Sustainability in the research and innovation endeavour

Deirdre Black is Head of Science & Sustainability Strategy Lead at the Royal Society of Chemistry where she has led the science policy, programmes and networks teams. Her role includes community insights and horizon scanning, with recent themes ranging from the contributions of science to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and digitisation in R&D to scientific recognition and green science.

Deirdre has a PhD in physics and a postgraduate certificate in sustainable business practice. She held postdoctoral positions in physics and in science education policy in the USA and UK before joining the RSC in 2011. 

Professor Kelly holds the chair in Environmental Health at King's College London, where he is Director of the Environmental Research Group, Director of the NIHR Health Protection Research Unit on Environmental Hazards and Deputy Director of the MRC-PHE Centre for Environment & Health.  

Professor Kelly leads a substantial research activity which spans all aspects of air pollution research from toxicology to science policy. He has led studies of the urban airshed within London including the impact of the introduction of London’s Congestion Charging Zone and Low Emission Zone. Professor Kelly’s research is currently examining the toxicity of PM associated metals and quinones, diesel and biodiesel exhaust emissions, wood smoke and the identification of biomarkers of exposure. A new area of investigation is ambient microplastics including heir identification and potential health effects.   

Professor Kelly has published over 350 peer-reviewed papers as well as many conference papers and books (as author or editor) on the toxicology and health effects of ozone, nitrogen dioxide and particulate pollution. In addition to his academic work Prof Kelly is past President of the European Society for Free Radical Research and past Chairman of the British Association for Lung Research. He has provided policy support to the WHO on air pollution issues and he is Chairman of COMEAP the UK’s Department of Health’s Expert Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants.  

Paula Williamson is Professor of Biostatistics at the University of Liverpool. Her research programme has focussed on several aspects of evidence-based medicine (EBM) including clinical trials, meta-analysis, health outcome selection and reducing waste in research. She was appointed as an NIHR Senior Investigator in 2014, gave the Bradford Hill Lecture in 2017, and was elected Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (AMS) in 2018 and to AMS Council in 2021.

She chaired the MRC Network of Hubs for Trials Methodology Research from 2008-2018 and led a successful bid for a new MRC Trials Methodology Research Partnership from 2019, bringing together major organisations and 25 UK universities. She leads an MRC Doctoral Training Programme in Trials Methodology across 12 Research Organisations.

Paula co-founded the global COMET (Core Outcome Measures in Effectiveness Trials) Initiative in 2010, to improve the quality and relevance of health research to decision makers including patients, health professionals, regulators and policymakers. COMET was the winner of the international Cochrane-REWARD prize in 2017 for reducing waste in research. 

Susan Michie is Professor of Health Psychology and Director of the Centre for Behaviour Change at University College London.

Her research focuses on human behaviour change in relation to health and the environment: how to understand it theoretically and apply theory and evidence to intervention and policy development, evaluation and implementation. Her research, collaborating with disciplines such as information science, environmental science, computer science and medicine, covers population, organisational and individual level interventions. Examples include the Human Behaviour-Change Project and Complex Systems for Sustainability and Health.

She is an investigator on 15 research projects and has published over 550 journal articles and several books, including the Behaviour Change Wheel: A Guide to Designing Interventions.

Susan also serves as an expert advisor on the UK's Covid-19 Scientific Pandemic Insights Group on Behavioural Science (part of SAGE), the Lancet's COVID-19 Commission and a member of the UK's Independent SAGE.

She is chair of WHO's Behavioural Insights and Sciences Technical Advisory Group, and a member of its Working Group on Research Methodology for Public Health and Social Measures and its Guideline Development Group on Hand Hygiene in Community Settings. She is part of the Behavioural Science Policy Research Unit advising the UK's Department of Health and Social Care.

She also chaired the Academy of Social Science's 'Health of People' project and the Academy of Medical Science's project on systems approaches to health.

Novartis has set various environmental sustainability targets to achieve carbon neutral own operations by 2025, plastic neutrality and water sustainability by 2030, and net-zero by 2040.

