The UK chemical industry—responsible for 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions and consuming 20% of oil and gas as feedstock—needs to decarbonise, but lacks the trained experts to do it. This Centre for Doctoral Training tackles a widely recognised skills gap: the shortage of scientists and engineers who understand both sustainable chemical technologies and the whole systems—supply chains, environmental footprints, economic viability—needed to redesign them. Without such holistic training, the UK risks failing to develop a resource-efficient, resilient chemicals sector that employs 161,000 workers and generates £73.3 billion in revenue. If successful, the CDT will produce a new generation of PhD graduates who can transfer sustainable practices directly into industry. These leaders would help shift chemical manufacturing away from fossil carbon feedstocks, reduce emissions, and strengthen supply chains—changes that affect everything from the energy we use to the materials and medicines we rely on. The programme is embedded in Bath’s new Institute for Sustainability and partnered with a £17M innovation centre, with over £17M in co-investment from industrial and civic partners. It is not fundamental science; it is applied, systems-level training for the green industrial revolution.
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Chemical technologies underpin almost every aspect of our lives, from the energy we use to the materials we rely on and the medications we take. The UK chemical industry generates £73.3 billion revenue and employs 161,000 highly skilled workers. It is highly diverse (therefore resilient) with SMEs and microbusinesses making up a remarkable 96% of the sector. Today's global chemicals industry is responsible for 10% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and consumes 20% of oil and gas as carbon feedstock to make products. Decarbonisation (defossilisation) of the chemicals sector is, therefore, urgently required, but to do so presents major technical and societal challenges. New sustainable chemical technologies, enabled by new synthesis, catalysis, reaction engineering, digitalisation and sustainability assessment, are needed. In order to ensure that the UK develops a resource efficient, resilient and sustainable economy underpinned by chemical manufacturing, developments in chemical technologies must be closely informed by whole systems approaches to measure and minimise environmental footprints, understand supply chains and assess economic and technological viability, using techniques such as life cycle assessment and material flow analysis. Lack of access to experts in science and engineering with a holistic understanding of sustainable systems is widely and publicly recognised as a significant risk. It is therefore extremely timely to establish a new EPSRC CDT in Sustainable Chemical Technologies that fully integrates a whole systems approach to training and world leading research in an innovation-driven context. This CDT will train the next generation of leaders in sustainable chemical technologies with new skills to address the growing demand for highly skilled PhD graduates with the ability to develop and transfer sustainable practices into industry and society. The new CDT will be a unique and vibrant focus of innovative doctoral training in the UK by taking full advantage of two exciting new developments at Bath. First, the CDT will be embedded in our new Institute for Sustainability (IfS) which has evolved from the internationally leading Centre for Sustainable and Circular Technologies (CSCT) and which fully integrates whole systems research and sustainable chemical technologies - two world-leading research groupings at Bath - under one banner. Second, the CDT will operate in close partnership with our recently established Swindon-based Innovation Centre for Applied Sustainable Technologies (iCAST, www.iCAST.org.uk) a £17M partnership for the rapid translation of university research to provide a dynamic innovation-focused context for PhD training in the region. Our fresh and dynamic approach has been co-created with key industrial, research, training and civic partners who have indicated co-investment of over £17M of support. This unique partnership will ensure that a new generation of highly skilled, entrepreneurial, innovative PhD graduates is nurtured to be the leaders of tomorrow's green industrial revolution in the UK.
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