Clean air campaigner Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah CBE has been awarded an honorary degree by the University of Southampton, following a nomination from the professor who worked alongside her in the fight for justice after her daughter’s death from air pollution.
Professor Sir Stephen Holgate nominated Rosamund for an honorary Doctor of Science in recognition of her work. She received the award at a graduation ceremony at the O2 Guildhall Southampton on 16th July.
Rosamund is one of the world’s most prominent advocates for clean air, having founded the Ella Roberta Foundation after her daughter Ella died from an asthma attack in 2013, aged just nine.
She spent seven years campaigning for a second inquest into Ella’s death, seeking to establish whether it was linked to air pollution. In a landmark ruling in 2020, the coroner concluded that illegal levels of air pollution near the family’s home had significantly contributed to Ella’s life-threatening asthma. The family had lived just 30 metres from London’s South Circular Road, one of the most polluted roads in Europe. Ella remains the only person in the world to have air pollution listed as a cause on her death certificate.
Professor Sir Stephen Holgate, a world-renowned air quality expert and consultant respiratory physician at the University of Southampton, served as the expert witness at Ella’s second inquest, where evidence showed pollution had contributed to and worsened her condition. He has supported Rosamund and the Ella Roberta Foundation since joining the team in 2017.
The honorary degree recognises Rosamund’s tireless campaigning, which has helped drive significant changes in how air pollution is understood and addressed as a public health issue, both in the UK and internationally. Her advocacy has influenced policy discussions on air quality standards and has raised public awareness of the health risks posed by pollution, particularly to children.
Writing in AQN last year, Kate Metcalf, Co-Director of the Women’s Environmental Network (WEN) described how she had personally been inspired by Rosamund: ‘What Rosamund did, and continues to do, is extraordinary. She transformed her unimaginable grief into a relentless campaign to protect all of our children. She became, as Air Quality News rightly described her, the most recognisable and relentless figure advocating for clean air. Her strength, her clarity, and her refusal to let this issue be sidelined is something I deeply admire.
‘Her quote in the recent interview still echoes in my mind “I need to dream big so I would like clean air to become a human right all over the world. I believe no matter where you come from, your race, sexuality, religion, doesn’t matter, you’re entitled to breathe clean air.”‘
Upon receiving the degree, Rosamund said: ‘It is such an honour to be recognised in this way by such a prestigious science university like Southampton, and I really wouldn’t be here today without all the work that Professor Sir Stephen Holgate and I have been doing over the past decade.
‘I have made it my life’s work to prevent other children from suffering the way that my daughter Ella did, and I hope to continue to raise awareness about the dangers of air pollution, and honour Ella’s legacy by saving millions of people’s lives.
‘The soaring temperatures we have been experiencing recently are a stark reminder that air pollution, exacerbated by the heat, is the biggest environmental threat to human life. And as Stephen has often said, Ella was the canary in the coalmine, and whilst we cannot see the damage air pollution is doing to our bodies, we know that it is there and we owe it to Ella and all the children, to continue to fight to clean up the toxic air we breathe.’
Professor Holgate said: ‘As one of the world’s most powerful advocates for the fundamental human right to clean air, Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah is a profound inspiration. She exemplifies how one person’s immense tragedy can be transformed into a relentless, life-saving mission, championing the health and wellbeing of all, irrespective of background or circumstance.’
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