Alliance to End Plastic Waste (APEW) + NISTH

Plastic waste, or plastic pollution, is ‘the accumulation of plastic objects (e.g. plastic bottles and much more) in the Earth’s environment that adversely affects wildlife, wildlife habitat, and humans.’ It also refers to the large amount of plastic that isn’t recycled and ends up in landfills or unregulated dump sites.

Urbanisation has increased our dependence on plastic as it is an affordable and durable material.  However, we overlook the fact that plastic items take up to 1000 years to decompose in landfills. Plastic bags we use in our everyday life take 10-20 years to decompose, while plastic bottles take 450 years. More than 8 million tonnes of plastic enters our oceans and pollutes the marine environment.

Acknowledging the need and responsibility to step up to the challenge of contributing solutions for and knowledge on critical global environmental challenges, NTU’s NTU Institute of Science and Technology for Humanity (NISTH) and NTU Singapore-CEA Alliance for Research in Circular Economy (SCARCE) are working with one of the leading non-profit organisation – Alliance to End Plastic Waste (AEPW) to work on solutions to the widespread problem of eradicating global plastic waste pollution.

To kickstart the collaboration, the efforts will focus on two specific themes:

  • Advanced Technologies to Reduce Plastic Waste
    The world population and urbanization has rapidly increased in the past years, leading to the exponential increase of plastic waste. Mismanaged plastic waste is an acute issue that needs to be addressed, and advanced technologies such as AI and Data Science can help these efforts significantly beyond conventional methodologies and science. Translational opportunities for the development of effective solutions are emphasised in this theme.  Focus areas are not restricted, but priority is given to solutions for ‘designing for circularity’; for hard-to-recycle/contaminated plastic waste; for developing economies with poor infrastructure and solutions that directly reduce plastic waste and/or reduce impact of plastic waste on the environment.
  • ​Behavioural and Social Aspects of Ending Plastic Waste
    The disproportionate production and consumption of plastic has serious consequences on our environment and health. The need to urgently address the issue of plastic waste is a major global challenge. With the huge efforts poured into the pursuit of technical solutions to the challenge, the study of the impact of human behaviour is all the more crucial to make these technical advancements sustainable and effective. This theme seeks proposals that investigate people’s behaviour and the social context in which they consume plastic, toward real-world solutions that radically change people’s behaviour with the goal to End Plastic Waste.

The following experts have been identified to work on research projects to ‘End Plastic Waste’:

Felicity CHAN

Felicity CHAN

Assistant Professor, School of Social Sciences

She has a deep and keen interest in the organization of space vis-à-vis human activities and its influence on the formation of social relations, particularly in the context of the urban environment. Her core research interest lies at the intersections of the formation of social life in cities, global immigration and the planning / design of the urban built environment. She particularly enjoys including mapping as a method of inquiry. Thus, she is intrigued by research (visual and textual) that concurrently explores the joint dimension of society and space and how they interface with urban policies and institutions.​

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 JEAN-CHRISTOPHE P Gabriel

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE P Gabriel

Co-Director, SCARCE; Visiting Professor, NTU

He is also currently a visiting Associate Professor at NTU where he serves as co-director of the NTU Singapore CEA Alliance for Research in Circular Economy (SCARCE). He first joined the French Alternative Energy and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) in 2007. There, he was CEA/LETI institute’s “Beyond CMOS” program manager as well as the business director of the academic- industry Caltech – LETI alliance, which led to the creation of the Startup Apix Technology (apixanalytics.com). His notable research includes, ‘Recovering precious materials and reducing environmental harm, the lab will also find other sustainable solutions to process solar panel e-waste and toxic plastic materials’.

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Kenichi ITO

Kenichi ITO

Assistant Professor, School of Social Sciences

Dr. Ito investigates the relationship between culture and the mind. On the one hand, members of a given culture acquire culturally-specific knowledge form their environment. On the other hand, they also recreate the environment from which new members of the culture acquire the knowledge. To investigate such two-way street, Dr. Ito investigates the distinct perceptual and cognitive patterns across different cultural groups and how these patterns are reflected in their environments.  His research interests include: Cultural norms, Nonverbal communications, Social support and Close relationship​.

