EAG spotlight: Dr. Claire Bird and Derek Shearer

AIRAH’s 2025 Indoor Air Quality conference is taking part again in Melbourne on 26-27th May.

Billed as Australia's leading indoor air quality event, last year’s conference was incredibly informative, thought-provoking and inspiring – this year is sure to be no different!

We spoke to Safer Air Project EAG members Dr. Claire Bird, Associate Director of the AIRAH Indoor Air Quality Special Technical Group, and Derek Shearer, Chair of the AIRAH Indoor Air Quality Special Technical Group, ahead of this year’s conference about why indoor air quality is something everyone should care about regardless of health status, why personal stories are a key part of driving technical change, and what we can look forward to at this years’ Indoor Air Quality conference.

Why is indoor air quality something that everyone should care about?

CB: Because we breathe around 60,000 times each day, so compared to eating three meals, or drinking maybe 10 drinks a day the risk of exposure to airborne infections or pollutants is incredibly high.

DS: Regardless of your health status, there is no downside to breathing cleaner indoor air. To put it in perspective - if our drinking water appeared cloudy or discoloured, we wouldn’t hesitate to question its safety. Yet we inhale far more air each day than we consume water, and unlike water, we often take air quality for granted simply because we can’t see what might be contaminating it.

As Dr Bronwyn King OA aptly put it during a recent webinar, “the invisibility of air is a problem.” This invisibility leads to assumptions that the air is clean, when in reality, the absence of visible pollutants doesn’t mean the air is safe.

What emerging technologies or strategies are you most excited or hopeful about?

CB: I operate a research and development facility around microbial contaminants in buildings. We are constantly rethinking our client-facing products for monitoring IAQ-related factors in buildings as the area is moving so quickly. Some of the realtime pathogen detection technology offers huge benefits in preventing disease. Systems such as testing for infections like flu and COVID-19 in sewage provides direct information on how infectious diseases are moving through our communities, so excited about what trans-disciplinary research opportunities may provide. 

DS: The development of IAQ monitoring and sensing technologies has advanced rapidly in recent years, and it's exciting to see these tools being increasingly integrated into our buildings and facilities. In addition, several emerging air purification and disinfection technologies are showing great promise. While still relatively new, they offer innovative approaches to enhancing indoor air quality and creating healthier environments moving forward.

AIRAH's upcoming IAQ Conference highlights topics from decarbonisation to airborne infection control. Which themes or sessions are you personally most excited about, and why?

CB: As someone on the organising committee, I have to say that this year’s conference has so much promise to change our thinking. The talks were highly competitive, and each talk forms an equally valuable part of the IAQ solution. We have some great international speakers from the US joining us with decades of experience and deep knowledge across IAQ. US speakers will kick off an amazing start to each of the two-days.

A special focus of the event is whether we monitor indoor air quality or manage it as a starting point to better IAQ. We can monitor for compliance to baseline IAQ standards, especially around CO2 levels, or follow the ASHRAE 241 infection control standard by estimating the overall potential of the building to have sufficient risk-free air introduced to prevent infectious aerosol transmission. Under ASHRAE 241supplemental air filtration or other technologies may be added to allow a given building to meet the standard’s requirements based on the particular building use and human activity taking place.  

The brainchild of Brad Prezant, there will be a training day with world-leading international in-person and online speakers ahead of the conference where the role of CO2 as a leading metric of IAQ will take place, and the outcomes will be shared in a panel at the main conference. I am looking forward to the extra dimension this adds to the already stellar cast and encourage everyone to add it to their conference itinerary.

DS: That’s a tough question - there are so many outstanding speakers and thought-provoking topics on the agenda. Personally, I’m particularly looking forward to hearing Dr Max Sherman speak on The Harm Paradigm and the Future of Indoor Air Quality. I’m also keen to catch the panel session wrapping up insights from the Sunday workshop, which promises to be a must-watch for anyone with an interest in IAQ.

How can discussions at events like this directly contribute to healthier and safer communities?

