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In my research, I make extensive use of ground- and space-based observations, and state-of-knowledge chemical transport and health risk assessment models to improve our understanding of the influence of air pollution and its sources on atmospheric chemistry and public health and motivate regulatory action.Ìý

In my postdoctoral research in collaboration with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Stockholm Environment Institute, I use an atmospheric chemistry model GEOS-Chem and contemporary health risk assessment models to advance the understanding of the influence of oil and gas lifecycle stages on multiple pollutants and health outcomes in the USA.

More about Dr Vohra

I obtained my PhD in Environmental Health and Risk Management from the University of Birmingham, funded by the University’s Global Challenges Studentship. Motivated by the current air pollution scenario in India, I make extensive use of multiple data sources to determine long-term changes in air quality and the impacts on human health at multiple scales, from cities, to regions, to the globe.

I completed my Bachelors and Masters in Civil Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, India in 2015. Prior to moving to the UK, I worked with McKinsey and Company as a data analyst for 2 years.

I am passionate about early career researcher development and I served as a PhD representative at the University of Birmingham, acting as a liaison between the PhD cohort and the departmental administration. Currently, I regularly mentor junior members of the research group at ×î×¼µÄÁùºÏ²ÊÂÛ̳ and serve on the international.ÌýI recently delivered a skills training workshop for early career researchers on "".

My contributions to the wider academic community also include peer review of articles in prestigious journals such as Science, The Lancet Planetary Health, Nature Sustainability, and Remote Sensing of Environment and grant proposals for the Belgian Science Policy Office. I am currently a Review Editor for the journal Frontiers in Sustainable Cities - Climate Change and Cities and also a part of the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Collaborator Network.

Teaching

Designed and delivered guest lectures at ×î×¼µÄÁùºÏ²ÊÂÛ̳:

• Title: Increasing urban air pollution and its influence on climate, master’s course, Cities and Climate Change, 2024
• Title: Impact of air pollution on human health, 3rd year undergraduate course Environmental Consequences of Human Activity, 2024
• Title: Air quality and health in fast-growing tropical cities, master’s course, Remote Sensing and Environmental Mapping, 2021

Publications

Peer-reviewed

• GBD 2021 Forecasting Collaborators including K. Vohra, Burden of disease scenarios for 204 countries and territories, 2022–2050: a forecasting analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021, The Lancet, 403, 2204-2256, , 2024.
• T. K. Sayyed, U. Ovienmhada, M. Kashani, K. Vohra, G. Kerr, C. O’Donnell, L. Gladson, M. Harris, A. Titus, S. Adamo, K. Fong, E. Gargulinski, A. Soja, S. Anenberg, and Y. Kuwayama, Satellite data for environmental justice: A scoping review, Environmental Research Letters, 19, 033001, , 2024.
• E. A. Marais, J. M. Kelly, K. Vohra, Y. Li, G. Lu, N. Hina, E. Rowe, Impact of legislated and best available emission control measures on UK particulate matter pollution, premature mortality, and nitrogen-sensitive habitats, GeoHealth, 7, , 2023.
• K. Vohra, E. A. Marais, W. J. Bloss, J. Schwartz, L. J. Mickley, M. Van Damme, L. Clarisse, P.-F. Coheur, Rapid rise in premature mortality due to anthropogenic air pollution in fast-growing tropical cities from 2005 to 2018, Science Advances, 8, , 2022.
• K. Vohra, E. A. Marais, S. Suckra, L. Kramer, W. J. Bloss, R. Sahu, A. Gaur, S. N. Tripathi, M. Van Damme, L. Clarisse, P. F. Coheur, Long-term trends in air quality in major cities in the UK and India: A view from space, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 21, 6275–6296, , 2021.
• K. Vohra, A. Vodonos, J. Schwartz, E. A. Marais, M. P. Sulprizio, L. J. Mickley, Global mortality from outdoor fine particle pollution generated by fossil fuel combustion: Results from GEOS-Chem, Environmental Research, 195, 110754, , 2021 (ISI Web of Science Hot and Highly Cited Paper).
• K. Vohra, K. Ghosh, S.N. Tripathi, I. Thangamani, P. Goyal, A. Dutta, V. Verma, Submicron particle dynamics for different surfaces under quiescent and turbulent conditions, Atmospheric Environment, 152, 330-344, , 2017.

Under review

• K. Vohra, E. A. Marais, P. Achakulwisut, G. Lu, J. M. Kelly, C. Harkins, and B. McDonald, Influence of oil and gas end-use on summertime particulate matter and ozone pollution in the Eastern US, under review.
• K. Vohra, E. A. Marais, P. Achakulwisut, S. Anenberg, and C. Harkins, ÌýHealth burden of air pollution from major oil and gas lifecycle stages in the US, under review.
• K. Vohra, Madhumitha, S., A. Chakraborty, Bharrathi A. S., J. Pakki, and H. Shah, Urgent issues regarding real-time air quality monitoring data in India: Unveiling solutions and implications, under review.
• E. A. Marais, G. Lu, K. Vohra, R. P. Horner, D. Zhang, R. V. Martin, and S. Guttikunda, Near-automated estimate of city nitrogen oxides emissions applied to South and Southeast Asia, under review.