Jürgen's role as Environmental Sustainability Lead for Global Drug Development in Novartis covers the set-up and execution of low carbon clinical trials. As well as this, Jürgen is in charge of the company-wide target of 'all new products meet sustainable design principles by 2030', which spans from research up to commercial. He is a member of the Environmental Sustainability Strategy Leadership Team of Novartis and Novartis' representative in the Sustainable Healthcare Coalition's Industry Low Carbon Clinical Trial workstream.

Jürgen has been engaged in and passionate about the topic of environmental sustainability for more than 35 years. Prior to joining Novartis in 2011, he was the CFO of the non-governmental organisation Solar Energy Foundation, supporting the roll-out of solar energy in rural East Africa. From 2015-2020, he was the Finance Head of Novartis' Global Clinical Supply unit, during which he was awarded the Novartis 'Better World Award for Environmental Sustainability' for significant progress in the decarbonization of clinical trials.

Dr Sophia Lentzos is the Head of Sustainability for NIHR where she is responsible for embedding environmental sustainability across the NIHR's work. Sophia has a lifelong passion for environmental causes and sustainability.

Before joining NIHR, she trained as a medical doctor and worked as an anaesthetist. In 2021-2022, she became one the first cohort of Chief Sustainability Officer’s Clinical Fellows in Greener NHS. In this role she continued to work on sustainable medicines and helped form a national working group for sustainable anaesthesia.

Jim Elliott provides leadership to the Health Research Authority on the involvement of patients and the public in health research (part time) as part of his work as an advocate for patients in research.

He has been a carer for close family with cancer and other health conditions for many years. His career has been spent in health research management across the commercial, public and voluntary sectors. His combined experiences drive his passion to help ensure that patients and the public can work in partnership with researchers to design, conduct and manage health research. Jim is currently involved as a public contributor in the work of Cancer Research UK, the Wales Cancer Research Centre, the All Wales Cancer Community and in a number of research methodology projects related to the recruitment and retention of participants in clinical trials.

His involvement in research also includes being a member of the Consumer Forum of the National Cancer Research Institute, Independent Cancer Patients’ Voice and Health and Care Research Wales’ public involvement community.

Juliane works as a Sustainability Project Manager in the School of Life Sciences at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland. She has extensive international experience having worked in France, New Zealand and the United States.

She leads the development of an online greenhouse gas emissions calculation tool for the school's research laboratories and core facilities. This tool estimates scope 1 and 2, as well as some key scope 3 emissions such as commuting, professional travel, and purchased goods and services.

She collaborates with EPFL's procurement department and suppliers to reduce the environmental footprint of lab purchases. She also conducts a life cycle assessment of the Center of PhenoGenomics, analysing the climate change, human health, ecosystem quality, and water scarcity impacts of the animal facility on campus.

Juliane received her training in Sustainability and Environmental Management from the Harvard University - Extension School.

Isabella Ragazzi is a Research Associate at the UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources. She is originally from the United States, but has worked and studied in Spain, Australia, Cuba, Russia and the U.K. She graduated from UCL in 2022, where she completed an MSc in Economics and Policy of Energy and the Environment. Prior to this, she obtained a B.A. in International Affairs and Economics from Northeastern University, USA.

Isabella has been leading an effort to quantify the life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of lab consumables and identify strategies to reduce the carbon footprint of lab activities.

She has also contributed to the development of a tool to incorporate the carbon footprint of consumables into the Laboratory Efficiency Assessment Framework (LEAF), an online platform helping researchers to improve the sustainability and efficiency of their labs. Her current research also focuses on GHG removal (GGR) scale-up, as part of the UK-based CO2RE Hub's efforts to develop a GGR evaluation framework for UK GGR projects.

Florian is an industrial engineer specializing in mechanical engineering. Over ten years of working in various roles in product management in the medical device industry, he noted that sustainability did not yet play a major role in customers' purchasing decisions and queried why this was the case.

With his move to the Life Sciences industry at Eppendorf in autumn 2021, he has now been able to dedicate himself professionally to the topic of sustainability. At Eppendorf Florian has laid a starting point for more sustainable consumables with the Eppendorf Tubes® BioBased products. He also introduced the ISCC PLUS certification at Eppendorf, which enables the sourcing of sustainable raw materials within an independent and transparent system.

