How can universities lead the way for clean-air indoor workspaces and create a sustainable and healthy environment for staff and students? By Dr Aspa Paltoglou CPsychol | AFBPsS | FHEA | Senior Lecturer | School of Psychology Manchester Metropolitan University
Making the case for the UK government supporting UK universities to improve indoor air during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and beyond.
I owe my life to British universities; my Greek parents met in Bristol as international students, and I was born days before my Mum started her undergraduate in international relations at Bristol Polytechnic (now University of West of England) and my Dad his MSc in Econometrics at Bristol University. My Mum always spoke very highly of the education she received in the UK. In retrospect it feels inevitable that I would become an academic in the UK.
She often suggests that studying was probably more demanding back then; that nowadays there is grade inflation and students are given more opportunities to re-submit failed assessments. And of course, there is a very important ongoing discussion of marketisation of universities, as well as discussions around whether universities are fit for purpose for today’s rapidly changing world.
From where I stand, UK universities seem to be resilient and innovative organisations. For example, universities these days make a lot of effort to support students with academic skills such as writing, reading, numeracy. I think that is a very positive development and very helpful for a growing and diverse student population with a variety of needs. I have also seen how much universities encourage innovation in education, for example flipped classroom, degree apprenticeships, innovative short course structures such as Rise, along with the equally valuable, more traditional offerings.
All that said, I think there is something UK universities need to improve: they need to put more emphasis in making sure they do everything they can to clean the indoor air in university buildings to reduce the airborne pathogens. According to WHN, indoor air quality is one of the safety pillars of prevention against the spread of Covid-19. Ideally, in terms of indoor air quality, we need both ventilation in order to renew the air (e.g. opening windows) as well as air purifiers to clean the air from airborne pathogens. In this article I will mainly focus on the latter.
Many experts suggest that the Covid-19 pandemic is not over. This airborne virus can still cause long term illnesses and death. And even forgetting the Covid-19 pandemic for a moment, staff and students typically contract flu and colds fairly frequently, as face-to-face teaching involves gathering several individuals in quite small spaces. Improving indoor air by opening windows and using air purifiers to remove pathogens from the air can decrease the chance of contracting Covid-19, flu, colds, and let’s not forget the effect of car pollution, forest fires, allergies. I think the government should encourage and help universities to learn the lessons from the Covid-19 pandemic and create buildings where the windows open, air purifiers with HEPA filters are used, and CO2 levels are routinely monitored. The government and UK universities should shout from the roof tops when they adopt such practices, as such practices would improve the health of staff and students and reduce the chance of staff and students contracting Covid-19, and developing Long Covid. I think also Unions should highlight and support such changes.
In the UK, students pay fees to study at university. The majority of the students take bank loans, and the students have to pay these after their studies have finished, and only if they earn over a certain threshold. Therefore, the UK government is very keen that universities should help students find suitable employment after they finish their studies, in order to be able to pay these loans.
At the same time, universities are putting a lot of emphasis on sustainability. Of course, sustainability is very important, given the climate crisis. However, shouldn’t the health of staff and students be part of any discussion of sustainability? Can we afford to lose more and more of our highly trained staff and our precious students due to Covid-19 and Long Covid? Isn’t every person’s health precious anyway? Given the negative long-term effects that covid19 has on cognition, isn’t this at odds with one of the main reasons why students come to university, i.e. to enhance their cognitive skills? How can we live with ourselves if our precious students, who hold the future in their hands, instead of improving their intellects, leave university with cognitive deficits and a drop in their IQ scores because they contracted Covid-19 during their studies? Shouldn’t experts and managers involved in occupational health, sustainability, building facilities and health and safety collaborate to ensure there is cleaner indoor air? I am often asked to complete short courses on health and safety, sustainability and similar topics, and after 2020 I am always left thinking that the lessons from the Covid-19 pandemic are missing from these. I think resources such as COVID Safety For Schools should become part of the Health and Safety planning and courses for all staff and students at university. We have learned from other health crises over the centuries, and we installed clean water and waste facilities; we need to do the same with clean indoor air.
Buying and maintaining air purifiers does not require any major rework of the buildings. It is just a matter of buying these machines, after some consultation with indoor-air experts on which are most appropriate for what type of room, where to install them, etc. and then making sure that the filters are changed when they need changing. They are not too expensive, and they do not use too much electricity as far as I know. This is an easy win.
We tend to assume that we need to choose between health and the economy. However, there is considerable evidence that protecting the health of individuals has positive effects on the economy, and the reverse; a recent report in the Economist highlights the huge cost of Long Covid to the economy. Since there is no known cure for Long Covid, isn’t it better to make sure the chance of contracting Covid-19 is reduced as much as possible?
As I have written elsewhere, I still mask at work, and I am lucky to be supported by my colleagues, students, and university to do so. Others are not that lucky; in fact there are mask bans in some American universities. Even without masking bans, masking is not something that is taken up by staff and students. Most students were not even masking when our university instructed them too, as I discovered with sadness around 2021, after the lockdowns were lifted and we went back to face-to-face teaching. I am very worried about the long-term health of my talented colleagues and students, although I empathise with their choice not to wear a mask; it’s very difficult to be a lone masker. In any case, although masking is very effective at reducing the chance of contracting Covid-19 and other airborne pathogens, we need several layers of protection. Even if everyone was wearing masks, we should still be do everything we can to clean indoor air.
And what about ventilation of the buildings? Most of the building I work in are very new. The windows don’t usually open, but in my experience the CO2 readings are surprisingly low, which is certainly very good news! I think this suggests good mechanical ventilation. Still, we need air purifiers to clean the indoor air from Covid-19 and other pathogens, pollutants from car fumes.
Universities are places where knowledge is generated, innovation happens, minds are set on fire (in a good way) with passion for knowledge and innovation. Universities are encouraged to conduct research that has positive impact on society. There is considerable evidence that air purifiers really help; air purifiers appear to remove Covid-19 and other pathogens from the air and air purifiers with HEPA filters can reduce Covid-19 transmission. Shouldn’t the government follow the impactful science that universities produce in order to improve people’s lives?
UK Universities are facing financial difficulties at the moment, and I worry that it might mean that is not always possible to prioritise the health and safety of their staff. So, they need help from the government to do so. I think this should be one of the highest priorities. We should do everything we can to keep everyone safe now that we know more about the devastating effects of Covid-19. I think it is important that the UK government makes health a priority, so that Universities have a framework to work with, without which there is probably not much they can do. Obviously, I think clean air should be a priority in all public spaces, not just universities. But given that universities are places of research and innovation, it seems to me that they should be some of the first places to adopt clean air practices.
Personally, I cannot teach students research methods and psychology and ignore the importance of what research tells us in terms of adjusting to a pandemic. I think education is not just about becoming an expert in one’s field. It should also about being ethical, and living our lives by what we teach, by data and research, and protecting everyone to the best of our ability and knowledge. The next generation of leaders are studying as we speak. Shouldn’t we lead by example so that they become ethical and compassionate leaders that support evidence-based policy? There is more and more evidence suggesting that the effects of Covid-19 are very serious. We need to join the dots and live by what we teach and research. And leading the way and giving a good example to the rest of society. I still trust UK universities with my life, and I believe we can lead the way with evidence-based public health, with a little help from our new Labour Government.