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Presentations

Invited Talks

• NASA Langley Satellite-Assisted Particulate Matter (SAPM) meeting, virtual, 2023.
• Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, virtual, 2023.
• ×î×¼µÄÁùºÏ²ÊÂÛ̳ Physical Geography seminar series, London, UK, 2023.
• University of Edinburgh Global Change seminar series, Edinburgh, UK, 2022.
• University of Birmingham Air Pollution and Atmospheric Chemistry seminar series, virtual, 2021.
• Great Ormond Street Hospital lunchtime seminar, virtual, 2021.Ìý
• University of the Third Age Science Group Meeting, Birmingham, UK, 2019.Ìý

Science Presentations

• International GEOS-Chem Meeting, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, USA, 2024.
• EGU General Assembly, Vienna, Austria, 2024.
• UK Clean Air Research Futures Group Meeting, virtual, 2023.
• 2nd GEOS-Chem Europe Regional Meeting, ×î×¼µÄÁùºÏ²ÊÂÛ̳, 2023.
• IGAC Science Conference, Manchester, UK, 2022.
• International GEOS-Chem Meeting, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, USA, 2022.
• AMS Conference on Atmospheric Chemistry, virtual, 2022.
• IGAC Science Conference, virtual, 2021.
• AGU Fall Meeting, virtual, 2020.
• Annual Aerosol Science Conference, virtual, 2020.
• 1st GEOS-Chem Europe Regional Meeting, virtual, 2020.
• Birmingham Environment for Academic Research Conference, virtual, 2020.
• UK National Centre for Earth Observations (NCEO) conference, virtual, 2020.
• EGU General Assembly, virtual, 2020.
• EUMETSAT-ESA Atmospheric Composition Training Course, BabeÅŸ-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, 2019.
• Doctoral Conference, University of Birmingham, Birmingham UK, 2019.
• AGU Fall Meeting, Washington DC, USA, 2018.
• NCAS Air Quality Symposium, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK, 2018.
• NCEO Atmosphere-Biosphere Meeting, Oxfordshire, UK, 2018.
• IGAC Science Conference, Takamatsu, Japan, 2018.
• NCEO Conference, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK, 2018.
• Research Poster Conference, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK, 2018.Ìý
• Doctoral Conference, University of Birmingham, Birmingham UK, 2018.
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Impact

Public Engagement

• , 360info, January 2024.
• , The Conversation, June 2022.
• , 360info, August 2022
• , The Conversation, November 2021.ÌýÌý

Media Engagement

• 2024: Expertise sought on air pollution exposure in India,Ìý
• 2023: Expertise sought on air pollution and health effects from oil and gas production,Ìý
• 2023: Expertise sought on urban air pollution and its sources,
• 2023 Expertise sought on health burden of oil and gas production,
• 2022: Media coverage of Vohra et al. (2022), doi:10.1126/sciadv.abm4435 on trends in air quality and health in emerging tropical megacitiesÌý
• News coverage in , , and .
• 2021: Expertise sought on the deadly smog in New Delhi,
• 2021: Media coverage of Vohra et al. (2021), doi:10.1016/j.envres.2021.110754 on global health burden of fossil-fuel combustion
  • Extensive social and traditional media coverage overview provided by .
  • News coverage in over 480 articles worldwide such as , , , , , and .
  • Interviews for , on Portuguese TV and on Newstalk National Radio, Ireland.Ìý

Interactive Dashboards

• UK PM_2.5 pollution and premature mortality for present day and for 2030 by adopting currently legislated or all feasible measures. () Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý ÌýÌý
• Trends in premature mortality () and in air quality () in emerging megacities in the tropics
• Premature mortality from air pollution linked to fossil-fuel combustion distributed as national estimates for all countries (), as state-level for the US () and India (), and for provinces in Canada ().

Open-source Datasets

• UK administrative area PM_2.5 health burden ()Ìý
• Global premature mortality due to exposure to air pollution from fossil fuel combustion. ()
• Gridded PM_2.5 for the tropics from GEOS-Chem. ()Ìý
• Corrected surface NO₂ data for Indian cities Delhi and Kanpur. ()Ìý

Research Grants, Prizes and Awards

• 2024: Travel Grant awarded by IGAC to attend the iCACGP-IGAC conference
• 2024: Frank Carter Travel Award awarded by ×î×¼µÄÁùºÏ²ÊÂÛ̳ Geography to attend EGU Conference
• 2022: Early Career Researcher Plenary Talk Award at the International Global Atmospheric Chemistry (IGAC) Project Science Conference, Manchester, UK
• 2022: The Michael K. O'Rourke Best Publication Award, best paper from the PhD cohort at the College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, UKÌý
• 2021: Honorary Mention for Early Career Scientist presentation at IGAC Science Conference
• 2021: Westmere Scholarship awarded by University Graduate School, University of Birmingham, UK
• 2020: Travel grant awarded by College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, UK
• 2019: First prize for outstanding presentation skills at the West Midlands Finals of the IMechE Speak Out for Engineering competition; Shortlisted for the UK Finals
• 2019: Travel grant awarded by European Space Agency to attend remote sensing training
• 2019: People’s Choice Award for communicating PhD research to a non-specialist audience in less than 3 minutes at the Birmingham 3-minute Thesis (3MT) competition, UK ()

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Ìý

• 2017: Global Challenges PhD studentship at University of Birmingham, UK
• 2015: Academic Excellence Award for outstanding academic performance, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IIT-Kanpur), Kanpur, IndiaÌý
• 2010 - 2015: Numerous undergraduate and postgraduate scholarships, IIT-Kanpur, India