Professor Bala’s research interests cut across environmental sustainability, climate change and urban air quality. The main goal of his interdisciplinary research is to advance understanding of environmental and health impacts of air pollution on scales ranging from local to global. His work provides policy-relevant scientific inputs and contributes to development of cost-effective technologies to mitigate adverse impacts of air pollution. He has led multi-national collaborative projects related to assessment and mitigation of personal exposure to airborne particles. He is currently spearheading an international research programme that aims at improving air quality in cities through global alliance with premier universities. He is a one of the Lead Authors for the UN Environment Programme’s Global Environment Outlook, focusing on cross-cutting issues on environment and health. He is a member of the science panel of APCAP (Asia-Pacific Clean Air Partnership), appointed by UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme). He is a recipient of many research awards, notably the PROSE (Professional and Scholarly Excellence) award in recognition of his contribution to the recently published Global Environment Outlook (GEO-6) Report. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.