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Congratulations to this year’s Ian McCrae Award winner Yi Zhang!

Banner reading "IAQM Ian McCrae Award" on blue cloudy sky background
Yi Zhang was named the winner of the 2023 Ian McCrae Award at the Routes to Clean Air air quality conference on the 11th October.

This annual award takes the form of an essay competition that is open to early careers members of the IAQM. It is presented in honour of the late Dr Ian McCrae who made significant contributions to the understanding of emissions from transport and their links with air quality. 


This year, entrants were asked to submit an essay on the following topic: 

Earlier this year, local authorities were allotted funding to improve air quality. If you were to be allocated funding, what key initiatives would you pursue to improve air quality in your local area?

Yi Zhang, Graduate Air Quality Consultant at Buro Happold, was awarded the prize due to their well-written submission which explored measures that could be put in place in the London Borough of Camden to improve the local air quality. A number of initiatives were proposed to target with available funding, including stakeholder and community engagement, improving active mobility and cross-regional collaboration, to lead to tangible improvements in air quality across the borough. The judges were particularly impressed with Yi’s understanding of the local area and for providing a strong argument for the initiatives selected. 

You can read their submission here.

Thank you to everyone who submitted; we received a number of high quality submissions. Please do keep an eye out for next year’s topic for another chance to win this prestigious title.
2023 Ian McCrae Award Winner Yi Zhang shown on the left receiving their trophy from IAQM Chair Chris Rush, shown on the right. They are standing in front of a screen showing the banner for the Routes to Clear Air conference2023 Ian McCrae Award Winner Yi Zhang receiving their trophy at Routes to Clean Air air quality conference from IAQM Chair, Chris Rush.
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