The Healthy Buildings America 2021 conference is set for January 18 through 20th, 2022, at the Hawaii Convention Center in Honolulu. The biennial event, sponsored by the International Society of Indoor Air Quality and Climate (ISIAQ), will be hosted by the Cleaning Industry Research Institute (CIRI).

The theme of the conference is Bridging the Gap Between Research and Practice – In the Age of COVID-19 and Beyond. Professionals in cleaning, disinfection, restoration and remediation will team with researchers representing the nation’s top academic institutions to build bridges between research and practice.

“Especially since COVID hit, but even before that, there has been an enormous amount of research done in the areas that affect people, especially in the restoration and remediation space. CIRI is the organization that has connections both in that space as well as with researchers, especially academic researchers,” said John Downey, executive director of CIRI.

“There’s a lot of research that will be included in this conference that relates to COVID, especially related to indoor air, ventilation, filtration, things like that,” Downey added. “So much of it is about establishing the relationships and sharing the different perspectives that practitioners have compared to what researchers have.”

As of this interview in late July, Downey reported that expected attendance for Healthy Buildings 2021 doubled initial projections and more than 300 speakers were scheduled to present.

This episode covers:

  • The history and purpose of the Healthy Buildings conference
  • Learning opportunity highlights for restoration and remediation professionals
  • Restoration specialties and applications the conference is geared toward
  • The role of CIRI as a connective tissue between restoration practitioners and those who conduct related research
  • COVID-19-related topics relevant to the R&R audience, including surface versus air contamination
  • Background on CIRI and its tie to the science of restoration and cleaning
  • How the pandemic has impacted conference planning as well as the attendee experience

Check out this episode of Ask the Expert to learn more. You can watch the video here or listen to the audio version of our conversation here. You can also find our show on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Just search for Restoration & Remediation Ask the Expert, then hit Follow.