Professor David Raper

My international reputation arises from my work Professor of Environmental Science, Director of the Centre for Aviation, Transport and the Environment (CATE), Director of the Dalton Research Institute and Chief Scientific Advisor to Omega. I have secured in excess of £12m in funding for aviation related research from various funding sources. In 2006 I was awarded £5,000,00 from HEFCE to establish a consortium of Universities to address the impact of the air transport industry on the environment (Omega). As a result of my network of contacts and position within my academic field I was able to forge a partnership with UK Apex Universities including Oxford, Cambridge, Leeds and Sheffield and from the US MIT and Georgia Institute of Technology. Industry representatives including Rolls Royce, Airbus, British Airways and BAA. This four-year project had significant international and national profile and its outcomes have, and continue to inform, national and international policy. I was a lead author on an assessment report of United Nations and World Metrological Organisation ‘Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change- IPCC’ which considered the aviation impacts on the global environment. This report is recognised by the industry and legislators worldwide to be a seminal research output that will have a defining role on the shape of the industry during the 21st Century. The IPCC was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 and as a lead author I contributed to the award. In recognition of my work with the aviation industry and knowledge of urban air quality, I was elected a member of the US National Academy of Sciences Transportation Research Board Committee on Transportation and Air Quality (A1F03). I worked in close collaboration with the US FAA funded Centre of Excellence PARTNER co-ordinated by MIT. In 2005 I was appointed by the Department of Transport to chair a group of international and national academics and industry experts to develop a methodology to assess the air quality impacts of Heathrow Airport to support the policy decision on the construction of a third runway.  

External examiner roles

University of Leeds

Cranfiield University

City University