Burton Lecture 2025

Professor Charlotte Williams OBE FRS, University of Oxford, will explore how polymers can be redesigned to tackle sustainability challenges and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The lecture will showcase recent research on developing polymerisations from renewable resources and will be followed by a drinks reception.

Designing sustainable polymers: Activating renewable resources to make better materials through to end-life recycling

We need to redesign polymers to try to tackle sustainability concerns and also reduce the greenhouse gas emissions prevalent through their life cycle. The lecture will describe recent research from Professor Williams' team in the development of polymerisations using renewable resources such as carbon dioxide and biomass. It will focus on how to improve the activity and selectivity of catalysts, using kinetic, spectroscopic and computational methods to investigate the polymerisation mechanisms. The resulting oxygenated polymers can be tailored to show different properties and case studies will focus on improving the properties of plastics, elastics and adhesives. The lecture will also explore the end-life recycling of the polymers through both reprocessing and catalysed depolymerisations.

Speaker bio

Charlotte Williams is the statutory Chair in Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Oxford. Her research interests lie in polymerisation catalysis, inorganic and polymer chemistry. She is particularly focussed on carbon dioxide utilisation by copolymerisation and on the production of bio-derived polyesters, polycarbonates and block polymers.

She is a Fellow of the Royal Society. Her work has been recently recognised by the Leverhulme Medal of the Royal Society (2022), The Royal Society of Chemistry Tilden Medal (2021), an OBE for Services to Chemistry (2020), Macro Group UK Medal (2019), DeChema Otto Roelen Catalysis Medal (2018), The UK Catalysis Hub Sir John Meurig Thomas Medal (2017) and the Royal Society of Chemistry Corday Morgan Medal (2016).

About the Burton Lecture

The Burton Lectures were established in the 1970s in honour of Professor Harold Burton, and many distinguished academics have participated over the years.

Professor Burton was Head of the King's College London's Department of Chemistry from 1947 until his death in 1966. The research which he directed quickly built up the reputation of the Department of Chemistry. He planned for the introduction of the specialist courses in Chemistry, which started in October 1966, and also for a great expansion in teaching and research.

The Harold Burton Fund was established for the promotion of Chemistry in the College, which included an annual lecture.

Disclaimer: For in-person events we operate a policy of overbooking, given drop-out rates. Please ensure you arrive in good time to avoid disappointment on the day.

Livestream:

• This event will be livestreamed from 17:00 to 18:05.

• You will receive the livestream link closer to the event.

Photography and videography: The event you will be attending will have photography and videography. If you do not wish to appear in any recordings or photographs, please approach our registration team on the day of the event or email [email protected] before the event. Photographs and recordings taken may feature in our publications or on the King’s website and social media channels. All personal data will be processed in accordance with King’s privacy policy available on request or at www.kcl.ac.uk/terms/privacy.

Privacy notice:

We collect and process your personal information to help us manage and run the event. In accordance with the King’s College London Data Retention Schedule, we will keep your information until the completion of the event. To find out more about how the university deals with your personal information, including your rights, please see the university’s core privacy notice. Your personal information will be transferred to the United States via Eventbrite. Please read the article where you can find out more on how Eventbrite protects your data.