SCHEMA Hub

Prof Matt Rosseinsky OBE FRS, SCHEMA Renewable Chemicals & Power Lead, recently visited the Houses of Parliament to show how researchers are using AI to transform science. He will also be speaking at our AI-Infused Sustainable Manufacturing Symposium.

📰Article: bit.ly/41wFfS1
📲Event: bit.ly/45880XI

AI-Infused Sustainable Manufacturing Symposium

Join @aichemyhub.bsky.social and SCHEMA to explore the integration of new AI methods and digitalisation strategies with the design and manufacturing of sustainable chemicals and materials.

📲 Register now: bit.ly/4m1w3xq

#Chemistry #AI #SustainableManufacturing #MachineLearning #AcademicConferences

Are you a PhD student, post-doctoral researcher, or early-career scientist working in academia or industry? The Sustainable Chemicals and Materials Manufacturing Hub (SCHEMA) Autumn conference poster session is now open for abstract submissions – this is your chance to showcase what you’re working on. A selection of posters will also be featured in our Lightning Presentations session, giving authors a chance to present a 2-minute pitch ahead of the main poster session. We welcome submissions from across disciplines, career stages, and institutions. There are also two prizes kindly sponsored by RSC Sustainability and RSC Green Chemistry. 📅 Submission Deadline: 15 August 2025 ✅ Notification of Acceptance: 25 August 2025 🔗 Complete the form to submit your abstract and register for the conference via our website.

📣🧪 Registrations are now open for the #SCHEMA Autumn Conference at @ox.ac.uk.

We are inviting poster submissions and there are two £200 prizes on offer, proudly sponsored by RSC Sustainability and @greenchemistry.rsc.org.

🔗 Visit out conference page: bit.ly/4mgCrRc

#callforabstracts #postdoc

Photos of Simon Bare, Distinguished Staff Scientist and Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL). Text title of presentation: Initial Lessons Learned in Developing an Integrated Platform to Predict Degradation of Catalysts for Sustainable Conversion of Alternate Feedstocks to Fuels and Chemicals

Join us in person & online for a presentation by Simon R. Bare, Distinguished Staff Scientist at Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, 29 September 2025 at Research Complex at Harwell. Register free at tinyurl.com/SBareSSRL
#catalysis #chemistry #ChemSky

Advanced Materials: High performance Recyclable Polyester Elastomers Through Transient Strain-Stiffening

🧪 Publication Alert ❗

📄 High-Performance Recyclable Polyester Elastomers Through Transient Strain-Stiffening

📚 Advanced Materials

🔗 Read the research article: doi.org/10.1002/adma...

#PublicationAlert #AdvancedMaterials #SustainableTech #GreenChemistry

Are you a researcher in sustainable chemicals and materials manufacturing — in either academia or industry?

🎬 Our latest video, a Q&A with SCHEMA Operations and EDI Manager, Dr Steph Montanaro, highlights how you can get involved and grow your network.

🌐 Learn more at: schemahub.ac.uk

Two researchers, one using a tablet and the other writing notes, review data together in a lab setting. Prominent text reads "Royal Society of Chemistry Researcher Development and Travel Grant, Apply for up to £500."

Could up to £500 help you take the next step?
Our Researcher Development and Travel Grant is open to PhD students and early career researchers. Use it for conferences, training or scientific meetings.
Apply by 28 July: buff.ly/djlTJ3W #ChemSky

Dr Liam Bailey

#MeetOurPostDocs: Dr Liam Bailey is based at the Max Planck Centre on the Fundamentals of Heterogeneous Catalysis in Cardiff University and his SCHEMA project sits within the Renewable Chemicals & Power work package.

🔗 Read more about our PDRAs here: schemahub.ac.uk/research-staff

#SCHEMA #Postdoc

Congratulations to SCHEMA Renewable Chemicals & Power Lead Prof Matthew Rosseinsky OBE FRS and Co-Investigator Prof Sir Richard Catlow who are part of the team that won the @rsc.org Environment, Sustainability and Energy Horizon Prize: John Jeyes Prize.

🔗Read more here: bit.ly/4lxCAzN

#RSCPrizes

🔬 Publication Alert❗

📄 From Polymers to Rings and Back Again: Chemical Recycling of Polyesters to Macrolactones in @angewandtechemie.bsky.social

Authors: Madeleine Smith; Thom McGuire; Ryan Kerr, charlotte williams

🔗 Read the article: doi.org/10.1002/anie...

