Image courtesy of Department of Chemistry Photography
On 14 April Catalysis@Cambridge hosted its first Showcase and Networking Event.
The event brought together Cambridge academics, researchers and around 50 industry representatives from companies such as GlaxoSmithKline, Shell, Pfizer, Sabic, Aramco, Merck, and Johnson Matthey.
“This event underlines the importance of catalysis research in both academia and industry and we hope our centre can provide a platform for exciting new collaborations,” says Chemistry Department Professor Matthew Gaunt, who leads Catalysis@Cambridge with Professor Alexei Lapkin from the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology.
Leading academics highlighted recent discoveries and new approaches to catalysis and catalytic reaction engineering in a series of short presentations, and chaired a series of parallel round table discussions exploring challenges in catalysis in several key areas including energy, materials science, biocatalysis, synthesis and continuous processing; which will feed into future industrial consortium projects. The event was supported by Energy@Cambridge Strategic Research Initiative and funded through the EPSRC Impact Acceleration Account.
Virtual centre
Catalysis@Cambridge is a virtual centre that incorporates over 30 academics from the Schools of Physical Sciences and Technology, with plans to develop into an international flagship for training and research. It seeks to provide a transformative approach to catalysis and synthesis research by harnessing the world-leading expertise from across the University of Cambridge to develop and apply new pioneering catalysis concepts that will have a future impact on health, energy, the environment and new materials.
Drinks reception
The showcase event ended with a drinks reception and poster session where around 30 PhD students and post-doctoral researchers working in various departments across the University and collaborative partners from the National University of Singapore networked with the industry participants.
Future opportunities
Catalysis@Cambridge will provide future opportunities for collaborative activity and training, workshops with industry, engagement opportunities for students and entrepreneurship experience. Enquiries should be directed to catalysis@ch.cam.ac.uk.
Top image shows Professor Matthew Gaunt (l) and Professor Alexei Lapkin, Directors of Catalysis@Cambridge. All images courtesy of Department of Chemistry Photography.