Birmingham Plastics Network researchers

Professor Aleksandra Cavoski’s research interests are in the field of environmental law and EU law, including certain aspects of public international law. Her research agenda is inter-disciplinary and explores the intersection of law and other disciplines, in particular politics, science, public policy and language. Aleksandra is the College of Arts and Law Director of Global ...

I am a (human) geographer by training and multi-disciplinary researcher by choice; and have, to date, had the good fortune of practising these ‘trades’ within the three related disciplines of Geography, Environmental Studies and, currently, Area Studies.

I am a poet and critic publishing on contemporary poetry, environmental writing and ecocriticism, with a focus on interdisciplinarity. 

My research centres on directing, performance practice and the creation of new work.

I have published widely on theatre practice, especially directing, and significantly on the work of Odin Teatret and Eugenio Barba. I have recently completed the monograph The Director and Directing: Craft, Process and Aesthetic in Contemporary Theatre (Palgrave Macmillan).

I am co-artistic director ...

Professor Robert Lee is the Director of the Centre for Legal Education and Research  at the University of Birmingham. He has acted as specialist adviser to the European Parliament, the European Commission, the House of Commons and the National Assembly for Wales and has worked for the Department for the Environment in Northern Ireland (drafting environmental legislation), the ...

I am a composer of electroacoustic music, specialising in acousmatic composition and multichannel audio.

Dr Walters Nsoh is a Lecturer in Law at the University of Birmingham. His research relates primarily to the intersection between property (land) law and environmental law, the legal and policy challenges to nature conservation and the sustainable management of natural resources. His book The Privatisation of Biodiversity? - New Approaches to Conservation Law(Edward Elgar Publishing 2016) ...

Dr Al-Dadah is a Lecturer in Thermofluids within the Department of Mechanical Engineering having previously undertaken a BEng in Palestine and a PhD from London South Bank. She has researched and supervised research projects in the field of heat transfer and refrigeration and published over 30 papers in reputable journals and international conferences.

Dr Al-Dadah is also a part of the 

Dr Bushra Al-Duri is a Reader in hydrothermal processing specialised in supercritical water technology as a green advanced process for chemical treatment/recycling of complex wastes. Her track record exceeds 132 publications, including 46 conference papers, 22 keynote lectures and 28 PhD studentships.  Her specialty covers fundamentals and design of high-pressure high-temperature processes, ...

Maria Chiara Arno (Chiara) is a Birmingham Fellow, working across the School of Chemistry and the Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences.

With a background in polymer chemistry and nanoparticle design, Dr Arno’s research interests span across a diverse range of disciplines, including Polymer Chemistry, Materials Science, and Life Sciences. Her current research is focussed on the ...

Peter Braithwaite graduated from The University of Strathclyde, with a BSc (Hons) degree in Civil Engineering. After two years working for a site investigation contractor, he continued his studies gaining an MSc and DIC in Engineering Rock Mechanics from Imperial College, London.

Since completing his studies, he has had a varied international career in the construction industry and the built ...

Melanie’s research is at the interface between chemistry, chemical engineering and physics. She has 15 years experience of developing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) experiments to probe chemistry and flow in complex systems and has published over 30 papers and book chapters in this area.

Melanie is also a part of the Birmingham Plastics Network, an interdisciplinary team of more ...

Nigel Cassidy has over 30 years’ academic and industrial experience in near-surface geophysics, geotechnical engineering and numerical modelling. His research focuses on the development of remote monitoring, modelling and inversion techniques to solve practical environmental and geo-engineering problems.

Nigel has published 70+ peer-reviewed international journal papers, articles and book ...

In September 2017, Andrew joined the School of Chemistry at the University of Birmingham as Professor of Chemistry. He leads the Dove Research Group, a multinational collection of vibrant and dynamic researchers that are focussed on challenges in polymer and materials science.

Professor Dove is part of the Birmingham Plastics Network, an interdisciplinary team of more than 40 academics working ...