CB: The conference brings together health, microbial and indoor air scientists, engineers, regulators and decision makers, as well as advocates and impacted individuals to share knowledge and to learn from each other. The learning component is the most important in changing mindsets, optimising outcomes. Many professionals at the forefront of their areas of expertise want to learn from other disciplines. Diverse knowledge becomes as important as deep knowledge in their own speciality.

DS: The AIRAH IAQ Conferences have consistently brought together professionals from a diverse range of backgrounds. This unique blend of technical expertise, lived experience, and scientific research adds real depth to the conversations - both during the event and well beyond it. The discussions sparked at the conference often lead to new collaborations and partnerships, helping to drive forward important initiatives and projects across the industry.

Why is it important that industry events like AIRAH’s IAQ Conference include diverse perspectives, including health experts, engineers, and people with lived experience?

CB: IAQ needs a multi-team approach to keep our shared air safer as we need to balance not only energy efficiency but infection prevention and overall air quality both inside and outside the building.

We see international funding bodies calling for research into climate change impacts on infectious diseases, and the increasing resistance of fungal and bacterial infections to medical treatment. Prevention is perched on the increasingly heavy side of the balance between prevention and treatment of infectious diseases. 

We also need to think about risks from the buildings themselves, especially the HVAC systems. Changing weather patterns play on our ability to manage thermal comfort and prevent unwanted moisture that leads to mould or generating air that is too dry and makes us more prone to respiratory infection.

 IAQ is not just about infection-vulnerable people and energy efficiency, it is about our asthma and allergy sufferers and those whose immune systems have been compromised from exposure to mould and dampness-related changes in air microbiology and chemistry. This juggling act needs all of us.

DS: We rely on these diverse perspectives as there is not one party that holds all the answer to solve the indoor air challenge. Engineers can design a system to drive whatever outcome we need to achieve, but they are not health experts. We need guidance from medical experts and academics on what the optimal conditions might be to help guide our technical standards and regulations, which in turn provides the guidance back to our engineers, architects and designers on what we need to consider when designing systems and buildings with improved indoor air quality in mind.

The Safer Air Project focuses heavily on inclusion and accessibility through improved indoor air quality. What role do you see organisations like the Safer Air Project playing in driving changes to indoor air quality standards and practices in Australia?

CB: Only through a proper management practice in buildings based on guidance and standards can we achieve safe buildings. Pushing the agenda on design and application of safer building and mechanical systems will achieve lasting change.

Whilst monitoring and IAQ standards have their place, there are many airborne contaminants where we have still to find safe level, or have developed sufficient technology to measure them in a health-relevant way. Examples are individual VOC’s and the wide range of microbial contaminants where we have to use a risk assessment approach to safe practice, and where we hope that in the future AI may assist in unravelling complexities.

Change toward accessibility requires managing all of these factors, and we see the Safer Air Project as driving a significant part of that change by being the voice of those affected when things go wrong and making people realise it is most of us that are affected not just faceless others.

DS: It’s a powerful perspective that brings a new dimension to the discussions we’ve had so far. The Safer Air Project adds a deeply human layer to the conversation - highlighting personal, lived experiences that resonate far more strongly in driving change than technical data alone. These stories put real faces to the challenges we’re trying to address, making the need for action more tangible and harder to ignore.

What’s one key takeaway you hope attendees will leave with after attending this year’s conference?

CB: Managing IAQ to provide safe buildings needs us to listen to those affected, those making the decisions, those designing, assessing, monitoring and remediating the buildings. AIRAH sits at that intersection and is supporting those in attendance at the conference and those in the industry across broad IAQ disciplines. We call everyone to come together through our project to make the paradigm shift called for by our world’s leaders in IAQ for safer air.

DS: My hope is that everyone attending the conference leaves with something practical they can apply to improve the air they breathe - whether at home, at work, or in their communities. Take what you've learned over these two days and use it to become a voice for change in your own way.

Every action, no matter how small, contributes to healthier indoor environments for all.

AIRAH’s 2025 Indoor Air Quality conference on in Melbourne on 26-27th May. Click here to learn more and register.