Build Your Own Air Quality Sensor – Science Week Workshop

Air pollution affects many people’s daily lives, not just those living near industrial centres. In Ireland, most official air quality monitoring is carried out using a limited number of government sensors spread across the country. As a result, we often rely on modelling to estimate current pollution levels. This can miss out on local or seasonal sources such as coal fires during winter or short-term event-based pollution.

In this hands-on Science Week workshop, we’ll explore how to measure local air pollution and take part in a global citizen science movement. You’ll build your own particulate matter (PM2.5) sensor system using a simple kit of off-the-shelf components. The device uses consumer-grade hardware to give a reasonable indication of local air quality — not as precise as professional lab equipment, but accurate enough to spot trends and patterns in your community.

The workshop introduces participants to IoT (Internet of Things) devices, data collection, and environmental monitoring. You’ll learn how to assemble the hardware, connect it to the network, and share your data online through the platform — an open global network of more than 13,000 citizen-built sensors contributing over 10 million data entries worldwide.

By the end of the evening, you’ll have built your own working air quality sensor and joined a growing international community helping to better understand our environment through open data.

Come along, learn something new, and make a real contribution to citizen science this Science Week!

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

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