Forwarded
Lincoln University are developing a website and application for smart mobile phones to support people in Lincolnshire and North Lincolnshire with their health related to air pollution, and to help health policy makers better understand links between air pollution and the health of communities.
They are particularly interested in methane emissions from industry, agriculture and waste processing. Methane contributes to air pollution which can have negative impacts on respiratory health and mental health.
Their website application will be called ‘Methane Early Warning Network’, or ‘ME-NET’. Users can select an option for ME-NET to send updates about air pollution with recommendations for health protection. They are asking people to act as citizen scientists to help policy makers understand what impact methane has on health by using ME-NET to report daily health symptoms. ME-NET will also let users explore health and the environment in a very different part of the world with similar industrial and agricultural sources of Methane; Ghana.
They have funding to trial ME-NET for one year. After one year, they will use all they have learned to write policy briefs for local and regional public health policy makers about the needs of local communities. They will recognize the contributions of our citizen scientists in Lincolnshire and North Lincolnshire with end of year social events and through articles in local papers and magazines. They are also asking members of community groups, health experts and government representatives to join their stakeholder engagement group to help co-design and develop their phone app and website. This way they can work towards a tool that is usable, accessible and beneficial for health management.
If you would like to be involved or need more information, please contact Harriet Moore at HaMoore@lincoln.ac.uk