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Seirin LIM

Seirin LIM

Associate Professor, School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering; Associate Dean, Graduate College

Her research group focuses on repurposing biological parts by utilizing protein engineering as a tool for applications in health and environment.  Her lab focuses on the design, engineering and development of hybrid nano/ microscale devices from biological parts by Utilizing protein engineering as assembly tool towards future healthcare and sustainable Earth.

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Galina MIHALEVA

Galina MIHALEVA

Associate Professor, School of Art, Design and Media

The focus of her research is in the areas of Fashion, Textile Design and Wearable Technology. Her research includes projects that are exploring advanced materials, both existing and underdeveloped, which give garments an increased range of properties and qualities, extending the functionality and widening the artistic and creative potential of materials. While exploring and preserving traditional textile techniques through my research, she discovers new applications, experiment and reinvent them for modern sensibilities by pushing the boundaries of material manipulation.

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 Stephen SUMMERS

Stephen SUMMERS

Research Fellow, Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering (SCELSE)

Dr Summers investigated the microbial communities associated with nano- and micro-plastic marine debris.  As plastic debris enters the marine environment, it rapidly becomes encapsulated in exopolymers, originating from bacteria and algae. 

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Pallab DAS

Pallab DAS

Research Fellow, RT4, Singapore-CEA Alliance for Research in Circular Economy

Working on recovery of e-waste plastics by thermochemical conversion.

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Perrine HAMEL

Perrine HAMEL

Nanyang Assistant Professor, Asian School of the Environment

Her research focuses on the services provided by natural infrastructure in urban and rural environments, with a particular interest in hydrologic services. She has extensive experience in urban hydrologic modelling and has led the development of several ecosystem services models that support management decisions, now incorporated into the InVEST (integrated valuation of ecosystem services and tradeoffs) software. She has conducted natural capital assessments in partnership with environmental NGOs and public and private actors around the world, most recently in Latin America and Southeast Asia. Her research on Southeast Asian cities focuses on three broad themes: i) natural infrastructure for integrated urban water management, ii) climate vulnerability and urban resilience; and iii) incorporation of ecosystem-based management approaches into urban planning.

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Staffan KJELLEBERG

Staffan KJELLEBERG

Distinguished University Professor; Centre Director and Research Director (Biofilm Biology); Professor, School of Biological Sciences

Kjelleberg is internationally recognized for his studies of bacterial adaptive responses, signalling based communication between bacteria, bacterial biofilm biology, and chemically mediated interactions between bacteria and marine sessile organisms. His research approach includes molecular based studies of the mechanisms by which bacteria respond to prevailing conditions as well as environmental genomics of the biodiversity and function of natural microbial consortia. Kjelleberg and his colleagues at the CMB also serve as a major research provider to several companies and organizations, including the Australian based Environmental Biotechnology Cooperative Research Centre.

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Grzegorz LISAK

Grzegorz LISAK

Assistant Professor, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Nanyang Environment and Water Research Institute (NEWRI); Director, Residues and Resource Reclamation Centre (R3C)

He is leading a group of approx. 40 people that consists of research fellows, research associates, PhD students and affiliated faculty. His R&D activities focuses on waste to energy, waste to materials and contaminated sites remediation. R3C’s primary focus is to address Singapore’s and region’s challenges in waste management through conducting various research and test bedding projects leveraging on strong industry participation and significance.

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Scott RICE

Scott RICE

Associate Professor, School of Biological Sciences Deputy Research Director, SCELSE

His research is a mixture of applied and fundamental science aimed at elucidating the genetic mechanisms that drive interactions between bacteria as well as between bacteria and higher organisms. Specific themes include the roles of filamentous phage in biofilm development, quorum sensing signalling, microbial induced corrosion, the biofilm matrix, and microbial predator-prey dynamics. In addition to studying single species, population-based biofilms to discover novel mechanisms to control biofilms, he is also actively studying mixed species biofilms. These mixed species communities display emergent properties that increase the resilience of the community when stressed. Such communities may be inherently stable based on niche adaptation and this can be exploited to monitor disturbances in the community, indicative of invading species. Mixed species communities are important in environmental processes, such as biological fouling, as mediators of corrosion of steel and concrete infrastructure and fouling of water purification systems. Microbial communities play important roles in host health, where they may contribute to good health, e.g. by excluding pathogens or providing the host essential nutrients. Alternatively, microbial communities are also associated with infections and in particular, chronic infections.

