INVITATION ONLY
If you are interested in attending this event, please contact Keyne Walker, Policy Advisor for Climate and Sustainability, at [email protected]
Join our expert panel to discuss the findings of the National Engineering Policy Centre’s new report on critical materials, which looks at how we can reduce our demand for critical materials and our dependency on imports of scarce materials.
To attend this event please email Keyne Walker, Policy Advisor for Climate and Sustainability at [email protected]
Critical materials – as identified by the UK government – include lithium, used in batteries; and magnesium, used for producing steel alloys. The UK is economically and physically dependent on many materials that are mined around the world. Critical materials also include elements such as indium, cobalt, and niobium, and rare earth elements such as neodymium and praseodymium.
Recent supply chain crises have driven increasing concern about the growing need for critical materials, as the projected demands for these are likely to outstrip available supplies. This poses a risk to the UK economy and ability to deliver our net zero infrastructure. Expansion of demand for critical materials also comes with environmental and social harm that would work against global goals of mitigating climate change and of a just transition to net zero.
The panel will discuss a range of policy and engineering innovations that could reduce the UK’s dependency on critical materials – and the opportunities to create better and cleaner ways to process and recycle essential minerals.
The evening will feature a panel discussion chaired by Professor Mark Miodownik MBE FREng
Panellists include:
- Libby Peake, Head of Resources Policy. Green Alliance
- Dr Colin Church FIMMM, CEO, Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining.
- Professor Joan Cordiner FREng FRSE FIChemE, Professor of Process Engineering and Head of School of Chimical, Materials and Biological Engineering, University of Sheffield
- Dr Charlotte Stamper, Energy Infrastructure Lead at European Metals Recycling
This will be followed by a networking session, during which canapes and drinks will be provided.
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Professor Joan Cordiner FREng FRSE FIChemE
Professor Joan Cordiner is a Professor of Process Engineering at the University of Sheffield and Head of their School of Chemical, Materials, and Biological Engineering, having previously had a distinguished career at Syngenta across senior and global management positions and leading changes in design practices as a leading industrial researcher. She also holds Fellowships at the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Institution of Chemical Engineers, and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. She has led the production of this report over the last year, and will now present its findings.
Dr Charlotte Stamper MCIWEM
Dr Charlotte Stamper MCIWEM is a member of the working group for this report and Strategic Partnerships Manager at European Metals Recycling, where she is leading a new business division in Glasgow to test the prospects for disassembly of decommissioned wind turbines – she is exactly at the not-coal face of this issue. Prior to that, she had a varied career in offshore wind policy with Scottish Renewables and Zero Waste Scotland, focusing on circular economy. She will now share her experience of trying to disassemble and re-use or recycle the UK’s wind turbines, and what lessons we can take from that as the UK continues expanding our stock of offshore turbines.
Dr Colin Church
Dr Colin Church is the CEO of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining – a partner in the National Engineering Policy Centre – and is a member of the working group that oversaw this report. He has held numerous positions advising the government on risks associated with critical materials.
Libby Peake
Libby Peake is Head of Resource Policy at the thinktank Green Alliance. She has been at the forefront of thinking on the role of critical materials in climate policy for many years and is one of the UK’s most influential experts in the policy and politics of resources.
Professor Mark Miodownik FREng
Professor Mark Miodownik is the UCL Professor of Materials & Society. He received his Ph.D in turbine jet engine alloys from Oxford University in 1996, and has worked as a materials engineer in the USA, Ireland and the UK. For more than twenty 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 (www.instituteofmaking.org.uk). Mark also recently set up the Plastic Waste Innovation Hub to carry our research into solving the environmental catastrophe of plastic waste dealing with topics such as biodegradable plastics and product reuse and repairability. As a broadcaster and writer he is internationally known for championing engineering and materials science: his TV programmes such as How It Works have reached millions of viewers globally; he is the author of Stuff Matters, a New York Times Best Selling book, which won the Royal Society Winton Prize in 2014 and the US National Academies Communication Award in 2015. In 2014 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. In 2015 he was awarded the American Association for the Advancement of Science Prize for Public Engagement with Science. In 2017 he was awarded the Faraday Medal by the Royal Society. He is a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. In 2018 he was awarded an MBE for services to materials science, engineering and broadcasting. In 2022 he awarded the Thornton Medal from Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining.
The National Engineering Policy Centre
The National Engineering Policy Centre brings engineering thinking to the heart of policymaking, creating positive impacts for society.
We are a partnership of 42 professional engineering organisations that cover the breadth and depth of our profession, led by the Royal Academy of Engineering. Together we provide insights, advice, and practical policy recommendations on complex national and global challenges.
The Royal Academy of Engineering
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