University of Sheffield Vice-Chancellor, Professor Koen Lamberts, writes on the importance of academia, industry and government working together to build a more sustainable future.
Universities are uniquely placed to respond to net-zero challenges. We are collaborators and conveners, bringing together government, industry and academia to pioneer the solutions we need for the future of our planet.
At the University of Sheffield, academics and students lead transformational research into sustainable food systems, clean energy solutions, green technologies, policy, behaviour change and much more. Our research makes a real difference across the globe – whether it is developing beans that use less water for hotter and drier climates, growing food without soil on recycled foam mattresses, or finding ways to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel power plants and heavy industry.
The research that takes place in our laboratories and facilities does not stay there. We work with partners to ensure our innovations can be applied in the real world, and with industry, to translate our research into market-ready technologies that make products and processes more sustainable. For example, our Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC), part of the High-Value Manufacturing Catapult, has helped global companies like Boeing and Rolls-Royce cut production times for critical components. Our engineers have worked with energy companies to make offshore wind turbines more reliable and efficient, and our Translational Energy Research Centre (TERC) is working with industry to explore using green hydrogen as an alternative fuel for steelmaking.