His current activities include overseeing life cycle analyses that, among other things, investigate and quantify the factors influencing the switch from fossil-based to bio-based raw materials. With fresh ideas, he would like to contribute to Eppendorf rapidly becoming more sustainable.

Juliane works as a Sustainability Project Manager in the School of Life Sciences at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland. She has extensive international experience having worked in France, New Zealand and the United States.

She leads the development of an online greenhouse gas emissions calculation tool for the school's research laboratories and core facilities. This tool estimates scope 1 and 2, as well as some key scope 3 emissions such as commuting, professional travel, and purchased goods and services.

She collaborates with EPFL's procurement department and suppliers to reduce the environmental footprint of lab purchases. She also conducts a life cycle assessment of the Center of PhenoGenomics, analysing the climate change, human health, ecosystem quality, and water scarcity impacts of the animal facility on campus.

Juliane received her training in Sustainability and Environmental Management from the Harvard University - Extension School.

Florian is an industrial engineer specializing in mechanical engineering. Over ten years of working in various roles in product management in the medical device industry, he noted that sustainability did not yet play a major role in customers' purchasing decisions and queried why this was the case.

With his move to the Life Sciences industry at Eppendorf in autumn 2021, he has now been able to dedicate himself professionally to the topic of sustainability. At Eppendorf Florian has laid a starting point for more sustainable consumables with the Eppendorf Tubes® BioBased products. He also introduced the ISCC PLUS certification at Eppendorf, which enables the sourcing of sustainable raw materials within an independent and transparent system.

His current activities include overseeing life cycle analyses that, among other things, investigate and quantify the factors influencing the switch from fossil-based to bio-based raw materials. With fresh ideas, he would like to contribute to Eppendorf rapidly becoming more sustainable.

Isabella Ragazzi is a Research Associate at the UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources. She is originally from the United States, but has worked and studied in Spain, Australia, Cuba, Russia and the U.K. She graduated from UCL in 2022, where she completed an MSc in Economics and Policy of Energy and the Environment. Prior to this, she obtained a B.A. in International Affairs and Economics from Northeastern University, USA.

Isabella has been leading an effort to quantify the life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of lab consumables and identify strategies to reduce the carbon footprint of lab activities.

She has also contributed to the development of a tool to incorporate the carbon footprint of consumables into the Laboratory Efficiency Assessment Framework (LEAF), an online platform helping researchers to improve the sustainability and efficiency of their labs. Her current research also focuses on GHG removal (GGR) scale-up, as part of the UK-based CO2RE Hub's efforts to develop a GGR evaluation framework for UK GGR projects.

Rachael Everard is the Head of Sustainability at Rolls-Royce. Having completed her MSc in Sustainable Development, Corporate Social Responsibility and Management at the University of St Andrews, Rachael joined Rolls-Royce where she is now Head of Sustainability.

In that role, she is responsible for the development and execution of Group-wide sustainability and decarbonisation strategy, including target setting, implementation and reporting, including leading Rolls-Royce's engagement on net zero and the energy transition.

Rachael is chartered environmentalist and member of the Institute of Environmental Management & Assessment (IEMA), and a fellow of the Institute of Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability (ICRS), and a corporate advisory board member of WE MEAN BUSINESS.

Steve Swallow is a Principal Scientist in Sustainability working in the Chemical Development department at AstraZeneca in Macclesfield. Steve studied at the University of Sheffield, gaining his PhD with Dr Neville Jones before taking a SERC/NATO fellowship with Professor Gary Molander at the University of Boulder in Colorado. He joined Roche at Welwyn Garden City in 1994 as a medicinal chemist and worked on antiviral therapies before moving to the Roche site in Palo Alto in California in 2001 to continue research in the HIV and Hepatitis C virus areas. Steve joined AstraZeneca in Cheshire in 2004, initially at Alderley Park, where he has held a number of roles working across multiple therapy areas, and disciplines including three years working in the toxicology function. In 2015 he moved away from medicinal chemistry to join the Chemical Development group at Macclesfield. He has published numerous papers, several book chapters and is an inventor on multiple patents.

The Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult (CGT Catapult) is an independent innovation and technology organisation committed to the advancement of cell and gene therapies with a vision of a thriving industry delivering life-changing advanced therapies to the world. Its aim is to create powerful collaborations which overcome challenges to the advancement of the sector. With over 400 experts covering all aspects of advanced therapies, it applies its unique capabilities and assets and collaborates with academia, industry and healthcare providers to develop new technology and innovation.

Anan completed her BSc in Biochemistry and Chemistry at Roskilde University, Denmark, then went on to complete an MSc and PhD at the University of Cambridge at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology. After her PhD, Anan moved Germany to work at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) to research functional genomics, and to the MRC Laboratory for Molecular Cell Biology (LMCB) at University College London, specialising in stem cell research. She has also worked in medical affairs and market access/health economic outcomes research in biotech. At CGT Catapult she is programme manager for the Allogeneic Cell Therapies programme. Since 2020 she has also been Sustainability Manager for the business.

The CGT Catapult takes a two-pronged approach, first using CGT Catapult as a test bed to tackle the common challenges facing the industry such as divesting from fossil fuels needed in facilities operations, then also considering process and technology innovations and innovations in manufacture of cell and gene therapies, process development and effective carbon accounting.

Dr Olivia Marsden completed a degree in Chemistry followed by a PhD in environmental radiochemistry at the University of Manchester. She worked for a commercial analytical laboratory, certifying methods for UKAS 17025 accreditation before moving to the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE).

Olivia has worked at AWE for nearly 20 years, originally as a laboratory analyst, and then moving into task and line management. She took on a team leader role in support of the company’s nuclear security programme, and subsequently was appointed as a Group Leader ten years ago. The group of approximately 80 people support regulatory compliance requirements at AWE or deliver part of the nuclear threat reduction programme.

More recently, Olivia has been appointed as Acting Head of the Labs Technology Centre, with a focus on current and future ways of working, including moving operations in to the new science and engineering building at AWE the Hub.

Rachael Everard is the Head of Sustainability at Rolls-Royce. Having completed her MSc in Sustainable Development, Corporate Social Responsibility and Management at the University of St Andrews, Rachael joined Rolls-Royce where she is now Head of Sustainability.

In that role, she is responsible for the development and execution of Group-wide sustainability and decarbonisation strategy, including target setting, implementation and reporting, including leading Rolls-Royce's engagement on net zero and the energy transition.

Rachael is chartered environmentalist and member of the Institute of Environmental Management & Assessment (IEMA), and a fellow of the Institute of Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability (ICRS), and a corporate advisory board member of WE MEAN BUSINESS.

Steve Swallow is a Principal Scientist in Sustainability working in the Chemical Development department at AstraZeneca in Macclesfield. Steve studied at the University of Sheffield, gaining his PhD with Dr Neville Jones before taking a SERC/NATO fellowship with Professor Gary Molander at the University of Boulder in Colorado. He joined Roche at Welwyn Garden City in 1994 as a medicinal chemist and worked on antiviral therapies before moving to the Roche site in Palo Alto in California in 2001 to continue research in the HIV and Hepatitis C virus areas. Steve joined AstraZeneca in Cheshire in 2004, initially at Alderley Park, where he has held a number of roles working across multiple therapy areas, and disciplines including three years working in the toxicology function. In 2015 he moved away from medicinal chemistry to join the Chemical Development group at Macclesfield. He has published numerous papers, several book chapters and is an inventor on multiple patents.

The Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult (CGT Catapult) is an independent innovation and technology organisation committed to the advancement of cell and gene therapies with a vision of a thriving industry delivering life-changing advanced therapies to the world. Its aim is to create powerful collaborations which overcome challenges to the advancement of the sector. With over 400 experts covering all aspects of advanced therapies, it applies its unique capabilities and assets and collaborates with academia, industry and healthcare providers to develop new technology and innovation.

Anan completed her BSc in Biochemistry and Chemistry at Roskilde University, Denmark, then went on to complete an MSc and PhD at the University of Cambridge at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology. After her PhD, Anan moved Germany to work at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) to research functional genomics, and to the MRC Laboratory for Molecular Cell Biology (LMCB) at University College London, specialising in stem cell research. She has also worked in medical affairs and market access/health economic outcomes research in biotech. At CGT Catapult she is programme manager for the Allogeneic Cell Therapies programme. Since 2020 she has also been Sustainability Manager for the business.

