Research
Dr Jonny Higham’s research sits at the interface between environmental fluid mechanics, air quality science, experimental measurement, sensor development and data driven analysis. His work is united by a central aim: to develop better ways of observing, understanding and responding to complex environmental processes in the real world.
His early research focused on experimental fluid mechanics, hydraulics, granular flows and environmental dynamics. During his PhD at the University of Sheffield, Jonny developed and applied modal decomposition techniques to environmental flows, using methods such as Proper Orthogonal Decomposition, Singular Value Decomposition and related data driven approaches to identify dominant structures, coherent patterns and dynamical behaviour in complex flow systems. This work helped transfer advanced analytical methods from engineering fluid mechanics into environmental and geophysical contexts, including river mechanics, hydraulic processes and free-surface flows.
Following his PhD, Jonny worked as an Oak Ridge postdoctoral research fellow with the United States Department of Energy, where he contributed to applied research projects linked to the energy sector. This experience strengthened his expertise in experimental design, advanced diagnostics, image based measurement, and the analysis of complex physical systems under real world constraints.
At Liverpool, Jonny’s research has expanded into urban air quality, environmental sensing and exposure science. He has led the development of the Liverpool Air Quality Research Centre, building a city-region monitoring capability that combines low cost sensor networks, laboratory calibration, field validation, data quality assurance, live data infrastructure and policy-facing analysis. This work supports the deployment of dense monitoring systems capable of capturing spatial and temporal variation in pollutants such as PM2.5, PM10, NO₂ and CO₂ across streets, schools, homes, workplaces, transport corridors and port-related environments.
A major strand of his current research is concerned with making low cost air quality sensors scientifically robust and operationally useful. This includes sensor design, calibration, humidity and temperature correction, co-location with reference instruments, drift detection, uncertainty quantification, quality control pipelines and the development of real time dashboards and APIs. Rather than treating sensors simply as low cost replacements for reference monitors, Jonny’s work explores how dense networks can provide new forms of environmental intelligence: identifying hotspots, tracking changes over time, supporting interventions, improving exposure assessment and helping communities, clinicians and policymakers understand environmental risk.
Jonny’s research is also strongly translational. He works with local authorities, NHS partners, schools, transport operators, airports, Freeport and maritime stakeholders, community groups and international collaborators to apply environmental monitoring to real decision making. His recent projects include citywide air quality monitoring, airport and roadside exposure assessment, portside emissions attribution, indoor air quality and overheating studies, school and community sensor deployments, and the integration of environmental data with health and demographic indicators. Through this work, he is developing approaches that link environmental measurement with policy, public health, behaviour change and place-based intervention.
Internationally, Jonny contributes to Clean Air Africa and related partnerships, supporting the deployment of affordable air quality monitoring systems in data sparse regions. This strand of research focuses on building scalable monitoring capacity, developing robust sensor workflows for challenging environments, and using local data to support public health evidence, government engagement and environmental management.
Across these areas, Jonny’s research combines physical science, engineering, data analytics and impact. His work moves from fundamental questions about flow dynamics and measurement methods through to applied questions about how air pollution is distributed, who is exposed, how reliable low cost sensors can be made, and how environmental data can be turned into action. A defining feature of his research is this connection between methodological innovation and real world deployment: developing tools that are scientifically credible, technically robust and directly useful for improving environmental health.
Research groups
Research grants
Centre for Air Quality Assessment and Mitigation
LIVERPOOL CITY REGION COMBINED AUTHORITY (UK)
October 2025 - March 2026
IBM IDLA - George Overton
IBM UNITED KINGDOM LIMITED (UK)
December 2025 - November 2029
Air Hub: Engineering healthy indoor environments
ENGINEERING & PHYSICAL SCIENCES RESEARCH COUNCIL
November 2025 - November 2027
Assuring safe port navigation by applying machine learning (ML) to wave data for monitoring changes in nearshore bathymetry.
MARRI UK (UK)
October 2020 - September 2022
Policy Support Fund 2024/25 (previously PPQR)
RESEARCH ENGLAND (UK)
August 2024 - July 2025
Cross-disciplinary research for Discovery Science
NATURAL ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH COUNCIL
January 2023 - March 2023
Interdisciplinary Assessment of Vulnerabilities and Resilience to Coastal Erosion in Bocas del Toro Panama
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION (USA)
January 2024 - October 2024
Academic Capacity and Capability Study
NATIONAL SHIPBUILDING OFFICE
March 2023 - November 2023
Discipline Hopping for Environmental Solutions
NATURAL ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH COUNCIL
January 2022 - March 2022
Breathing City Future Urban Ventilation Network – Flexible Fund
NATURAL ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH COUNCIL
November 2021 - August 2022