The OpenAQ Community Ambassador Programme: How AirGradient Supports The Next Generation Of Air Quality Leaders

In communities around the world, from the bustling streets of Iloilo City to Douala’s classrooms, a new generation of leaders is rising to the challenge of air pollution. They are scientists, advocates, and community organizers on the front lines, striving for clean air in their communities.

A key force in empowering these individuals is the OpenAQ Community Ambassador Programme, a global leadership initiative that AirGradient is proud to support. This programme provides the crucial resources, training, and global network needed to help these emerging leaders amplify their work and drive meaningful, lasting change.

What Is the OpenAQ Community Ambassador Programme?

OpenAQ is a nonprofit organization focused on providing open access to global air quality data. By aggregating official government and research datasets as well as air sensor data, and making them universally available, OpenAQ enables greater transparency, collaboration, and action on air pollution worldwide. A powerful extension of this mission is the Community Ambassador Programme.

After a successful pilot with five participants in 2021, the programme was officially launched in 2023 and now selects a cohort of ten exceptional individuals each year. The programme chooses ambassadors from low- and middle-income countries that often lack official monitoring and reliable data.

These ambassadors are not typically recent graduates. They are dedicated professionals, advocates, and volunteers who have already initiated projects in their communities. The intensive nine-month programme is designed to act as a catalyst to amplify their existing efforts. It provides them with advanced tools, expert mentorship, and a global platform. This helps them overcome local hurdles and transform their projects into sustainable, impactful solutions.

AirGradient has been a dedicated partner of the OpenAQ Community Ambassador Programme since 2023. We ensure that each ambassador has access to high-quality, open-source air quality monitors to guide them throughout their projects.

But our involvement is much deeper and more collaborative. Our Founder & CEO, Achim Haug, is a recurring guest speaker for each cohort, sharing insights on citizen science and community engagement. Team members, like our Scientific Director Anika, have delivered technical lectures on sensor calibration and the science behind effective monitoring. Furthermore, we leverage our network to connect the programme with valuable partners and have even helped ambassadors secure additional sensors to scale their projects.

Through our membership with 1% for the Planet, AirGradient also provides monetary contributions to OpenAQ, helping to fund the programme’s operational needs and ensure its continued success.

Ambassador Projects in Action

The true impact of this partnership is best seen through the incredible work of the ambassadors themselves. Their diverse projects are data-driven, community-focused, and action-oriented. Here are just a few highlights from cohorts supported by AirGradient.

Abid Omar - Pakistan

As the founder of the Pakistan Air Quality Initiative (PAQI), Abid Omar undertook the first-ever comprehensive analysis of seven years of low-cost sensor data across Pakistan’s major cities. His work addressed significant data and research gaps, applying robust scientific methodology to clean and validate the data using custom algorithms and open-source tools like Jupyter Notebooks. Having presented his work in 2024 at the European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly and Air Sensors International Conference (ASIC), he now plans to publish this work in a scientific journal, which would represent an important milestone in showing how community-led monitoring can contribute to academic and policy-level discussions.

Melissa Kwenkeu - Cameroon

Melissa Kwenkeu’s project aimed to raise awareness about air quality in Douala, Cameroon. She did so by installing an AirGradient sensor in a local school to monitor classroom conditions and support the activities of its environmental club, which had engaged students in earlier awareness activities of identifying local sources of air pollution and proposing concrete solutions.

Students in the school’s environmental club

Before the installation, the project was presented to the school principal and students, who welcomed the initiative as a valuable opportunity for hands-on learning. To ensure the safety and credibility of the installation, Melissa obtained authorization from the Ministry of Environment, Nature Protection, and Sustainable Development, who praised the initiative and issued a formal approval following a demonstration and testing session. With the sensor now in place, students can directly measure air quality, strengthening their engagement with local environmental challenges.

Victor John Magtulis - Philippines

Victor John Magtulis launched a project to bring real-time air quality monitoring to Iloilo City in the Philippines during a time of rapid economic growth following COVID-19 lockdowns. Although people were optimistic about the improved air quality observed throughout the globe as a consequence of limited emissions, many data gaps remained. In 2023, Victor met many people working in the air quality field, including AirGradient’s CEO Achim Haug, at the Better Air Quality Conference (BAQ) in Manila, which inspired him to work on this project. With a network of AirGradient monitors, Victor and his team tracked pollution patterns and captured data during key events like the Kanlaon Volcano eruption. Their work informed locals about the state of the air they were breathing and provided the groundwork for environmental legislation by encouraging them to partake in advocating for cleaner air policies. After completing the programme, Victor founded a startup focused on air quality, working on projects in collaboration with Iloilo City Government and the local Environment Bureau. He has since deployed over 10 AirGradient monitors throughout the Philippines to continue scaling his impact. By using data from these sensors to open conversations with local policymakers, he hopes this will provide the groundwork for improved data-driven environmental legislation in underserved and rapidly urbanizing regions in the Philippines.

