Barbora Bracinik
Biography
I’m a first year PhD student at the WACL this year. I previously completed both my undergraduate degree in Chemistry, and an MSc in Research in York, with my master’s also being in WACL under the supervision of Professor Jacqui Hamilton.
My MSc research project focused on the oxidation of known biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) in a chamber to generate libraries of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) tracers. These libraries were then used to match against SOA collected on filters from Beijing, with the goal being identifying the contributions of BVOC sources to air quality issues.
Qualifications
BSc Chemistry, MSc in Research in Chemistry
Research interests
Urban air quality, Climate and weather, Public health
Project title
Understanding air pollution in a warming world
Supervisors
Funding
YES-DTN
Project outline
The aim of my project is to investigate how rising temperatures and more frequent extreme heat events driven by climate change will affect concentrations of VOCs in UK cities and how these changes may influence future urban air quality. A particular focus will be on biogenic VOCs, which tend to increase with higher temperatures. The project will then explore how these shifts in VOC emissions could lead to increased formation of ozone and particulate matter.
I will use long-term VOC datasets collected at the UK’s Air Quality Supersites in London, Manchester, and Birmingham to identify key temperature dependent VOC emissions and assess their impact on ozone and particulate matter formation. My work will involve developing new analytical methods, analysing trends in urban VOC data, and applying a chemical box model to simulate future air quality.
