Meet the team

I joined the Centre in 2021 as Manager. I have been part of the Higher Education Environment since 2012 and until recently was Operations Manager for the School of Business at University of Leicester. I am responsible for the day-to-day operational aspects of the Centre and work closely with the project team to co-ordinate, monitor and facilitate the research and outreach activities. I am supporting the team to establish a project framework, reporting and communication strategy in this national multi-partner project. I also work with the Centre’s wider academic team to identify and develop new opportunities and provide support for… [Read more]

In 2010 the physical-chemistry department at the University Rovira i Virgili awarded me with a PhD which received the recognition of the Best Thesis in Computational Chemistry in 2011. I moved to University College London as the computational lead in EPSRC funded programmes investigating carbon dioxide reduction catalysed by iron sulfides and oxide surfaces in direct collaboration with experimental groups. This successful research activity was recognised in 2012 when I was awarded the Ramsay Memorial Fellowship Trust allowing me to develop further in the field of materials and catalytic chemistry. I was appointed a University Research Fellow (URF) in 2015,… [Read more]

Peter is a Fellow of both the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Institution of Chemical Engineers and a Chartered Engineer. He is also a former Head of Department of Chemistry at Sheffield. Peter’s research considers a wholistic approach to the circular economy, drawing on catalysis, synthesis, reactor and process design as well as life cycle analysis (LCA) and techno-economic analysis (TEA) together with policy development and social justice. This covers waste management, carbon dioxide utilisation and air quality improvement. Peter is involved in a number of All Party Parliamentary Groups in Westminster and was a recipient of a Royal… [Read more]

I joined Loughborough as Lecturer in Chemical Engineering in 2018, with a background in thermochemical biomass conversion, catalytic bio-oil upgrading and algae process development and scale-up. My current research is focused on the production of sustainable chemicals and fuels from biomass and wastes, by combining and integrating biological, thermochemical and catalytic processes to develop optimal conversion pathways. [Read more]

I hold a MA(Hons) in Business Studies & Accounting and a PhD in Management both from the University of Edinburgh. I am an Associate Professor of Finance in the Edinburgh Business School at the Heriot-Watt University. My research focuses on banking and investment analytics by modelling the impact of uncertainty (e.g., macroeconomic and policy uncertainties, climate-risks) on banks’/firms’ performance, lending/investment and risk-taking behaviours. I am also interested in the design of multidimensional frameworks (e.g., DEA, multi-criteria decision-making analysis-based approaches) to evaluate energy strategies and prediction models. She also has works related to energy economics around modelling/forecasting oil prices, and studying the dynamic impact of energy market uncertainty on the economy. I am… [Read more]

Eileen joined Loughborough in 2020 from Newcastle University and she holds a Chair of Electrochemical Engineering in the Department of Chemical Engineering. After obtaining her PhD from Newcastle University pioneering the development of direct methanol alkaline fuel cells, she worked as a research fellow at Max Planck Institute for Dynamics of Complex Technical Systems, Germany, before returning to Newcastle University to take a prestigious EPSRC Research Fellowship (Life Science Interface). She has a wide range of experience and interests in various fields in electrochemical and bioelectrochemical systems for energy, carbon dioxide utilization, environmental and biomedical applications. [Read more]

Andrea is a PDRA at the Sargent Centre for Process System Engineering, Imperial College London. As a member of the UKRI National Interdisciplinary Centre for Circular Chemical Economy, his research focuses on techno-economic and life-cycle environmental assessment of enabling technologies for a UK circular chemical economy. Andrea received his PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Padova in 2015 and in 2017 he joined Imperial College. He contributed to different research projects, including the EPSRC funded initiatives Future Targeted Healthcare Manufacturing HUB, and Flexible Routes to Liquid Fuels from CO2 by Advanced Catalysis and Engineering. Prior to joining Imperial… [Read more]