#SCHEMAHub #GreenChemistry

We currently have four upcoming events for which you can register or save the date:

📰📲 See our newsletter for more information: mailchi.mp/558f5dc8017d...

Here is a flashback to a conference we co-sponsored with the EPSRC Cleaner Futures Prosperity Partnership at @liverpooluni.bsky.social.

Dr Aniruddha Nag

#MeetOurPostDocs: Dr Aniruddha Nag is based at the University of York in the @buchardgroup.bsky.social of SCHEMA Digital & Information Technologies Lead Prof Antoine Buchard.

🔗 Read more about our Research Associates and their work here: bit.ly/44jXUm3

#SCHEMAHub #Research #Chemistry #Postdoc

Congratulations to SCHEMA Co-Investigator Prof Graham Hutchings CBE FREng FRS, project lead Dr Richard Lewis, and the team at the Cardiff Catalysis Institute for winning in the Enabling Technologies Category of the @rsc.org Emerging Technologies Competition 2025.

🔗 Read more here: lnkd.in/eR2KPxWT

The Science of Polymer Chemical Recycling Catalysis: Uncovering Kinetic and Thermodynamic Linear Free Energy Relationships Polymer recycling must accelerate to limit ever-growing wastes and carbon dioxide emissions. Polymer chemical recycling to monomer enables multiple closed recycling loops, tackling the material and pr...

Our work with @williamsgroupox.bsky.social uncovering thermodynamic and kinetic relationships in depolymerization catalysis is out in @jacs.acspublications.org. Congrats to Thom McGuire & David Ning who led the study. Thanks @royalsociety.org @ukcatalysishub.bsky.social. pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

The Science of Polymer Chemical Recycling Catalysis: Uncovering Kinetic and Thermodynamic Linear Free Energy Relationships Polymer recycling must accelerate to limit ever-growing wastes and carbon dioxide emissions. Polymer chemical recycling to monomer enables multiple closed recycling loops, tackling the material and property losses endemic to mechanical recycling. Polyesters and polycarbonates, derived from 6- and 7-membered heterocycles, are leading sustainable materials produced by equilibrium polymerizations that can be reversed for selective and efficient chemical recycling to monomer. A systematic understanding of the depolymerization kinetic and thermodynamic structure-recycling relationships is needed; in particular, studies should focus on the low-energy and minimal-chemical additive conditions required for any larger-scale processes. Here, the depolymerization kinetic parameters, including rate constants and transition state energy barriers, are measured for a systematic series of leading aliphatic polyesters and polycarbonates. These recycling experiments are conducted under common conditions using neat polymer melts, at temperatures from 90 to 190 °C and with low loadings (1:100–1000) of a fast, selective, and commercial zinc(II)bis(2-ethylhexanoate) catalyst. The systematic kinetic measurements quantify the influences of different repeat units, substituents, and end-group chemistries on the recycling process. All the polymers conform to a linear free energy relationship between the depolymerization kinetic (ΔGd⧧) and thermodynamic (ΔGd) energy differences. The discovery of recycling catalysis linear free energy relationships allows for the rational selection of the lowest temperature (and energy) recycling conditions, operable using neat polymers, to deliver both high monomer conversions and rates. The quantified structure-recycling relationships are also used to efficiently and selectively separate mixtures of structurally similar polymers by their quantitative chemical recycling into pure monomers.

🔬Publication Alert❗️

📄 The Science of Polymer Chemical Recycling Catalysis: Uncovering Kinetic and Thermodynamic Linear Free Energy Relationships

📚 Journal of the American Chemical Society

✍️ Thom McGuire, David Ning, Antoine Buchard, Charlotte Williams

Read the article: doi.org/10.1021/jacs...

We recently caught up with Dr Greg Sulley, our Industry & Partnerships Manager to talk about the importance of industry partnerships in research.

He explains the benefits of partnering with SCHEMA and the different forms a partnership can take.

🔗 Read more here: schemahub.ac.uk/partnerships

Congratulations to SCHEMA EDI Lead & Co-Investigator Prof Kylie Vincent and the Biocatalytic Nitro Hydrogenations team for being awarded the 2025 @rsc.org Biology Interface Horizon Prize.

🔗 Read more here: www.rsc.org/standards-an...

