Aerosols play a crucial role in a broad range of disciplines from atmospheric science to drug delivery to the lungs to the delivery of fuels for combustion. Despite their importance, our understanding of the fundamental processes that occur on aerosol particles remains limited. The Bristol Aerosol Research Centre uses optical and electrodynamic techniques to capture and manipulate single particles or arrays of particles, and optical spectroscopy to interrogate their size, composition and morphology. In particular, experiments are underway to improve our understanding of how particles response to changes in relative humidity, the heterogeneous chemical aging of particles, the optical properties of particles and the kinetics of heat and mass transfer. A holographic optical tweezing platform is also being developed to use aerosol droplets as miniature chemical reactors for performing digital microfluidic operations.