Prof Charlotte Williams delivers Cheetham Lecture 2026

SCHEMA Director Prof Charlotte Williams delivered the 2026 Cheetham Lecture during the Materials Research Outreach Symposium (MROP) at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The annual symposium consists of presentations from UCSB staff and students working in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science.

The Cheetham lecture at UCSB

Global polymer manufacturing

The annual Cheetham Lecturer award was established in 2008 in honour of Anthony K Cheetham, FRS, the founding director of the Materials Research Laboratory (MRL) at UCSB: a National Science Foundation (NSF) Materials Research Science & Engineering Center (MRSEC). It honours a scientist who not only has made outstanding contributions to materials research, but also has had a strong impact on industrial applications. Prof Williams was presented with the Cheetham Lecturer Award for "contributing to the development of highly active catalysts that transform waste and renewable resources into polymers" and her lecture looked at recent discoveries in advanced material manufacturing with a particular focus on how to both make and recycle sustainable polymers.  

Cheetham Lecture attendees

Profs Charlotte Williams, Angela Pitenis, and Christopher Bates

Thanking the research group