Sustainable polymer based advanced materials

Polymer-based advanced materials (derivatives of engineering polymers) are key enablers of the net zero agenda. From applications in automobile light-weighting, to materials that enable energy generation in hostile environments, to essential components of battery technology, these materials increasingly underpin the low carbon economy of the future. However their importance is not widely recognised and their development in the UK given low priority. Equally, while significant focus has been placed on tackling the problem of single-use consumer plastics, consideration of reclaim, re-use or re-purpose of engineering polymers has been neglected.

This event, sponsored by the Henry Royce Institute and CPI, seeks to begin the debate as to how the UK can position itself at the forefront of development of these strategically important polymer-based advanced materials and how the concepts of design for purpose, sustainability, manufacturability and life cycle analysis should be incorporated as key principles in their future development.

This workshop, specifically targeted at an academic audience, is the first of a series of consultations in which we seek to address the opportunities afforded by polymer-based advanced materials. Beginning here with the formulation of an academic proposition, through subsequent events, we will move forward to industrial validation and consultation with government