACGP-IGAC Early Career Scientific Steering Committee. He recently delivered a skills training workshop for early career researchers on "Dos and don'ts for academic CVs".

He is frequently invited to deliver talks and workshops. These include the NASA Langley Satellite-Assisted Particulate Matter meeting, IIT-Bombay workshop on secondary organic aerosols, Lancaster University, UCL Physical Geography seminar series, University of Edinburgh Global Change seminar series, UoB Air Pollution and Atmospheric Chemistry seminar series, Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) lunchtime seminar and University of the Third Age (U3A) Science Group Meeting.

His contributions to the wider academic community also include peer review of articles in prestigious journals such as Science, The Lancet Planetary Health, Nature Sustainability, and Remote Sensing of Environment, and grant proposals for the Belgian Science Policy Office. He is currently a Review Editor for the journal Frontiers in Sustainable Cities - Climate Change and Cities and a part of the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Collaborator Network.

Teaching

Guest Lecturer, UCL (2021-2024)

  • Title: Increasing urban air pollution and its influence on climate, master’s course, Cities and Climate Change, 2024
  • Title: Impact of air pollution on human health, 3rd year undergraduate course Environmental Consequences of Human Activity, 2024
  • Title: Air quality and health in fast-growing tropical cities, master’s course, Remote Sensing and Environmental Mapping, 2021

Research

  • Air quality modelling of West Midlands (UK) for the Clean Energy and Equitable Transportation Solutions (CLEETS) project
  • Global health burden of ammonia emissions from fossil-fuel derived synthetic nitrogen fertilizers
  • Impact of major oil and gas lifecycle stages on air pollution and associated health burden and disparities in the United States
  • Influence of oil and gas end-use on summertime particulate matter and ozone pollution in the Eastern US
  • Long-term trends in air quality in major cities in the UK and India, and emerging megacities in tropical Asia, Africa, Middle East and Latin America
  • Global mortality from outdoor fine particle pollution generated by fossil fuel combustion
  • Submicron particle dynamics for different wall surfaces under quiescent and turbulent conditions

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Kassandros, T, Bainomugisha, E, Vohra, K, Okure, D, Kirenga, B, Bagkis, E, Pope, D, Karatzas, K & Matthaios, VN 2026, 'Towards long-term air quality monitoring in Africa and the use of machine learning, low-cost monitors, reference instruments and satellite data to estimate the burden of disease – The case of Kampala, Uganda', Urban Climate, vol. 65, 102785. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.uclim.2026.102785

Desservettaz, M, Ramacher, MOP, Andersen, ST, Barbosa, C, Diez, S, Bryant, H, Hamilton, T, Schneider, S, Vohra, K, Li, Y, Mishra, S, Halim, NDA, Zaman, SU, Brown, F, John, SS, Tiwari, P, Apondo, W & Matthews, E 2025, 'A new generation of Early Career Researchers in atmospheric chemistry: Navigating a globalized scientific landscape', Elem Sci Anth, vol. 13, no. 1, 00064. https://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.2025.00064

GBD 2021 HAP Collaborators 2025, 'Global, regional, and national burden of household air pollution, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021', The Lancet, vol. 405, no. 10485, pp. 1167-1181. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(24)02840-X

Chung, KE, Liu, T, Kelp, MM, Vohra, K, Skelly, D, Carroll, MC, Schwartz, J & Mickley, LJ 2025, 'Managing Smoke Risk from Wildland Fires: Northern California as a Case Study', Environmental Science and Technology, vol. 59, no. 27, pp. 13912–13923. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.5c01914

Lu, G, Marais, EA, Vohra, K, Horner, RP, Zhang, D, Martin, RV & Guttikunda, S 2025, 'Near-Automated Estimate of City Nitrogen Oxides Emissions Applied to South and Southeast Asia', Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, vol. 130, no. 2, e2024JD041000. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024JD041000

Clayton, CJ, Turnock, ST, Marsh, DR, Graham, AM, Reddington, CL, Vohra, K & McQuaid, JB 2025, 'Reducing Inequities in the Future Air Pollution Health Burden Over Europe', Earth's Future, vol. 13, no. 5, e2024EF005404. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024EF005404

Vohra, K, Marais, EA, Achakulwisut, P, Anenberg, S & Harkins, C 2025, 'The health burden and racial-ethnic disparities of air pollution from the major oil and gas lifecycle stages in the United States', Science Advances, vol. 11, no. 34, eadu2241. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adu2241

Vohra, K, Madhumitha, S, Chakraborty, A, Shah, H, Bharrathi, AS & Pakki, J 2025, 'Urgent issues regarding real-time air quality monitoring data in India: Unveiling solutions and implications for policy and health', Atmospheric Environment: X, vol. 25, 100308. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aeaoa.2024.100308

GBD 2021 Forecasting Collaborators & Vohra, K 2024, 'Burden of disease scenarios for 204 countries and territories, 2022–2050: a forecasting analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021', The Lancet, vol. 403, no. 10440, pp. 2204-2256. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(24)00685-8

Vohra, K, Marais, EA, Achakulwisut, P, Lu, G, Kelly, JM, Harkins, C & McDonald, B 2024, 'Influence of Oil and Gas End-Use on Summertime Particulate Matter and Ozone Pollution in the Eastern US', Environmental Science and Technology, vol. 58, no. 44, pp. 19736-19747. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.4c10032

Marais, EA, Kelly, JM, Vohra, K, Li, Y, Lu, G, Hina, N & Rowe, EC 2023, 'Impact of Legislated and Best Available Emission Control Measures on UK Particulate Matter Pollution, Premature Mortality, and Nitrogen-Sensitive Habitats', GeoHealth, vol. 7, no. 10, e2023GH000910. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GH000910

Vohra, K, Marais, EA, Bloss, WJ, Schwartz, J, Mickley, LJ, Damme, MV, Clarisse, L & Coheur, P-F 2022, 'Rapid rise in premature mortality due to anthropogenic air pollution in fast-growing tropical cities from 2005 to 2018', Science Advances, vol. 8, no. 14, abm4435. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abm4435

Chapter (peer-reviewed)

Wadhwa, A, Vohra, K, Zholdubaeva, E, Li, P, Wu, S, Bloss, W & Sharma, A 2026, Integrating Satellite Data, Modeling, and Citizen Science to Derive Critical Insights into Urban Dynamics. in V Poonia, S Swarnkar & P Munoth (eds), Climate Extremes and Emerging Solutions: Data-Driven Insights and Geospatial Techniques. 1st edn, Springer, Cham, pp. 107-124. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-14457-7_7

Abstract

Marais, EA, Vohra, K, Kelly, JM, Li, Y & Lu, G 2023, 'The health burden of air pollution in the UK: a modelling study using updated exposure-risk associations', Lancet (London, England), vol. 402, no. Supplement 1, pp. S66-S66. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(23)02099-8

Review article

Sayyed, TK, Ovienmhada, U, Kashani, M, Vohra, K, Kerr, GH, O’Donnell, C, Harris, MH, Gladson, L, Titus, AR, Adamo, SB, Fong, KC, Gargulinski, EM, Soja, AJ, Anenberg, S & Kuwayama, Y 2024, 'Satellite data for environmental justice: a scoping review of the literature in the United States', Environmental Research Letters, vol. 19, no. 3, 033001. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad1fa4

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