Dave Gray talks to Dr Sally Beken, founder and lead of the UK Circular Plastics Network at Innovate UK KTN about her career in plastics, and the diversity.
DG: How did you come to join the plastics workforce?
Johanna Elizabeth
SB: I did a degree in chemistry and then in my final year, on a polymer module, the lecturer held up a crosslinked polymer product and said theoretically this could be just one molecule. I remember the hairs standing up on the back of my neck, and, well, I was hooked! I then did a Ph.D for Dunlop and worked in further research for the Malaysian government on elastomer formulations.
DG: What was the sector like in 1989, and how has it changed in 32 years?
SB: In the research phase of my career it was very male dominated (see photo of me at a Gordon Research conference in 1991 - I'm one with long hair...) although there began to be more women in research specifically as time progressed. I soon entered the medical industry and worked on formulating medical device components where it was back to all male colleagues apart from admin and a few women in assembly. Early on I would sometimes actually get negative comments from males in the supply chain about 'what can a girl know about manufacturing processes?' I stress from the supply chain for the components I was specifying, not the company that employed me. But as time has gone on, more women have been visible in engineering and manufacturing roles.
DG: What is the role of the UK Circular Plastics Network?
SB: I set up the UK Circular Plastics Network in 2018 to work with those using plastics to ensure that they are as sustainable as possible and don't enter the environment. We connect and support innovations that will transition from the current systems, to those that are A. ones from a materials LCA perspective, and B., which use systems thinking, allowing them to be revalorised at end of life.
DG: Why is the network attracting a high proportion of females, do you think?
SB: We have found many of the contributors and attendees of our seminars, workshops, conferences etc are female and we often achieve near gender parity at our events. Sustainability as a topic of innovation seems to be attracting a particular interest by females. Whilst I have not specifically polled our network, anecdotally there seems to be a focus on the longer rather than the short-term innovations by the group as a whole.
DG: What can the wider industry learn from this?
SB: If we are transitioning to a more sustainable future for the industry, longer term is key. The disruption of historically well-honed business models and value chains appears to be benefiting from diversity itself. We need a breadth of skills and approaches to innovation which includes relationship building. Perhaps it is this aspect of social interaction that is appealing to women (although there are many great male networkers), and which will support us in transitioning to a different future. I certainly know I can talk for England!
In profile: Dr Sally Beken
Dr Sally Beken has a Ph.D. in Polymer Science and is the founder and lead of the UK Circular Plastics Network at Innovate UK KTN. She is a Senior Advisor to Systemiq and MMC Holdings, a sustainable material packaging company, and a Non Executive Director at LitterAware Ltd who have developed LitterLotto, an app designed to reward those who deal with litter responsibly.
Her remit at Innovate UK KTN includes building collaborations and partnerships for innovative projects and has recently helped over 30 successful projects totalling £97m access funds from the Smart Sustainable Plastics Packaging challenge. Passionate about the responsible use of materials Sally also ran a furniture up-cycling business for almost a decade and now focuses on polymers.
Sally’s professional background is almost 20 years’ experience in knowledge transfer for the plastics sector and building and shaping innovative projects. She has close connections with Research Councils, Defra, WRAP, DHSC amongst others where plastics sustainability is a factor. Prior to Innovate UK KTN she worked in the medical industry formulating polymeric materials to support the Kyoto protocol enabling the protection of the Ozone layer from harmful CFC’s and has also worked for the Malaysian Government developing elastomer compounds.
She sits on the board for the Sustainable Material Innovation Hub in Manchester, The Centre for Enzyme Innovation in Portsmouth and as a Fellow at IOM3 on both the Polymer and Elastomer Groups.
She founded and runs the GRIPS conference, Global Sustainability in Plastics Research, which attracts around c.a. 3000 attendees annually.