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Alex YAN Qingyu

Alex YAN Qingyu

Professor, School of Materials Science & Engineering

His research focuses on:

(1) semiconductor nanocrystals
(2) magnetic nanoparticle assembly
(3) thermoelectric materials

He is currently the Chair of the Electrochemical Society, Singapore Section. He is a fellow of Royal Society of Chemistry Since 2018.

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Vanessa EVERS

Vanessa EVERS

Director, NTU Institute for Science and Technology for Humanity; Professor, School of Computer Science and Engineering

Her research focuses on the complex interaction between people and intelligent and autonomous systems such as robots and socio-cultural aspects of Human Computer Interaction. This comprises the entire cycle of automatic detection of multi-modal behaviour of people, designing socially normative behaviour for AI agents and evaluating the impact on how peo​ple live, work and play.  She is active in the HRI, CSCW and CHI communities and she teaches courses such as Human Computer Interaction, Computer Mediated Communication, Global Work, Multimedia and Research methods courses.​

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HU Xiao

HU Xiao

Professor, School of Materials Science & Engineering; Director, Nanyang Environment and Water Research Institute-Environmental Chemistry & Materials Centre (NEWRI-ECMC)

He co-founded the Polymer Laboratory in the School of Materials Science & Engineering, and served as Director of Graduate Programs in the School and as its inaugural Head of Division of Materials Technology. He is now a full professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering. His research interests include:  Composites and Nanocomposites, Functional Polymers: Synthesis and Assembly, Nanocrystals Synthesis and Modification (including rods, dots and tubes) and Organic-inorganic Hybrid Materials​.

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 LI Hong

LI Hong

Assistant Professor, School of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering and School of Electrical & Electronic Engineering

His expertise is the development of electrochemical devices and catalysts for energy conversion and storage applications. His current research works focus on energy conversion through designing of electrochemical devices and engineering of electrocatalysts.  His current projects include:

  • ​Development of electrochemical devices for energy conversion and storage
  • Gas-Phase Synthesis of Porous van der Waals Solids for Multifunctional Catalyst
  • Hybrid Electrolysis for Biomass Refinery and Hydrogen Generation​

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Nripan MATHEWS

Nripan MATHEWS

Associate Professor, School of Materials Science & Engineering

His research group examines interdisciplinary problems and innovative approaches in electronic materials as applied to devices such as transistors, solar cells, light-emitting devices, neuromorphic elements and soft sensors, actuators. Focussing on solution and printing based approaches, we target functionalities such as transparency and flexibility. 

Dr. Mathews’s current research interests can be categorized into:

  • Electronic materials and devices
  • Solar energy conversion through photovoltaics and photoelectrochemical means
  • Opto-electronic properties of organic and molecular semiconductors
  • Self-assembled monolayers and supramolecular systems
  • Surface plasmon resonance
  • Low temperature fabrication techniques

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 SOO, Han Sen

SOO, Han Sen

Associate Professor, School of Physical & Mathematical Sciences - Division of Chemistry & Biological Chemistry

The overarching theme of his research program is artificial photosynthesis. He has developed a novel and unique form of artificial photosynthesis including original research in the critical functions of light absorption, charge separation, and multielectron reduction and oxidation catalysis. His current interests include the development of molecular photosensitizers and catalysts to harvest sunlight for proton reduction to produce solar fuels and chemicals.

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Dalton TAY Chor Yong

Dalton TAY Chor Yong

Assistant Professor, School of Materials Science & Engineering Assistant Professor, School of Biological Sciences

His research lies at the nexus between small scale (micro-nano) biomaterials and biology. His research group seeks to understand and develop novel biomaterials-centric strategies to control livings systems for biomedicine and biotechnology.

