Great British Chemicals (GBC) Hosts Its First Stakeholder Forum

23 January 2026

Great British Chemicals (GBC), UK, recently hosted a highly successful first day-long Stakeholder Forum, bringing together leaders from academia, industry, policy, and innovation networks to collectively explore pathways for defossilising the UK chemical industry. The event created a vibrant platform where academia and industry came together under one roof to exchange ideas, share expertise, and shape future solutions.

The workshop welcomed approximately 90 participants, reflecting the growing commitment across sectors to collaborate on solutions that can accelerate innovation and decarbonisation. Throughout the session, participants worked collectively to identify the key barriers and opportunities facing the sector. The forum mapped over 390 challenges, generated 114 potential solutions, and developed six preliminary implementation pathways aimed at enabling practical progress.

These discussions demonstrated the value of cross-sector engagement, where perspectives from scientific research, industrial deployment, and policy frameworks can converge to create actionable strategies. A key theme that emerged was the importance of strengthening collaboration between academia and industry to bridge innovation gaps, particularly in translating early-stage research into scalable technologies. Participants also highlighted the need for improved infrastructure access, clearer regulatory frameworks, and coordinated investment strategies to support emerging solutions.

The strong engagement and contributions from stakeholders underline the growing momentum behind GBC’s mission to act as a collaborative platform for knowledge exchange, partnership building, and coordinated action, supporting the transition towards a more sustainable and resilient UK chemicals sector.

The event was further honoured by the presence of Sir Martyn Poliakoff, University of Nottingham, who remarked: “Great British Chemicals is a very timely initiative, led by Sheffield, Newcastle and Nottingham, bringing together 10 universities and around 100 companies with the shared aim of defossilising UK chemical production while supporting a profitable future for the sector.”

Prior to the forum, the GBC Strategic Advisory Board held a productive meeting to discuss and strengthen strategic partnerships. This meeting helped shape the forum agenda and reinforced the shared commitment to advancing collaboration and innovation through the GBC community.

It was a privilege to host our first stakeholder forum at Newcastle University. Across a remarkably diverse group, we saw a clear sense of momentum and a shared ambition to forge new relationships and accelerate innovation for a healthier planet. The energy in the room reflected a collective readiness to turn ideas into meaningful solutions. The energy in the room made one thing clear: we are ready to turn vision into lasting impact.

GBC Co-Leads Prof Peter Styring (University of Sheffield) and Prof Elizabeth Gibson (Newcastle University)

The success of this first Stakeholder Forum reflects the strength of the people and partnerships behind Great British Chemicals. Bringing together academics, industry leaders, policymakers, innovators and early-career researchers created a powerful environment for open discussion and shared problem-solving. The transition to a more sustainable UK chemicals sector will depend not only on new technologies, but also on building the right networks, skills and collaborative culture to turn ideas into practical impact.

Co-Lead Prof Michael George (University of Nottingham)