Connecting Schools to Private Sector Experts

On July 3rd primary and secondary school council members from over ten schools across Redbridge met via a multipoint video conference to be "Mayor for the Day". Their task was to reduce air pollution in London.

The VC sessions were lead by Daisy Wain project manager for Deliver Change London.  Deliver Change are a London based company. The company has designed an air pollution sensor ( AirSensa ) using private sector funding which is built here in London with the latest technology to measure different air pollutants.  It also has the technology that enables live data to be shared on a cloud based platform so schools can find out their individual readings and choose to view or share these if they wish.

The students from each school council were given the opportunity to meet and question Daisy Wain. Daisy has been working with Deliver Change for two years this July with her background in Environmental Science. Deliver Change aim to make cities healthier, more livable and economically productive, mainly through innovations in technology. Currently they are looking to tackle the issue of urban air pollution through accurate monitoring and education. 

So what better way for Deliver change to do this than via secure video conference with multiple schools through the JISC network. Saving on travel time and using a "green technology". Daisy was able to speak to over 200 pupils from 10 different schools in just one afternoon.

The schools had each prepared presentations to answer the questions below :

Transport: How would you change the way people move around London to reduce air pollution?
Education: How would you use education as a way to inform people of different ages about air pollution and what they can do to reduce their own emissions?
Green spaces: How would you use greenery across the City to reduce air pollution and give people clean spaces to live, work and play?
Laws: what laws would you introduce to reduce levels of pollution in London?
Businesses: What could businesses do to reduce the amount of air pollution they release, but also how they could reduce the exposure of their workers?

The video conferences showcased just how easy it is to connect multiple schools securely via video link to experts in different fields. Both students and teachers welcomed having a "cutting edge" London tech company to question.
Quote from year 8 pupil , " it was great to speak to an expert (Daisy) about our school environment and to hear the other schools speak about their ideas, Daisy has made us want to look at what we can do to improve the air quality around our school. It was great to see the AirSensa close up, its a very clever design".