BreatHE IN brings researchers and stakeholders together to explore prevention and intervention for healthier indoor environments
On Wednesday 14th October 2026, the EPSRC-funded BreatHE IN Micro Network Plus hosted its second Sandpit at The Exchange, University of Birmingham. Focused on Prevention and Intervention for Healthier Indoor Environments, the event brought together 59 attendees following 44 Expressions of Interest, uniting researchers and wider stakeholders with diverse expertise and perspectives to explore collaborative approaches to improving indoor environments and health.
An encouraging sign of the network’s continued growth was that the majority of attendees had not attended the first BreatHE IN Sandpit. This demonstrates the network’s expanding reach and its ability to engage a growing and diverse community. By bringing new participants into the network, the Sandpit created fresh opportunities to connect expertise, establish partnerships and generate innovative research ideas, strengthening BreatHE IN’s role in fostering collaborative research with the potential to improve indoor environments and health.
Supporting early-career researchers remained a key priority, with 16 Early Career Researchers (ECRs) attending, all of whom were offered access to travel bursaries to support their participation. The event provided opportunities for attendees to connect across disciplines and sectors, share expertise and explore how collaborative research could address real-world challenges relating to indoor environmental quality, health and wellbeing.
The event was organised by the BreatHE IN team led by Project Lead Dr Bruño Fraga, with Project Manager Dr Emilie Cosway and co-leads Dr Suzanne Bartington and Professor Zhiwen Luo helping to co-organise the event and shape the programme. Professor Christian Pfrang and Professor Sonia Contera also provided valuable support as members of the BreatHE IN leadership team. The day opened with a welcome from Dr Bruño Fraga, followed by a keynote from Professor Sir Stephen Holgate KBE, CBE, FMedSci, entitled Harnessing the Breathed Environment for Better Health. Drawing on his extensive work on asthma and the relationship between the breathed environment and human health, the keynote highlighted the importance of understanding how indoor environmental factors influence health and the opportunities for research to improve outcomes.
The programme also highlighted the importance of public involvement in environmental research, with Dr Suzanne Bartington leading a dedicated session on involving public contributors in research. Professor Zhiwen Luo presented the feasibility study funding application process, helping attendees understand how ideas developed during the Sandpit could progress towards funding applications.
In the afternoon, collaborative breakout workshops and a public member surgery gave participants the opportunity to explore research ideas, identify complementary expertise and consider potential interdisciplinary partnerships. Public members provided valuable feedback on emerging ideas, helping researchers consider how proposed projects could respond to people’s needs and experiences. The collaborative format encouraged attendees to move beyond established research boundaries, explore shared interests and identify opportunities for new partnerships.
The Sandpit marks an important next step in BreatHE IN’s work to support innovative, collaborative research with the potential to improve indoor environments and population health. Following the first funding round, four feasibility study projects have been awarded a total of £125,000. A further £120,000 is available through the second round of feasibility study funding, offering teams an opportunity to develop promising ideas into feasibility studies, generate preliminary evidence and lay the groundwork for future research and larger funding bids. Applications are open until 23:59 on 15th November 2026, with up to £60,000 Full Economic Cost (FEC) available per project.
BreatHE IN would like to thank all attendees, speakers, facilitators, public contributors and members of the organising team for their contributions to the day. The network looks forward to seeing the new collaborations and research proposals that emerge from the Sandpit and to continuing to grow a connected, interdisciplinary community working towards healthier indoor environments.