Dr. Seán Schmitz

Seán Schmitz is an environmental scientist with a strong focus on urban sustainability and air quality. He holds a Doctorate in Geoecology from the University of Potsdam and has been a Research Associate at the Helmholtz Centre Potsdam's Research Institute for Sustainability (RIFS) since 2018. His work has focused primarily on the measurement of urban air pollution, its connection to traffic policies, and its effects on human health. He is now a post-doc in the Urban Air Quality, Mobility, and Health (AQMH) working group at RIFS, where his research emphasizes the use of low-cost sensors and data-driven approaches to improve air quality monitoring and inform policy decisions. He is part of the coordination team for a new Horizon Europe project entitled Net4Cities, in which the air quality monitoring capabilities of 11 European cities will be expanded to measure ultrafine particles (UFP) and other new and emerging pollutants. This project extends the transdisciplinary air pollution research conducted in the AQMH group to new scales, cities, and environments. His work also extends beyond academia, with significant experience in transdisciplinary engagement with non-academic stakeholders, particularly in the context of urban air quality and mobility. As a former PhD representative and works council member at the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS), Seán has become an integral part of RIFS (formerly IASS) and its approach to scientific research. His dedication to advancing environmental science has shaped his career, as he continues to seek solutions that contribute to societal transformation and sustainable urban development.