PMCOST addressed the key challenge of particulate matter (PM) air pollution in Poland which is one of the major threats to human health across the country and Europe in general. PMCOST brought together Polish researchers, including young scientists on air pollution together with world leading experts from the UK and Norway to address this challenge. This twinning of researchers, matched complementary areas of expertise and helped Polish scientists to become more effective in supporting Polish policy makers and other stakeholders in assessment and improving air quality in Poland. The project developed a capability for state of the art atmospheric chemistry transport modelling (ACTM) and enabled to carry out a national assessment of the chemical composition of PM, the main contributing emission sources and the most effective strategies to protect human health through targeted emissions abatement. The key aspects of the Training Programme covered:
• air pollution modelling at regional and local scales,
• natural and anthropogenic emissions,
• air pollution measurements,
• data analysis methodology (pre- and post-processing modelled data),
• health impact assessment approaches.
The General Objectives of the project were:
a) To improve scientific expertise and outputs of the Polish partners within the domain of air pollution modelling through training of the Polish team & to achieve a holistic view of issues related to particulate matter (PM) pollution and its impacts in Poland.
b) To enable the Polish partners to link up better with and assist policy makers and other stakeholders in the development of appropriate risk reduction programmes, through training on creating an effective interface between science and national and international PM policy development.
These general objectives are linked with the following Training and Capacity-building Objectives:
c) To improve the scientific and technical skills of the Polish team.
d) To improve the academic outputs of the Polish team by publishing joint peer reviewed papers.
e) To promote the involvement of early-stage researchers in the project.
f) To establish long lasting scientific co-operation between the networking partners beyond the project, including interactions across the Polish research groups and internationally.
g) To prepare the ground for the establishment of a high-quality air pollution modelling system for Poland.
