Circular economy and waste

One of a series of 3 workshops organised by Cambridge Zero throughout March, focussed on a broad common theme of materials and the transition to net-zero. These in-person workshops are supported by the Natural Environment Research Council as part of their Cross-disciplinary Research for Discovery Science activities. These workshops are targeted at an internal Cambridge University academic audience. Early Career Postdoctoral Researchers are also very welcome to attend.

Aim: This workshop will bring together researchers and practitioners from across the University of Cambridge to facilitate cross-departmental dialogue with the aim of identifying research needs, developing new potential research projects and preparing Cambridge staff to be able to respond to future collaborative research grant calls rapidly and efficiently.

The aim is to help build connections across the academic community and catalyse cross-disciplinary research collaborations and knowledge transfer that, over time, have the potential to influence national and international research, policy and funding agendas and to secure research funding for future work.

Audience: The workshop is aimed at researchers (postdoctoral and above) with an interest in one or more of the following themes: Waste governance and policy, Frugal innovation, The role of the private sector in reducing waste, sustainable finance and the circular economy, the role of technology in waste prevention and solutions to waste disposal and re-use.

Format: The format will be three talks from researchers about current research projects with a focus on what researchers learned from the collaborative process going forward. There will also be a talk from CUDAR about current philanthropic funding priorities and opportunities. The workshop will then break out into focused discussions on one of three topics. These breakout discussions, guided by Cambridge Zero, will focus on generating ideas for new projects and identifying relevant research grant opportunities.

Draft Workshop Programme:

13.00-13.05 Welcome and Introduction from Cambridge Zero

13.05-13.55 Short presentations by the following panel of speakers:

• Dr Charlotte Lemanski, Professor of Urban Geography, Department of Geography
• Dr Samsurin Welch, Associate, Circular Economy Centre, Judge Business School
• Dr Jaideep Prabhu, Professor of Marketing, Judge Business School
• Isobel Cohen, Senior Associate Director, CUDAR

13.55-14.35 Q&A with speaker panel

14.35-15.00 Tea/Coffee Break

15.00-16.30 Facilitated breakout group discussions on the following topics:

• Governance and policy
• Business models and sustainable finance
• Role of technology in prevention and solutions
• Nature based solutions

16.30-17.00 Plenary Discussion: feedback from breakout groups, actions and next steps

17.00 Closing remarks from the Chair

17.05 onwards [Optional] Drinks in the Maxwell Centre

Register: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/circular-economy-and-waste-tickets-546249596247

Other workshops in this series:

• Energy materials for net zero: what can modelling do for you?, 12.00-17.00 Thursday 23 March, West Hub, JJ Thompson Avenue
• Environmental, social and ethical dimensions of materials for net zero, 12.00-15.00 Friday 24 March, James Dyson Building, Department of Engineering

If you have any questions, please contact Alison at Alison.Holroyd@admin.cam.ac.uk