Chem@York Research Conference

The Chemistry@York Research Conference is a one-day conference, focused on the outstanding research done by the PhD students and PDRAs in the department. The conference will feature talks by final year PhD students and PDRAs, a poster session and a plenary lecture. Apart from our plenary speaker, this will be an internal conference for all staff, postgraduate students and visitors in the department. 

Plenary Lecture - The role of chemists in a sustainable world

The world is at a crossroads. It has come from a time where fossil fuel resources provided the raw materials for almost everything and most things were used and thrown away. Because fossil fuels are finite and their burning causes global changes in climate, and because most other resources are finite, we must move to a world where renewable resources are used to make reusable and recyclable objects in a circular economy for sustainable development. The renewable resources must no compete for land with food production. The United Nations has defined seventeen goals for sustainable development. In this talk we shall explore the huge role chemistry must play in achieving all of these goals.