Circular plastic economy: Bridging theory and practice to train future leaders in sustainable plastics research (CPEN)
The project (CPEN), Circular plastic economy: Bridging theory and practice to train future leaders in sustainable plastics research, is awarded by The Academy of Medical Science, UK, and funded by the Government Department of Science Innovation and Technology (DSIT) from the International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF), UK. The global challenge posed by plastics pollution is driving an urgent need to find lasting solutions that address the multiple environmental, economic, political and social drivers of the problem. This project will support a bespoke set of networking and brainstorming activities, leveraging currently funded complementary research in Indonesia and Thailand, in the key areas of plastic pollution prevention, management and environmental leadership development, to co-create a high-level multi-disciplinary training programme for students, researchers and practitioners, in academia, industry, government and civil society; to provide hands-on training in mapping, monitoring, evaluation and modelling of plastics production, consumption and management; to foster leadership in plastics research and innovation, supporting the research needs of the forthcoming Global Plastics Treaty.
The activities of the proposed networking programme will facilitate transdisciplinary dialogues, mutual learning, and knowledge co-production between leading plastics researchers and innovators, of the Plastics in Societies PISCES, Polyurethane foam upcycling and Marine Plastics Abatement (MPA) programmes, to co-create a learning environment that encourages and accelerates innovation to ensure challenges along the entire plastics lifecycle are addressed. The training programme will take the form of a Summer School and will be drawing on the expertise of the network participants. By bringing together theory with practice through a multidisciplinary lens, we aim to form the first multi-regional, multi-dimensional, multi-disciplinary and multi-stakeholder Summer School to solely focus on the challenge of plastic pollution prevention, supporting sustainable innovation in the plastics value.
Project events
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CPEN December Training 2025: The Circular plastic economy: Bridging theory and practice to train future leaders in sustainable plastics research (CPEN) Training Course hosted at the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Thailand, between 2nd – 6th December 2025, and across 3 training modules, featured in-person training sessions delivered by Joyashree Roy, Eleni Iacovidou, and Bipashyee Ghosh from AIT, Brunel University of London, and University College London, respectively. After a highly competitive and rigorous selection process from 73 candidates across 18 countries and diverse backgrounds, including industry professionals, government representatives, entrepreneurs, and academicians, 12 finalists were selected.
