About Co-Trace

The CO-TRACE project (2021-2022) bought together researchers working at the Universities of Cambridge, Surrey and Imperial College London, to assess the risk of airborne COVID-19 transmission in schools and evaluate the effectiveness of mitigation measures.

• The project developed techniques to assess the absolute risk of infection in a given indoor space, using field studies in primary and secondary schools, complemented by laboratory experiments and computational fluid dynamics to elucidate the flow patterns responsible for airborne transport. 
• The understanding generated  underpinned recent developments in infection modelling to predict the likelihood of airborne transmission within schools. 
• The project helped to reduce the uncertainties associated with airborne transmission routes and provided evidence to evaluate mitigation measures. The scenarios  investigated include changes to ventilation, classroom lay-out and occupancy profiles. The methodology will facilitate application to offices, restaurants, shops etc.

SAMHE Project

The CO-TRACE mission to make schools healthier through air quality science is being continued through the SAMHE project. SAMHE brings together scientists, pupils and teachers and aims to establish a network of air quality monitors in schools across the UK. The data gathered will provide evidence for better national policies and practice, but more than that, SAMHE enables pupils to interact with real world data about their own classroom air quality through a specially designed interactive Web App. Visit the SAMHE website to learn more.