About SAMHE

The SAMHE project started in 2022 and was designed WITH and FOR schools. It involved researchers from 6 institutions across the UK and was supported by DfE and EPSRC until the end of July 2024. Over 1000 schools received a SAMHE air quality monitor and access to the SAMHE Web App where they can view and investigate their school air quality data and try curriculum-linked activities and experiments. The SAMHE initiative is continuing to support research around air quality in schools beyond July 2024.

Poor air quality impacts pupils' health and concentration, affecting attendance and attainment. Schools which have a SAMHE monitor can interact with real world data about the indoor environment and see how they can take action to improve air quality in their classrooms. Schools which didn't receive a monitor as part of the initial project can still benefit from SAMHE via our Teacher Resource Pack. This contains versions of the SAMHE educational activities which don't require a monitor or access to the Web App.

A range of analyses of data from the SAMHE monitors has been published. Summaries of these (and links to the full papers and reports) are available on our Outputs page.

Samhe logo

Background

The quality of our air is important. After all, around 10,000 litres of air passes through each person's body every day. However, air often contains pollutants. Young people spend lots of time at school so SAMHE has supported schools to see what air quality is like indoors and enable both students and teachers to make informed decisions about ventilation. Read more about air pollution.

We estimate that each child breathes around

7.2 million

litres of air at school
That's about...


90000 bathfuls of air!

How did we get there? See our workings.

Our Mission

SAMHE stands for Schools' Air quality Monitoring for Health and Education and brings together scientists, pupils and teachers. SAMHE has established a network of air quality monitors in schools across the UK, generating an unparalleled dataset which is helping researchers better understand schools' indoor air quality.

Samhe Monitor on table

SAMHE Schools

Between 2022 and 2024, over 1,300 schools received a free high spec air quality monitor that measures carbon dioxide (CO2), volatile organic compounds (VOCs) particulate matter (PM), temperature and relative humidity. Teachers and pupils can access their data through a specially designed interactive Web App, seeing how air quality changes over the course of hours, days or weeks and months.

The Web App also offers a range of related activities and experiments, creating opportunities for pupils to be scientists and do hands-on experiments with their monitor. Read more about what being a SAMHE school involves. Schools can continue to use the Web App until at least the end of 2030.

SAMHE Web App screenshot

The National Data

As well as being available to teachers and pupils, the data from each monitor is recorded in a national database. Over 1,300 schools have received monitors. These cover all four UK nations; the full range of pupil age groups; a wide variety of school building types; urban, suburban and rural areas; and areas across the spectrum from most to least deprived. As a result, we are confident that the SAMHE data is fairly representative of schools across the UK. This data has been analysed by our project scientists to understand schools' air quality across the UK.

Our overall aim is to understand and improve long-term air quality for all schools. If you are a researcher interested in using the data, please contact Dr Henry Burridge at Imperial College London. If you are a teacher interested in exploring school air quality data with your pupils, download our freeTeacher Resource Pack, which includes datasets that you can analyse yourself.

To hear more about SAMHE findings, future projects as part of the SAMHE initiative, and related research, use the contact form to sign up for our newsletter.

Co-designed and Tested by Schools

Schools helped us design, refine and test this project to make sure that it meets schools' needs and is fun and engaging for pupils. Read more about how we co-designed SAMHE and view the SAMHE project timeline.

Funding

Funding for the SAMHE project was provided by the Department for Education and Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). SAMHE grew out of the CO-TRACE project (2021-22) which assessed the risk of airborne COVID-19 transmission in schools and evaluated the effectiveness of mitigation measures.

Funding to continue the SAMHE initiative has been provided by Hertfordshire County Council and through the Royal Society's Partnership Grants scheme.

Department for Education
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
Hertfordshire County Council
Royal Society partnership grants scheme

The Team

The SAMHE project was a collaboration between five UK universities (University of Cambridge, Imperial College London, University of York (through the Stockholm Environment Institute's York centre), University of Surrey, University of Leeds) and the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).


University of Cambridge
Imperial College London
University of York
Stockholm Environment Institute
Global Centre for Clean Air Research
University of Leeds
UK Health Security Agency


See more about who has been involved in SAMHE on our Team Page

Suppliers/Contractors

AirGradient supplied the SAMHE air quality monitors.

HDSDev supplied web development consultancy for the creation of the front-end application.


Air Gradient
hdsdev

SAMHE extension projects and partners

The following organisations are collaborating with the SAMHE team on extensions to the SAMHE project working with specific groups of schools.

Hertfordshire County Council is collaborating with SAMHE on a project to evaluate the effectiveness of installing air purifiers in classrooms.


Hertfordshire County Council
Let's Clear the Air

Projects building on SAMHE

CHEPA

Members of the SAMHE team from Imperial College London and the Stockholm Environment Institute at the University of York have been awarded funding for the CHEPA (Classroom HEPA) project. This work is funded by a UKRI Impact Acceleration Account awarded to Imperial College London and will involve co-designing and creating a separate Web App tool which will enable schools and local authorities, amongst other stakeholders, to estimate the impact of installing high-performance air filter (HEPA) units on classroom air quality as well as evaluating potential impacts on energy consumption.