Working with Industry

Lancaster University has appointed an enterprise fellow to help bridge the gap between environmental research and industry.

Dr. Ben Herbert joins the Centre for Sustainable Chemicals Management this month within the Lancaster Environment Centre (LEC) as the first ever ‘Enterprise Fellow’ within the University.

The position, funded via the Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF), will enable the newly-established Centre for Sustainable Chemical Management to develop its commitments to commercial end-users of research, including large corporate organisations and smaller regionally-based companies producing and using organic chemicals that are potentially persistent organic pollutants (POPs). POPs are chemicals that remain intact in the environment for long periods, become widely distributed geographically, accumulate in the fatty tissue of living organisms and are toxic to humans and wildlife.

The Director of the new centre, Professor Kevin Jones, said: “The centre is establishing a high-quality research agenda with end users of research clearly in mind. HEIF funding of this post will allow us to strengthen our links with the Enterprise and Business Partnerships team in LEC and therefore ensure we can maximise opportunities for delivering our expertise into the commercial sector.”

Ben will also work with Dr. Kirk Semple, Reader in Environmental Sciences, to develop a new professional development training programme in Contaminated Land Remediation for regionally-based business, local authorities and national public sector organisations.

Dr. Mark Bacon, Director of Enterprise and Business Partnerships within LEC, said: “This pilot scheme is one way in which we are trying to ensure that so called third mission activities add-value to the research and teaching mission of the University. The post is designed to be firmly embedded within and contribute to the research mission of the new Centre for Sustainable Chemical Management and enable delivery of expertise to the commercial sector.”