Professor Fernando is part of the Birmingham Plastics Network, an interdisciplinary team of more than 40 academics working together to shape the fate and sustainable future of plastics.  This unique team brings together chemists, environmental scientists, engineers, philosophers, linguists, economists, artists, writers, lawyers, and experts in many other fields, to holistically address ...

In April 2021, Professor Andreas Hornung was appointed Emeritus Professor at the University of Birmingham.

Andreas Hornung holds 21 patents and has published more than 340 scientific publications to date.

The main strategic topic of Hornung’s work today is the development of decentralized power providing units combined with pyrolysis, gasification and digestion units – called the ...

Dr. Mike Jenkins is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Metallurgy and Materials at the University of Birmingham. He is a research active polymer scientist and thermal analyst with over 20 years of professional experience in these fields, he also leads the polymer characterization and thermal analysis research group. To date, he has authored over 60 refereed journal papers in the area of polymer ...

Gary has over 20 years expertise in resource efficiency and the development of processes to recover, upgrade and remanufacture materials and chemicals.

Gary works at the interface of chemical engineering/chemistry/materials and has expertise in high pressure engineering and thermo-chemical processing, specifically in reaction engineering, separation technology, polymer/composite processing and ...

Rachel O’Reilly holds a Chair in Chemistry within the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences at the University of Birmingham. From 1^st August 2018 she became the Head of the School of Chemistry. She graduated from the University of Cambridge in 1998 with a BA in Natural Sciences, and in 1999 with an MSc in Chemistry and completed her PhD in 2003 from Imperial College London. She has ...

Jonathan Seville is Professor of Formulation Engineering at the University of Birmingham. He is also Academic Director of the Collaborative Teaching Laboratory and part of the Birmingham Plastics Network, an interdisciplinary team of more than 40 academics working together to shape the fate and sustainable future of plastics.

Formulation Engineeringconcerns the design, manufacture and use ...

Dr Sharifi is a Lecturer in Water Engineering in the School of Civil Engineering at the University of Birmingham. In the last 10 years, he has worked on several research projects in the areas of Hydrology, Hydraulics and Environmental Engineering.

Dr Sharifi’s primary research interests lie in the area of river and environmental hydraulics, rainfall-runoff modelling, multi-objective ...

Kit Windows-Yule is a Lecturer in Chemical Engineering, working jointly with the School of Physics and Astronomy’s Positron Imaging Centre.

Kit’s research interests concern the dynamics of particulate systems, in particular their segregative and convective behaviours, and the development of novel experimental and numerical methodologies through which these systems can be explored.

Us ...

Professor Joe Wood leads the Catalysis and Reaction Engineering research group in the School of Chemical Engineering.

He has published over 85 refereed research articles including journal papers and book chapters, plus over 65 conference papers covering a range of topics in catalysis, catalytic reactor operation and environmental engineering.

He has received major grants from EPSRC ...

Dr Mohamed Abdallah has a wide experience in applying various mass spectrometric techniques for analysis of trace levels of environmental contaminants in biotic and abiotic matrices including different human tissues. He has also made contributions to the field of human exposure to persistent organic pollutants using various exposure and pharmacokinetic models.

Dr Mohamed Abdallah is part of ...

Dr Natasha Cornea’s research sits at the intersections of urban and development geographies, focusing on urban environmental governance and politics in Indian and Zambian cities. Conceptually her research draws on post-structuralist and situated approaches to urban political ecology, the everyday state and everyday governance.

Dr Natasha Cornea is part of the Birmingham ...

Simon is an interdisciplinary lecturer in geography with broad research interests around human interactions with water and landscapes.  Much of his work focuses on “Anthropocene geomorphology” - unique landforms resulting from interactions between human activities and natural processes. Examples include how waste plastic is being incorporated into sediments and fluvial transport ...

Stuart is an environmental chemist whose research addresses all aspects of the environmental sources, fate and behaviour of persistent organic pollutants (POPs). He has particular interests in human exposure to POPs with a focus on indoor pathways. He is also active in research that explores the environmental forensics utility of chirality.

