From Evidence into Action - How Scientific Research on the Health Effects of Noise Can Influence Policy and Decision-Making

Speaker: Benjamin Fenech, PhD MSc BEng(Hons) MIOA
Organization: UK Health Security Agency
Job Title: Noise and Public Health Group Leader

This session explores the relationship between scientific research on noise health effects and policy/decision-making. It highlights the role of noise research in influencing policy, the challenges of reducing the public health burden, and how presenting data to the right people at the right time can make an impact.

• Learning Objective 1: After this session, participants will be able to summarize how audiological and noise research can feed into policy and decision-making.
• Learning Objective 2: After this session, participants will be able to describe common barriers preventing audiological and noise research from impacting policy.
• Learning Objective 3: After this session, participants will be able to identify steps to improve the impact of their audiological and noise work on policy and practice.

About Benjamin

Benjamin Fenech is group leader of the noise and public health team at the United Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA), a government agency of the Department of Health and Social Care. He is also an honorary associate professor at the Department of Population Health Sciences at the University of Leicester. He received an MSc in Engineering Acoustics from the Technical University of Denmark and a PhD in aero-acoustic measurements from the University of Southampton, UK. He has over 20 years professional experience in the field of acoustics, spanning academia, private sector and public sector. For the past ten years he has been leading the noise and health programme at the UKHSA, where his main role is to translate the scientific evidence to policy officials working in the areas of health, environment, transport, energy and housing. More broadly he works with a wide range of stakeholders to advance the scientific knowledge in this area. He sits on three technical committees of the national standardisation body, and is project leader of a new ISO standard on non-acoustic factors (ISO TC 43/SC 1/WG 68). He is also chair of the Sound, Noise & Health Group within the Institute of Acoustics and chair of Team 9 (policy and economics) within the International Commission on Biological Effects of Noise (ICBEN).

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