In this Critical conversation, Academy Chief Executive, Dr Hayaatun Sillem CBE, discusses the ‘right to repair’ with Mark Miodownik MBE FREng, Professor of Materials and Society at UCL Mechanical Engineering and Dr Amrit Chandan, Co-founder and CEO, Aceleron. Following on from our September Critical conversation, which focused on the dangerous end of life of many engineered products in open burning, and falling just before International Repair Day on 16 October and following Mark’s BBC 4 Radio Series: Dare to Repair, we turn now to the design of products and consider how we can end built-in obsolescence.
We live in a 21st century world of fast-fashion, disposable electronics, and made-to-break appliances and our planet’s finite resources are dwindling fast as consumption continues unabated. With UK and EU Right-to-Repair legislation set to change the rights of citizens to access and carry out repairs on some household appliances, this conversation explores how we got into such a state of dis-repair and what can be done to change it as rapid action is needed to address this broken system and ensure the UK hits its net zero targets. How can we accelerate this response and who are the key players needed to make this happen? What part to engineers have to play? How do we ensure that we all have the right to repair?
Dr Hayaatun Sillem CBE
Hayaatun is CEO of the Royal Academy of Engineering and Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering Foundation. She co-chairs with the Science Minister the government’s Business Innovation Forum and co-chaired with Sir Lewis Hamilton his Commission on improving Black representation in motorsport. She is a trustee of various charities, member of the government’s Levelling Up Advisory Council and Digital Skills Council and NXD at construction company Laing O’Rourke. She has been named as one of the ‘Inspiring 50’ women in tech in Europe and one of the most influential women in both UK engineering and UK tech. She has a Masters in Biochemistry (MBiochem) from Oxford and a PhD from Cancer Research UK/UCL. She is a Fellow of the IET, Honorary Professor at UCL and Honorary Fellow at The Queen’s College, Oxford. She has received honorary doctorates from UCL, Imperial College London, Newcastle, Brunel, Huddersfield and Southampton, as well as a Science Suffrage Award and the Engineering Professor’s Council President’s Medal. She was a finalist for the Veuve Clicquot Bold Woman Award and was made a CBE for services to International Engineering in 2019. Prior to her current roles, she was Deputy CEO at the Academy and served as Committee Specialist and later Specialist Adviser to the House of Commons Science & Technology Committee.
Professor Mark Miodownik MBE FREng
Mark received his PhD in turbine jet engine alloys from Oxford University, and has worked as a materials scientist in the USA, Ireland and the UK. For more than ten years he has championed materials research that links the arts and humanities to medicine, engineering and materials science. This culminated in the establishment of the UCL Institute of Making where he is Director and runs the research programme. His current research interests are animate materials, innovative manufacturing, and sensoaesthetic materials. Mark is a broadcaster and writer on science and engineering issues, and believes passionately that to engineer is human. He regularly gives popular talks on engineering and materials science to tv, radio, festival, and school audiences. He gave the 2010 Royal Institution Christmas Lectures, writes a column for The Observer, and is a regular presenter of science and engineering BBC TV programmes. In 2013 he won the Royal Academy of Engineering Rooke Medal. In 2014 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and he won the Royal Society Winton Prize. In 2015 he won a US National Academies Keck Futures Prize. In 2016 he was awarded the AAAS Prize for Public Engagement with Science
Dr Amrit Chandan
Amrit is an entrepreneur interested in projects that address our societal challenges and are positive for humanity. Amrit holds a PhD in chemical engineering (fuel cell technology) and worked in the low carbon vehicle space for several years. In 2016, Amrit co-founded Aceleron, which is developing advanced lithium batteries for the circular economy. Amrit has raised over £15 million in private and public funding for Aceleron. He has written many articles for popular magazines, trade journals and academic peer reviewed journals. He has also been recognised for his work through several accolades, including being named on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list and being awarded the Hawley Award for Engineering Innovation by HRH Princess Anne, on behalf of the Worshipful Company of Engineers.