Umit Bititci is a Professor of Business Performance and the Executive Dean of Edinburgh Business School at Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh, UK. He has a background that blends engineering, management consulting and academic research. He has authored several papers and books some of which have been widely cited. He has also led several large research and development projects at the UK and European scale in collaboration with industry partners across Europe. His research is underpinned with a whole systems approach to understanding how organisations measure and manage performance where he uses industry as his research laboratory through collaborative consultancy, KE… [Read more]

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Richard Court currently works as a Research Project Manager at Newcastle University and joined the CircularChem engagement team in 2022. Richard supports our engagement lead Dr Libby Gibson on activities working with external partners across industry, academia and the public. [Read more]

Hongjuan Zhu joined the Centre in 2021 as Centre Administrative Assistant. Before joining the Circular Chemical Economy Centre, Hongjuan received MA in Psychology of Music from the University of Sheffield, then worked as a Casual Researcher for the Sheffield Institute of Education Research and Knowledge Exchange Centre, Sheffield Hallam University. She is responsible for providing administrative support for the Policy Development and Social Impact effort of the NIC3E project, liaising with the project team to coordinate research and outreach events. [Read more]

Prior to joining the University of Edinburgh as a Lecturer in Finance, Mengfei worked on policy, society, and finance for a UK circular chemical economy in the UKRI NICER Programme, based at Heriot-Watt University. Mengfei holds a PhD in carbon finance from the University of Edinburgh. She was involved in several research projects, including the UKRI VaCoBD project, BHP CCS in China's Iron and Steel Sector project, Carbon Emission Modelling of Energy Systems for Retrofit sponsored by the SFC and RGC, Developing a Linkage Readiness Carbon Market in China funded by the World Bank Group, and Enabling the Legal and Regulatory Framework for Large-scale CCUS… [Read more]

Dr. Mohammad Mazharul Islam joined University of Cardiff in 2021 as a Research Associate in Dr. Alberto’s research group. Currently his research focuses on Computational study for the development of advanced catalytic processes to enable effective transformation of polymer waste into chemicals or fuels. Prior to this, Dr. Islam has worked as Faraday Institution Research Fellow at the Department of Chemistry of the University of Bath, UK between July 2018 and May 2021. He has been awarded with the visiting researcher contract by the Mulliken Center for Theoretical Chemistry, University of Bonn for a period between 2019-2021. He has completed… [Read more]

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Katie is a Research Associate for the Chemical & Biological Engineering (CBE) Department at The University of Sheffield. Katie started her role in 2021 and is working with the Centre and the Styring group to develop evidence-based policies for the implementation of a circular economy in the chemicals manufacturing industries. Using her knowledge of carbon dioxide and green chemistry, Katie will focus on evaluating the performance of competing technology pathways and devise new evidence-based policy instruments to stimulate supply, demand and investment in sustainable chemicals. Katie has a strong background in chemistry, in particular green and carbon dioxide chemistry, completing… [Read more]

Grazia Leonzio is a Research Associate at the Imperial College London (Chemical Engineering department). Grazia has a strong background in renewable energy, carbon dioxide, modelling and optimization of chemical processes with environmental analyses. In her PhD thesis, she developed a mathematical model for a carbon capture utilization and storage supply chain, focusing the attention on carbon dioxide utilization (particularly methanol production). Currently, she is working on direct air capture to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, electrochemical processes for carbon dioxide utilization according to a digital and circular economy and supply chains modelling. [Read more]

I joined Imperial College London as a PhD candidate in 2021 after working for two years in the oil and gas sector. I’ll be supporting the centre via Theme 2 under the supervision of Prof Benoit Chachuat and Prof Nilay Shah. My research area focuses on multi-scale modelling and optimisation within the chemical industry as well as quantifying life-cycle impacts of emerging sustainable technologies. [Read more]

I have started my PhD study at Heriot-Watt University in 2021. I have a background in green finance and actuarial science. For my PhD study, my research interests include the financial aspect of the circular economy, corporate social responsibility, and socially responsible investing. [Read more]