"With my research I want to contribute to a healthier environment for children"

Ulrike Gehring is an Associate Professor at the Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences at Utrecht University, The Netherlands. The aim of her research is to understand the influence of environmental risk factors on health throughout life. A special focus of her work is investigating the long-term effects of ambient air pollution on children's respiratory health. As a co-principal investigator, Ulrike leads the Dutch PIAMA (Prevention and Incidence of Asthma and Mite Allergy, piama.iras.uu.nl) birth cohort study. Her research is multidisciplinary combining statistics with epidemiology, medical science and exposure science.

Throughout 2025, the Environment and Health Committee of the European Respiratory Society will host a series of events and activities that explore ways that policy recommendations can be made relating to the increasing threat posed to respiratory health by natural disasters and climate change. A new webinar series on natural disasters and climate change and their impacts on respiratory health has now also been launched by ERS, in partnership with the EU Health Policy Platform. Learn more about this webinar series.