Atmospheric aerosols: From (Photo)chemical transformation to nucleation microphysics at atmospheric interfaces

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***Our innovative research program entails the physico-chemical understanding of airborne condensed matter or aerosols, and their interactions with clouds and radiation, which "contributes the largest uncertainty to the total radiative forcing estimates" affecting climate change (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, 2013). The uncertainty in the global radiation budget associated with aerosol-cloud interactions is of the same magnitude as the estimated radiative impact of increases in the atmospheric concentration of major greenhouse gases associated with human activity. Atmospheric pollutants, including aerosols, have also been directly linked to increases in the occurrence of respiratory and cardio-vascular disease as well as cancer (World Health Organization, WHO, 2014). A number of mechanisms governing radiative forcing, have been proposed which are strongly dependent on the physical and chemical characteristics of aerosols and clouds, and in turn these affect the lower atmosphere energy budget, influencing Earth's major processes such as melting of the sea-ice in the Arctic and the frequency and intensity of extreme weather phenomena. These physicochemical mechanisms are generally poorly understood and as such, they introduce key uncertainties into the prediction of air quality and environmental health, and climate change. The proposed research program, addressing these gaps of knowledge, encompasses three complementary cutting edge research themes, which will be significant in several fields of science, engineering and medicine, addressing the top research priorities of IPCC and WHO. Ten (out of 17) HQP in our research team will be trained. The research described in this Discovery Grant provides insight into the fundamental physical, and analytical chemistry of aerosols, namely complementary research on understanding the (photo)chemistry, kinetics and mechanism(s) of the transformation of aerosols and their precursors, on the development of novel methods and techniques for the chemical speciation at molecular levels, on surface physical chemistry research on aerosols, using nano and micro-aerosols properties to design novel natural green chemistry methods and techniques, which assists pollution remediation at its source. We foresee this research program further evolving our ongoing contributions towards advising policy makers and serving our communities, at national and international levels. We have established international expertise, savoir-faire, as well as a strong and motivated research group, and hence we are confident that we will reach our goals in an efficient manner. **