Catherine Noakes facts for kids

Catherine Noakes is a smart British engineer who teaches at the University of Leeds. She's a professor of Environmental Engineering for Buildings. This means she studies how buildings can be designed to keep people healthy.

Professor Noakes is an expert in how tiny germs travel through the air, especially inside buildings. She focuses on stopping airborne infections. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she helped the Government of the United Kingdom by giving scientific advice on how to stop the virus from spreading.

Early Life and Learning

Catherine Noakes grew up with parents who worked in interesting fields. Her mother was in computer science, and her father was an aerospace engineer.

University Studies

In 1996, Catherine earned her engineering degree from the University of Leeds. She studied something called mathematical engineering. This is where you use math to solve engineering problems. During her studies, she became very interested in how liquids and gases move, which is called fluid dynamics.

Later, in 2000, she earned her PhD from the same university. Her research looked at how liquids flow when they are used to coat things, like photographic paper.

Research and Career

After finishing her studies, Professor Noakes worked for a short time at a company called Delpro. She even helped develop a machine used to dry Euro banknotes after they were coated.

In 2002, she returned to the University of Leeds. She started working on how air moves in buildings and how special UV-C light can help prevent diseases. She soon got a permanent job there.

Understanding Air in Buildings

Professor Noakes studies how air flows in buildings. She wants to know how this affects the air quality inside. She creates special math models to figure out the risk of germs spreading through the air. This helps prevent people from getting sick.

She has worked with the National Health Service (NHS) and Public Health England. Their goal is to stop airborne viruses from spreading in hospitals. Diseases like tuberculosis and influenza are known to spread this way. Professor Noakes has created computer tools to help monitor and control patient environments. This helps keep infections from spreading. She once shared that about one in fifty people get an infection while they are in the hospital. Stopping these infections saves a lot of money and helps people stay healthier.

Leading Research and Teams

In 2010, Professor Noakes became the Director of the Pathogen Control Research Institute. This institute focuses on controlling germs that cause diseases. She also joined a group called the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Centre for Doctoral Training in Aerosol Science. This group trains new scientists who study tiny particles in the air.

She became a full Professor in 2014. She also helps review articles for important science journals like Building and Environment and Indoor Air. From 2014 to 2017, she led a program at the University of Leeds called Athena SWAN. This program helps support women in science and engineering.

In 2016, Professor Noakes started the Low-Energy Ventilation Network (LEVN). This team works to understand how buildings use energy for ventilation. She also studies if the air quality inside buildings affects how well people can think and learn. She is a Deputy Director of the Leeds Institute of Fluid Dynamics. She also helps lead their Centre for Doctoral Training.

Helping During the Pandemic

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Professor Noakes became very involved. She focused on how the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus spreads through the air. She stressed how important good ventilation is to reduce the risk of breathing in tiny virus particles. In April 2020, she was asked to join the Government of the United Kingdom's COVID-19 scientific advisory board. For her important work during the pandemic, she received a special award from the Royal Academy of Engineering.

In January 2021, Professor Noakes was a guest on the BBC Radio 4 show The Life Scientific.

Honours and Awards

Professor Noakes has received many awards and honours for her important work:

• 2013: She became a Fellow of the Institute of Healthcare Engineering and Estate Management.
• 2014: She became a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. She also won their Construction and Building Services Division Prize.
• 2016: The University of Leeds gave her a Women of Achievement Award.
• 2018: She was recognized by the International Society for Indoor Air Quality.
• 2020: She was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her services during the COVID-19 response.
• 2021: She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.
• 2022: She became an Honorary Fellow of the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers.
• 2023: She was awarded the Gabor Medal by the Royal Society. This was for her amazing work in modeling infection risks and her leadership in the field.

Selected Publications

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