About us
Who we are
Dr Ian Longley
Until 2024 I was Principal Air Quality Scientist and Programme Leader at New Zealand’s National Institute for Water and Atmosphere (NIWA). With 25 years’ experience as a full-time air quality specialist, I became a renowned expert in air quality at the “hyper-local” scale – that’s streets and rooms. I also became that guy with a finger in every (air quality) pie – maybe that’s why I was given a Clean Air Society of Australia & NZ Award.
In my younger days I was also an engineer and a schoolteacher – and in many ways I still am. I’m not just here to find problems – it’s the solutions that really matter. I love finding a way to give every audience exactly what they need, whether they be executives, technicians, mr and mrs average or 6 years old. That is why my personal mission to get everybody involved in better air quality – yes, including you.
Dr Guy Coulson
During my time I’ve done most of the jobs, I’ve built footpaths and erected hides, managed nature reserves, advised local and central government on air quality policy and multinational corporations on their environmental liability. I’ve consulted on Environmental Management Systems, carried out Environmental and Health and Safety audits, and assessed commercial potential of new technologies. I’ve worked on fuel-cell power systems for cars and ships and the economics of photovoltaic production. During my time in research, I’ve reconstructed historical climates from Antarctic ice cores, investigated air/snow exchanges of pollutants in the Arctic and the atmospheric processing of pollutants in remote and rural regions. For the past eighteen years I’ve concentrated on understanding urban pollution and creating and managing New Zealand’s most experienced team of air quality researchers.
Gustavo Olivares
Air pollution is a very personal issue to me. I was born in Santiago (Chile) in the early ’70s so I have very vivid memories of the air pollution events in the ’80s and ’90s (I also have very vivid memories about other events). The view of the snow-capped Andes in Santiago is breathtaking. Unfortunately, during significant periods in autumn and winter, the polluted air of the city obscures the view of the mountains … and I love my mountains!. So, my main motivation to understand the air is so that everyone, everywhere can see their mountains.
So, after working on modelling modelling atmospheric dispersion of sulphur from copper smelters for my MSc in the early 2000, I moved to Sweden to work with urban aerosols where I was much more involved with measurements than modelling. After that I moved to New Zealand where I’ve been since 2007 working on all areas of air quality research, including dispersion modelling, measurement campaign design, instrument development and lately moving into data science, indoor air quality and data management.