#RSCPrizes #Research

#MeetOurPostDocs: Dr Ella Clark is based at @ox.ac.uk in the Department of Chemistry and completed her PhD at the University of Bath under the supervision of SCHEMA Digital & Information Technologies Lead Prof Antoine Buchard.

🔗 Read more about our PDRAs here: schemahub.ac.uk/research-staff

📣 Upcoming Workshop ♻️
 
Co-organised by @icast-cleantech.bsky.social and SCHEMA the workshop will bring together experts from both industry and academia to bridge the gap between research and real-world industrial applications.
 
👉 Register your interest here: shorturl.at/QGGSS

Don't forget to register for the SCHEMA Autumn Conference:

🗓 15–16 September 2025
📍 University of Oxford, UK

Hear from leading voices in the field and submit a poster abstract!

🔗 Learn more and register: schemahub.ac.uk/event/schema...

#SCHEMAHub #AcademicConference #Research #CallForPosters

Meet SCHEMA Research Associate Peihao Song

#MeetOurPostDocs: Dr Peihao Song completed his DPhil under the supervision of Professor Clive Siviour, the Polymers, Materials & Application Development Lead for SCHEMA.

🔗Read more here: bit.ly/45Sm5Jj

#SCHEMAHub #Engineering #MaterialsScience #SustainableMaterials

@oxengsci.bsky.social @ox.ac.uk

We recently caught up with Prof Charlotte Williams, Director of the @ukri.org EPSRC-funded SCHEMA Hub about the big challenges it seeks to tackle and how it will work with university partners and industry to achieve this 🎬#sustainability #materialsscience #chemicals #chemicalengineering

Jon Weaver PhD Prize for Kam Poon Recent DPhil graduate and former Trinity MCR president Kam Poon has been named the recipient of the 2025 Jon Weaver PhD Prize for the best PhD in polymer chemistry by the Royal Society of Chemistry an...

Congratulations to SCHEMA-affiliated researcher Dr Kam Poon who was named the recipient of the 2025 Jon Weaver PhD Prize for the best PhD in polymer chemistry by @rsc.org and the Macro Group.

🔗 Read more here: bit.ly/44Zbvjr

Thank you to all of the speakers at the recent Designing for Circularity in Biodegradable Chemicals and Polymers conference which we co-sponsored along with the ESPRC Cleaner Futures Prosperity Partnership.

👉 For an overview of the event, read more here: bit.ly/4dMPiri

@liverpooluni.bsky.social

Very exciting work! Using machine learning to predict the mechanical properties of sustainable polymeric materials 👇

Property Prediction of Bio‐Derived Block Copolymer Thermoplastic Elastomers Using Graph Kernel Methods Increasing the diversity of bio-based polymers is needed to address the combined problems of plastic pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. The magnitude of the problems necessitates rapid discovery...

Our work on “Property Prediction of Bio-Derived Block Copolymer Thermoplastic Elastomers Using Graph Kernel Methods” is out now in Angewandte Chemie!

A huge congratulations to Shannon, David, George, Yichen, David and Clive!! 🧪💻🔧💚

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Property Prediction of Bio‐Derived Block Copolymer Thermoplastic Elastomers Using Graph Kernel Methods [+] These authors contributed equally to the work.PolyAGM, which stands for Polymer Property Prediction based on the Automatic Generation of Motifs, is presented as an addition to the Machine Learnin...

Petersen et al. introduce PolyAGM, a graph kernel-based tool for predicting properties of bio-derived ABA block copolymers. By analyzing entire polymer chains as graphs, it identifies motifs influencing thermal and mechanical properties. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Property Prediction of Bio‐Derived Block Copolymer Thermoplastic Elastomers Using Graph Kernel Methods [+] These authors contributed equally to the work.PolyAGM, which stands for Polymer Property Prediction based on the Automatic Generation of Motifs, is presented as an addition to the Machine Learnin...

🔬 Publication alert❗️

📄 Property Prediction of Bio‐Derived Block Copolymer Thermoplastic Elastomers via Machine Learning

Now in @angewandtechemie.bsky.social International Edition >>>

🔗 doi.org/10.1002/anie...

#SCHEMAHub #PublicationAlert #MaterialsScience #MLForMaterials #GreenChemistry

Here is a #throwback to the announcement of the SCHEMA Hub by our partner universities almost a year ago.

🔗 Visit our website to learn more and to collaborate with us: schemahub.ac.uk

#sustainablechemistry #circulareconomy #manufacturing #greeninnovation