Luciano Lamaita - Argentina

In Saladillo, Argentina, the air is heavily polluted from an array of factors, including agricultural activity, traffic, and unpaved streets. Meanwhile, the surrounding region does not have official air quality measurements, nor the necessary technical equipment and calibration systems. Motivated by this, Luciano Lamaita engaged local schools in a community science initiative. He used AirGradient’s monitors as a STEM teaching tool, deploying sensors near schools to collect real-time data and teach students about air quality parameters. By integrating environmental technology into the classroom, he is fostering a new generation of citizen scientists and promoting environmental responsibility, with the ultimate goal of influencing local policy.

We are also proud to see several ambassadors continue their work in close collaboration with AirGradient. Thanasak Thumbuntu from the 2023 cohort went on to lead a project installing air quality monitors in daycare centers across Bangkok to protect children, work we were thrilled to support.

Similarly, Dr. Safiya Cummings, a 2024 ambassador from Trinidad and Tobago, has since joined the AirGradient team as our Health and Built Environment Specialist. In her recent project, she empowers young girls through clean air education in the Caribbean.

Building Lasting Skills Through Open-Source Tools

A core principle of the partnership between AirGradient and OpenAQ is to empower ambassadors with more than just data points; it’s about building tangible, lasting skills. AirGradient’s open-source philosophy is central to this effort, transforming ambassadors from simple users of technology into creators and innovators who can adapt, build, and teach others.

Luciano’s project in Argentina is a prime example. He didn’t just deploy a pre-built sensor in a school. Instead, he leveraged the open-source design of the AirGradient monitor as a core component of his STEM curriculum. His project plan specifically included ‘do-it-yourself’ (DIY) components and budgeted to “build DIY monitors from scratch.” By doing so, he taught students the fundamentals of how air quality sensors work, enabling them to understand the science from the ground up. This hands-on approach demystifies the technology and fosters deep, practical knowledge that extends far beyond his participation in the Ambassador Programme.

This ethos of technical empowerment is also embodied by Alexandru Luchiian, a 2023 ambassador from Romania. With a background in IoT (Internet of Things), Alexandru dove into citizen-science-led technical experiments. He utilized the flexibility of the open-source platform to conduct more specialized research, exploring the nuances of sensor performance and data validation. His work shows how ambassadors with a technical inclination can use the AirGradient platform as a springboard for innovation, developing new methodologies and contributing to the broader scientific understanding of low-cost sensing.

Alexandru giving a presentation on different types of sensors he has built

“As an innovator in air quality sensor development and founder of multiple environmental projects, I have dedicated my work to making clean air data accessible to everyone, and I find that AirGradient indoor sensors are a game-changer. I believe open-source technology is the path toward transparency and democratization of air quality data. By making accurate, real-time information available to everyone – regardless of their environment or socioeconomic background – we can raise awareness, inspire action, and drive meaningful change for healthier, cleaner air.”

Alexandru Luchiian

By providing open-source tools, the programme ensures that ambassadors are not just receiving a black box. They are gaining a platform for learning, experimentation, and teaching, creating a ripple effect of technical literacy and problem-solving in their communities.

Looking Ahead for 2025 and Beyond

The OpenAQ Community Ambassador Programme continues to grow and evolve. The 2025 cohort is already underway, with a new group of ambassadors actively developing innovative, community-driven projects to combat air pollution. AirGradient remains deeply committed to supporting this work by providing tools, mentorship, and collaboration opportunities that help ensure these efforts have a lasting impact.

We look forward to the ongoing collaboration with OpenAQ and the next wave of young leaders driving change in their communities and beyond.

Get Involved

The fight for clean air requires a global, collaborative effort. The OpenAQ Community Ambassador Programme shows that this is possible when passionate individuals are given the right tools and support.

We invite organizations to join this vital movement. There are many ways to help scale clean air innovation, including in-kind support of hardware, sharing expertise as guest lecturers, or collaborating directly on ambassador projects.

For individuals, particularly those working on air quality in under-resourced communities, the Ambassador Programme could be the platform you’ve been looking for. If you’re leading a project, engaging your community, or exploring innovative approaches to air quality monitoring and advocacy, consider applying to the next cohort.

To learn more about the programme and how you can get involved, please visit the OpenAQ Ambassador Programme website.