Newsletter – Aerosols

Newsletter 2025:1 from Aerosols, LTH Profile Area

Joakim Pagels and Moa Sporre, coordinators of the profile area, say thank you for the past year and talk about the coming year's planned activities.

As we now enter a new year, we would like to take the opportunity, together with the steering group for the profile area, to thank everyone who has been involved and shown interest in our work in 2024. A big thank you also goes to everyone who has participated in our seminars and helped to create an inspiring and educational environment!

Networking during the annual meeting
Early in the year, the profile area organised its first annual meeting with around 70 participants from LTH and LU. The meeting was a full-day event and offered a summary of the latest research in the profile area's various sub-areas, an invited lecture by Professor Matthew Johnson (University of Copenhagen) and a special focus on younger researchers at assistant professor level. Good networking opportunities were created through workshops and pitch/posters sessions with around 20 PhD students. The profile area's stakeholder group presented knowledge needs and recommendations on how research can create a strong impact in our society.

Well-attended seminars and workshops
Some 20 aerosol seminars and workshops were held during the year with PhD students, senior researchers in the profile area and external guests, sometimes with special themes such as supporting applications to the EU's Horizon Programme. These are normally organised on Wednesdays from 11.15 to 12 with coffee from 11.00. If you are interested in organising seminars or workshops, don’t hesitate to contact us!

Major LTH infrastructures: The Aerosol and Climate Laboratory and the ACTRIS research station
The profile area includes two major infrastructures: The Aerosol and Climate Laboratory at IKDC and the ACTRIS research station at Hyltemossa. Both of these were recently classified as major LTH infrastructures based on a number of criteria, including a large and broad user base. ACTRIS Sweden is a national infrastructure coordinated from LU/LTH. Within the profile area there are also many other infrastructures with unique opportunities for aerosol studies. About ten infrastructures were given the opportunity to present themselves at our annual meeting in 2024.

Site visit to School of Aviation and the ACTRIS research station
In June 2024, an appreciated day trip was organised to the Lund University School of Aviation in Ljungbyhed, with visits to the jet engine and drone laboratories, and to the ACTRIS research station at Hyltemossa. We can foresee several new interesting research projects at these nodes.

Many externally funded projects
During the year, a large number of externally funded research projects were approved and launched. Areas that have been particularly successful are in Aerosols and Air Quality linked to the Green Transition (e.g. sustainable aviation fuels and circular materials). These projects often take place in collaboration with technology development at LTH in other profile areas and provide a unique opportunity to ensure that climate-smart technologies can also contribute to improved air quality and health. Collaboration with the Faculty of Science, for example in global climate modelling (SFO MERGE) and with LU's Faculty of Medicine on epidemiology and toxicology, is also strategically very important and of increasing significance. The aerosol research in Lund is also internationally very strong with participation in several ongoing Horizon EU projects. Also collaborations with developing countries such as Ethiopia have been developed.

External collaboration and visibility in the media
Another objective of the profile area is to increase external collaboration: several new projects have been created with industry, for example on the reuse of fly ash, in pharmaceutical aerosols and in brake emissions. Adjunct researchers and industrial doctoral students are important in this context. Aerosol researchers also have high visibility in the media, such as the research on airborne spread of covid-19.

On 4 February, we will arrange our second annual meeting, where there will be plenty of opportunities to meet and discuss future aerosols research. Looking forward to meeting you there, and in the seminars/workshops to come!

Joakim Pagels and Moa Sporre, coordinators of the profile area