Global air quality expert receives Planetary Health Award in Monaco

The Planetary Health Awards honour key international figures and organisations, with only three recipients each year.

Foundation CEO Olivier Wenden said the 2024 award recognised Professor Morawska's "outstanding scientific work on air quality and its impact on human health and the environment".

Professor Morawska attended the Monte Carlo ceremony and was presented with the award by HSH Prince Albert II.

"I am very grateful and proud to be the recipient of the 2024 Planetary Health Award from the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation and humbled to be selected for this important recognition," she told guests at the ceremony.

"My dream is for my work to be one small pillar in keeping this planet habitable, with a clean and unpolluted atmosphere, and filling our indoor spaces with pollution-free air to help us thrive.

"I fully recognise that everything I accomplished was possible because of the generous support I received during my professional journey.

"Thank you to my colleagues from all over the world and from all disciplines, and to my students for having been part of this incredible journey."

The Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation was created in 2006 as a global non-profit organisation dedicated to environment protection and sustainable development.

It contributes to planetary health by co-creating and supporting projects in many countries, recognising and encouraging those working in environmental fields, and raising awareness in key areas including climate change, biodiversity and water resources.

Distinguished Professor Lidia Morawska.

Professor Morawska is a physicist with the QUT School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences and has researched air quality for more than 30 years.

She is also the director of the QUT-based International Laboratory for Air Quality and Health (ILAQH).

Through approximately 1100 publications, she has ushered in new science and driven changes in the interdisciplinary field of air quality and its impact on human health and the environment.

Her focus is on airborne particles, both anthropogenic and natural, such as nanoparticles, ultrafine particles, and particles people emit when they breathe.

A strong advocate for air quality standards, she recently led a group of international experts who presented a blueprint for national indoor air quality standards for public buildings.

The Planetary Health Award is that latest in a list of honours for Professor Morawska that includes her election to the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Sciences this year.

In 2021, TIME magazine named her one of the world's 100 most influential people for her leadership role in assembling an international team of more than 200 scientists and public-health authorities to convince the World Health Organisation to recognize the role of aerosols in spreading SARS-CoV-2.

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