Mark Jermy
Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering
University of Canterbury
Mark got his BSc Hons. in Physics from the University of Birmingham, UK, in 1993 and his PhD from the University of Kent, UK, in 1997. He worked for the UK Ministry of Defence and Cranfield University before coming to the University of Canterbury in 2005.
He teaches fluid mechanics to engineering undergraduates and forensic scientists. His research mostly concerns particles carried by fluids: potentially infectious droplets and aerosol exhaled by humans, blood droplets at crime scenes, silica particles in geothermal fluids, and fuel droplets in combustors. He has also worked on gas flows in the human upper airway during non-invasive ventilation, and cyclist aerodynamics.
Currently, he, postdoctoral researcher Dr Jason Chen, and linguist Dr Donald Derrick are using CFD and Wells-Riley methods to estimate the risk of airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in indoor spaces, and to estimate the effectiveness of mitigations such as improved ventilation and portable air filtration systems. This work is funded by the New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment Covid-19 Innovation Accelerator fund.
Publications
30 November 2022
Over the last 12 months, the New Zealand Ministry of Education’s COVID-19 ventilation programme, in collaboration with its advisory group of ventilation experts, have carried out a series of targeted studies which enhanced the understanding of the role of natural ventilation and informed our ventilation guidance to schools.
26 October 2021
Indoor environments increase the risk of transmission for the virus that causes Covid-19 (SARS-CoV-2) by containment and concentration of the airborne virus. However, to reduce such transmission, the particles that carry the virus can be diluted by bringing in as much outdoor air as possible. When good ventilation is not possible, air purifiers can be used as an additional preventative measure to reduce the number of virus-laden particles.