The CGT Catapult takes a two-pronged approach, first using CGT Catapult as a test bed to tackle the common challenges facing the industry such as divesting from fossil fuels needed in facilities operations, then also considering process and technology innovations and innovations in manufacture of cell and gene therapies, process development and effective carbon accounting.

Dr Olivia Marsden completed a degree in Chemistry followed by a PhD in environmental radiochemistry at the University of Manchester. She worked for a commercial analytical laboratory, certifying methods for UKAS 17025 accreditation before moving to the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE).

Olivia has worked at AWE for nearly 20 years, originally as a laboratory analyst, and then moving into task and line management. She took on a team leader role in support of the company’s nuclear security programme, and subsequently was appointed as a Group Leader ten years ago. The group of approximately 80 people support regulatory compliance requirements at AWE or deliver part of the nuclear threat reduction programme.

More recently, Olivia has been appointed as Acting Head of the Labs Technology Centre, with a focus on current and future ways of working, including moving operations in to the new science and engineering building at AWE the Hub.

Andrew Clark is the Executive Director of Programmes at the Royal Academy of Engineering, responsible for its UK activities that promote innovation, talent and diversity in support of a sustainable society and an inclusive economy that works for everyone.

Before joining the Academy in 2016, he was the Director of Research Planning at UCL, mostly working on building multidisciplinary research activities.

He began his career at the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, having studied for a doctorate in Philosophy of Science at Balliol College, Oxford.

Alison Robinson is National Environment Research Council (NERC) Deputy Executive Chair and Director of Corporate Affairs. Alison is responsible for NERC's corporate strategy and planning, insight, futures, business and stakeholder engagement, sustainability, public engagement with environmental science, impact and outcomes evidence and takes a leading role in managing change.

Before joining NERC in July 2014, she led on policy and external affairs during the successful start-up of the Legal Ombudsman, a national organisation established to reform consumer complaints and improve standards across the legal sector.

Alison started out as a lawyer, working in the courts and the voluntary sector before joining the public service in Australia. There she worked across a range of sectors, including immigration policy and operations, economic development, gambling regulation and reform, health and competition policy. Alison left Australia in 2003, moving to Bangladesh, where she worked with national NGOs contributing to their strategy, advocacy and evaluation to support programmes promoting disability rights and preventing domestic violence.

Alison graduated with a combined degree in arts and law from the University of New South Wales, Australia, and completed a research masters of social policy and planning (Charles Sturt University) while living and working in Dhaka, Bangladesh. She is a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations.

Alyson Fox is the Director of Research Funding at the Wellcome Trust. She has responsibility for the management and governance of Wellcome's grant funding and review processes

She joined Wellcome in November 2010 after a career in the pharma industry. She spent 13 years working in drug discovery at Novartis, ultimately leading a therapeutic area responsible for a portfolio of projects from target discovery and preclinical development to clinical trials.

Before this, she pursued a research career at University College London and Imperial College. She has experience in neuroscience, respiratory and gastrointestinal research areas.

Rachel is Senior Vice President of Drug Discovery for Cancer Research Horizons, Cancer Research UK.

Rachel has over 20 years of experience in pre-clinical drug discovery, incorporating target identification through to drug candidate nomination, across a number of companies. She has contributed to the discovery and characterisation of numerous drug candidates, and three marketed medicines, across a diverse range of disease areas including oncology, neuroscience, respiratory, cardiovascular and anti-infectives. Rachel is also an Expert-in-Residence at the University of Oxford.

Prior to joining Cancer Research Horizons in 2021, Rachel was Executive Director and Head of Mechanistic Biology & Profiling at AstraZeneca, with global responsibility for in vitro mechanism of action studies, SAR biology profiling, Wave1 DMPK and pre-clinical safety screening across the UK, US and Sweden. Previously, Rachel held roles of increasing responsibility at Pfizer in Sandwich, GlaxoSmithKline in Stevenage and Pfizer Neusentis in Cambridge.

Rachel gained her PhD in Mechanistic Enzymology from the University of Birmingham and completed post-doctoral studies at the University of Oxford.