Areas of current research include:

  • Micro-nano scale technologies for regenerative medicine and biosensing
  • Mechano-chemical signal transduction in eukaryotes
  • “Self-therapeutic” nanomaterials
  • 3D printed bio-inspired micro-physiological systems for cancer and skin research

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Hortense Le FERRAND

Hortense Le FERRAND

Nanyang Assistant Professor, School of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering; School of Materials Science & Engineering

Dr. Le Ferrand’s research is focused on the design and fabrication of hard and dense composite and ceramic materials and structures able to achieve new combinations of structural and functional properties. The materials and structures to deliver have applications in biomedical, robotics and aerospace industries. Areas of current interest are:

  • Controlled manipulation of nano and microparticles
  • Development of novel additive manufacturing technologies for dense composites
  • Investigation of densification methods in complex-shaped hierarchical matter
  • Relationships microstructural design, composition and density, and macroscopic properties
  • Multi-scale characterization methods.

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Md Saidul ISLAM

Md Saidul ISLAM

Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences

He is the founder of various conceptual frameworks and paradigms such as (a) the Twin-driven Commodity Chain, (b) Double-Risk Society, (c) Neolibral Paradox (d) Development as a Historical Project of Power, (e) Islamic Ecological Pradigm and (f) Plural coexistence Model for disaster studies. He teaches Environmental Sustainability, Introduction to Environmental and Urban Studies, Environmental Sociology, Economy and Society, Global Sociology and Cultural Politics of Development and Environment.

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 LEE Jong-Min

LEE Jong-Min

Associate Professor, School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering

Prof Lee’s research interest is in analysis and design of electrochemical systems and development of ionic liquid as a green solvent for chemical and biomedical reactions and of nanomaterials and of their assemblies for applications in biomedical, optical, and electronic fields.  Currently, his research interests focus on:

  • Electrode position of mesoporous materials in a dual template utilizing porous anodic alumina and lyotropic liquid crystal for electrochemical energy systems,
  • The development of ionic liquids as media for chemical and biomedical
    reactions,
  • The extraction of metal ions using ionic liquids,
  • The deconstruction of biomass feedstock using ionic liquids for production of fermentable sugars.

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Subodh G. MHAISALKAR

Subodh G. MHAISALKAR

Associate Vice President (Strategy & Partnerships) Professor, Materials Science & Engineering Executive-Director, ERI@N

His main areas of research comprise semiconductor nanomaterials, photovoltaics, optoelectronics devices, and printed electronics. Common to these projects are methods of processing of semiconductors (perovskites, organic, nanocarbons, or oxide nanowires), fundamental device physics studies, and device integration.

Madhavi SRINIVASAN

Madhavi SRINIVASAN

Professor, School of Materials Science & Engineering

Her research interest is in fabrication, investigation and application of nanoscale materials/architectures in electrochemical energy storage devices. Dr. Srinivasan’s research focuses on enhancing energy storage capabilities of devices such as lithium ion batteries, supercapacitors and advanced batteries by employing nanoscale materials. These energy storage technologies would be used in conjunction with renewable energy sources and also to power electric vehicles thus cutting down overall carbon dioxide emission and reducing global warming. The energy storage technologies that she is developing will be vital for the future of a “clean energy landscape”. Her research also includes nanoscale materials combining several functions into a single layer leading to multifunctional electrodes resulting in lightweight, flexible and even printable batteries. In addition, she has an ongoing effort on recycling of precious metals from e-batteries waste.

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YEONG Wai Yee

YEONG Wai Yee

Associate Chair (Students) & Associate Professor, School of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering; Deputy Director, HP-NTU Digital Manufacturing Corporate Lab

Her research focuses on Rapid prototyping, Additive manufacturing, 3D Bioprinting, Metal 3D printing, Electronics printing, Bioelectronics, Fiber reinforced polymer composite, Regulatory and measurement sciences.

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