So as month four of my Fellowship begins it’s time to recap and reflect on what I’ve done so far and what’s left for me to still do…

Over the last three months I’ve met and spoken to lots of interesting people, the world of open science/open data is very new to me and so making these contacts has been invaluable.

So what else have I managed to achieve? A lot of the first few months was spent sourcing the right sensors for this project and then getiting them to work. As of the week before Christmas I have a working sensor which now needs calibrating and then it’s time for it to be deployed (yippee!).  I’ve been working with an MChem student and other colleagues on a calibration plan which can be used, not only for my sensors, but for the large selection of different ones we are now building up. We’re planning to run calibrations this month and then install the sensor in the first school in February.

As I’ve mentioned before, the sensors final destination will be at a school in Leicester and so I have also been in contact with potential schools and have had a great response. The first school I’ll be working with is based just outside of Leicester and they are as excited as me about this project. We’re planning some introductory sessions for the school, outlining the project to pupils and then some data analysis sessions every term to look at the data with pupils and get them really thinking about what they are measuring. Not only will this be a great way of teaching them about air quality issues but will also reinforce certain areas of the curriculum too.

Alongside of this I have been involved in the development of some “homemade” air quality sensors which we are hoping to deploy in Leicester this year.  This design is looking to be far cheaper than any currently on the market and the first prototype will be ready for testing next week.

So it’s been a busy few months I’ve passed my PhD viva, started a new job and my Panton Fellowship but it’s been great and I’m really looking forward to see what the next three will have in store.

My previous blog posts can also been found on the links below:

http://science.okfn.org/2013/10/03/a-quick-hello-from-a-panton-fellow/

http://science.okfn.org/2013/11/01/my-first-month-as-a-panton-fellow/

http://science.okfn.org/2013/12/11/citizen-science-project-for-air-quality-measurements/