Jack Payne

The energy transition to a low-carbon future will require developing renewable alternatives that remain both economically and performance competitive with existing materials. My research interests focus on the derivatisation of such materials from renewable feedstocks, specifically biopolymers. I am particularly interested in the application of catalytic processes for achieving this. More recently, I have developed an interest in recapturing material value from waste to further promote a circular economy approach, a shift I believe imperative if society is to realise a truly green future. My research interests are motivated by the challenge to work at the interface between chemistry and engineering to accelerate both the uptake and implementation of renewable technology, thus remediating inevitable barriers to adoption within industry.