Early Careers Network

Logo for IAQM Early Career Network

The IAQM Early Careers Network (ECN) is a community of air quality professionals in the early stages of their careers. The network exists to develop members’ knowledge and skills in a supportive and accessible environment.

Benefits of the network

The IAQM Early Careers Network group provides a whole host of tailored benefits on top of the standard services provided through IAQM and IES membership.

NETWORKING

Meet likeminded colleagues in a similar stage of their career and forge connections that you can take with you throughout your career.

EVENTS

Attend our targeted online and in-person events for early career professionals, including webinars, workshops and meet-ups.

ENDORSED CPD

Access trusted training and CPD opportunities for your career development through our short course endorsement and free webinars.

IAN MCCRAE AWARD

Opportunity to enter into this prestigious essay competition in honour of the late air quality practitioner Dr Ian McCrae.

MENTORING

Sign up to be a mentor or mentee with our online platform delivered through your IES membership and enhance your development.

COMMUNITY

Be part of our community to improve your skills and widen your knowledge in a welcoming and supportive environment.

Julian Mann, Senior Air Quality Consultant at AECOM

"The Early Careers Network is a great community to be part of - knowing that you have a forum to help develop your skills can give you confidence to challenge yourself, as well as the opportunity to learn from a wide range of professionals through workshops, events and meetings. I would definitely recommend joining to anyone early on in their career."

Meet the Subcommittee

The IAQM Early Careers Network Subcommittee are a group of professionals who are responsible for shaping the development of the ECN. They are based throughout the United Kingdom and come from backgrounds ranging from Local Authority to Consultancy, offering a range of expertise. The group works closely with other IAQM subcommittees to feed into collaborative activities. Each year the Early Careers Network publishes a call for members to apply to join the subcommittee.

 

Davide Pascarella (he/him), Chair

Davide Pascarella (he/him), Chair

Davide is an Air Quality Lead Officer at the RSP (Regulatory Services Partnership) serving the London Boroughs of Merton, Richmond upon Thames, Wandsworth and has over 15 years of experience in public sector. He has expertise on the Local Air Quality Management, Policies and Regulations. His work has covered a broad range of projects, managing monitoring networks, demolition and construction activities, writing bidding proposals as well as experience on reviewing air quality assessment reports submitted as part of the planning process. He is Chair of the IAQM ECN and also a Committee member of the IAQM.
Mark Nichols (he/him), Vice Chair

Mark Nichols (he/him), Vice Chair

Mark Nichols is an Associate (Air Quality) at Ardent, supporting private sector (planning and EIA), and public sector (monitoring and policy development) clients. He has a background in Environmental Management, with a BSc and MSc in this field. He has been a member of the IAQM since 2018, and has been on the IAQM early career network committee since 2020. He is Vice Chair of the ECN and is a member of the IAQM Committee.
Jack Richmond (he/him)

Jack Richmond (he/him)

Jack is an Air Quality Consultant at Arup and is based in York. His career has taken him across various aspects of the air quality industry, from quantifying industrial emissions to atmosphere, workplace exposure monitoring, indoor air quality and into ambient air quality. Jack is serving his second term on the ECN Subcommittee.
Eleri Paterson Hughes (she/her)

Eleri Paterson Hughes (she/her)

Eleri is an Air Quality Consultant at Ricardo after her masters degree in Climate Change Environmental Science and Policy at Kings College London. She has experience in both the public and private sector from conducting Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) for UK-based developments to spearheading local authority Annual Status Reports. She has also contributed to philanthropic projects focusing on international cities such as Accra, Nairobi and Rio and the different air quality issues they face. 

Isobel Ward (she/her)

Isobel Ward (she/her)

Isobel is a Principal Consultant at WSP with five years of experience specialising in air quality monitoring, modelling and assessments. Her academic background is in Chemistry, Meteorology and Climatology. She has experience working on a range of projects for both public and private sectors, including residential/mixed-use, local transport schemes, Local Air Quality Management, and larger-scale projects for highways, power, and industrial facility clients.
Sophie Brough (she/her)

Sophie Brough (she/her)

Sophie is a Consultant at Arup and has over a year’s experience in the air quality industry. This role follows on from her integrated master’s degree in Chemistry from the University of Leeds, with her final research project based on atmospheric chemistry and the oxidation of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs), and a Graduate Air Quality Consultant role at Hoare Lea.

In 2024, Sophie won the prestigious IAQM Ian McCrae Award for her essay linking between air pollution and health.
Jekabs Jursins (he/him)

Jekabs Jursins (he/him)

Jekabs is an Air Quality Consultant at Ricardo, coming from a background in Geophysical Sciences at the University of Leeds. His main area of expertise lies in the policy review of National Air Pollution Control Programmes submitted by EU Member States under the National Emission reduction Commitment Directive (Directive (EU) 2016/2284) for the benefit of the European Commission. He also provides air quality modelling and assessment support in Local Air Quality Management processes.
Kit Benjamin (he/him)

Kit Benjamin (he/him)

Kit Benjamin is a senior air quality consultant at Buro Happold. In this role he works on a range of projects both in the UK and internationally, including for development planning and EIA, indoor air quality, international concept masterplans and strategic redevelopment plans. His background is in meteorology, for which he has an integrated masters degree. Prior to joining the air quality industry, he worked as a research technician in the field of urban micrometeorology. He has been an associate member of the IAQM since 2021. Kit has a particular interest in technology and innovation and how tech can leverage improvements in the air quality sector.

Give us your feedback

We want to make sure the Subcommittee’s work reflects the needs of our Early Career members. By completing this survey, you can support us to develop events and activities tailored to you.

Attending our events

We know it can be challenging to make the business case to attend events as an Early Career professional, so we have created a Business Case to Attend IAQM ECN Events document (.docx) to help you do this. Please feel free to download and edit the document so that it best suits your personal requirements. Any questions, get in touch with communities@the-ies.org.

Ian McCrae Award

Dr Ian McCrae was a very well-respected and widely liked air quality practitioner who worked for TRL. He made significant contributions to the understanding of emissions from transport and their links with air quality.

In his honour, the IAQM holds an annual Early Careers Network essay competition addressing a topical question in the sector. The Ian McCrae Award is presented to the winning entry. Previous winners include:
2017 – Laurence Lovell
2019 – Ancelin Coulon
2020 – Melody Horan
2021 – Sian Grimsley
2022 – Julian Mann
2023 – Yi Zhang
2024 – Sophie Brough

IAQM ECN Newsletters

The Subcommittee produce a quarterly newsletter to share key news, events and opportunities that are relevant to the group. Members are welcome to get in touch about sharing any content that they would like to see included. You can access previous editions here: 

2023: March; June; September

2024: January; April; August; December

2025: March; June

Upcoming events

We run frequent events for the Early Careers Network across the year, including online and in-person opportunities. Take a look at our events page to see what’s upcoming. 

Previous events

You can find a list of our previous events and access the presentations and recordings from them over on our ECN Resources page.  

Be part of the Network

The IAQM Early Careers Network provides opportunities to connect with fellow professionals in the first stages of your careers in air quality management.
 

How to participate

The Early Career Network is for IAQM Affiliates, Associates and Full Members in the first 10 years of their careers in air quality. Members aged 31 or under are automatically added to the network. Other members who meet the criteria can request to join.

You can also join our dedicated LinkedIn group to stay up to date.

Not yet an IAQM member?

Join the IAQM today to gain access to our Early Career Network. Find out more about IAQM membership.