Stuart is part of the Birmingham Plastics Network, an ...

Professor Peter Kraftl is best known for his research on children’s geographies, and especially for research into the emotions, affects, materialities and practices that make up their everyday lives. He also publishes on geographies of education and architecture. He is currently an Editor of the journals Area and Children’s Geographies and was a founding member of the Geographies of ...

Professor Dr Stefan Krause is Professor of Ecohydrology and Biogeochemistry in the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences. His interdisciplinary research group on coupled groundwater and surface water systems investigates the multifaceted impacts of global environmental change on hydrological fluxes, biogeochemical cycling and contaminant transport, and ecohydrological ...

Iseult Lynch is an Associate Editor for Environmental Science: Nano, and Deputy director for the Facility for Environmental Nanomaterials Analysis and Characterisation (FENAC) at the University of Birmingham.  Her research focuses on the environmental interactions of nanoparticles and nanostructured surfaces with biological entities from macromolecules to organisms.

She has a very ...

Jon Sadler is a biogeographer and ecologist whose research focuses on species population and assemblage dynamics in animals (sometimes plants). His work is highly interdisciplinary, bisecting biogeography, ecology, urban design, riparian management and island Biogeography. It uses approaches that combine detailed field studies, field and laboratory experimentation, sometimes with social science ...

Professor Sambrook Smith investigates the linkages between river processes and sedimentology at scales ranging from individual pores within a river bed up to km-long bars in large rivers.

The World’s largest rivers suffer from a paucity of knowledge about how they currently function, how they have evolved through time and how they may respond to future environmental changes. This lack of ...

Professor Valsami-Jones’ research interests focus on understanding reactivity at the nanoscale, particularly interactions of nanoparticles with pollutants and biota and biomineralisation processes. She has carried out research on the interaction of a variety of carbon- and metal-based nano-objects with biota in vitro and in vivo and has pioneered novel methods of labelling ...

After completing a PhD in Economics (University of Paris Nanterre, France), Sami Bensassi joined the University Jaume I (Spain) in 2009. During the period he passed in Spain, he led a research project on the impact of maritime trade on the Mediterranean countries for the Center for Research on the Mediterranean Economies (CREMED). In 2012, Sami started lecturing at the University of Portsmouth. ...

Professor Robert Elliott is an applied economist who works at the intersection of international economics, development economics, environmental and energy economics and international business. He has a particular interest in the Chinese economy, firm behaviour, natural disasters and the impact of globalisation on the environment.

He is an editor for the Sustainable Future Policy Lab, ...

Emma Foster is a lecturer in international politics and gender. Emma’s research interests include Queer Theory, international sustainable development policy and development studies more broadly. She is currently researching the dynamics of constructions of gender in international environmental policy in relation to the economic crisis.

Dr Emma Foster is also a part of the Birmingh ...

Julie is part of the Birmingham Plastics Network, an interdisciplinary team of more than 40 academics working together to shape the fate and sustainable future of plastics. This unique team brings together chemists, environmental scientists, philosophers, linguists, economists, and experts in many other fields, to holistically address the global plastics problem.

A senior fellow and strategic leader, with experience across public sector and private organisations.

He is passionate about improving lives through cost-effective public services, delivered with (not just "to") communities.

His research interests focus on public service reform and the use of "evidence" by public agencies. This includes how managers and practitioners can access the best ...

Professor David Maddison is a part of the Birmingham Plastics Network, an interdisciplinary team of more than 40 academics working together to shape the fate and sustainable future of plastics.  This unique team brings together chemists, environmental scientists, engineers, philosophers, linguists, economists, artists, writers, lawyers, and experts in many other fields, to ...

Ian Thomson is Director of Lloyds Banking Group Centre for Responsible Business. He is also Convenor of the Centre for Social and Environmental Accounting Research.

Professor Ian Thomson is also a part of the Birmingham Plastics Network, an interdisciplinary team of more than 40 academics working together to shape the fate and sustainable future of plastics.  This unique team ...