Last week, at its congress in London, the Society of Chemical Industry appointed Prof. Luuk van der Wielen as its Editor in Chief SCI Sustainability. This puts him in an influential position within the knowledge hub of 900 chemical companies worldwide in partnership with scientific publisher Wiley Publishers.
Van der Wielen sought and received permission for this role from his two employers, TU Delft and the University of Limerick in Ireland. His goal is to establish projects between universities and industry to accelerate sustainability. These initiatives could take the form of large-scale events, pilot plants, or living labs.
Projects
For TU Delft, Van der Wielen envisions opportunities within the context of the plans for a TU Delft campus in Rotterdam or large-scale climate programmes in collaboration with the Port of Rotterdam and its associated industries.
In exemplifying his vision, Van der Wielen references a programme for the industrial, social, and ecological development of Ireland’s Atlantic coast. The Shannon Estuary Economic Taskforce proposes large offshore wind farms as the foundation for industrial development.
Van der Wielen explains that this type of programme must be both scientifically sound and effectively presented. In a statement, he writes that ‘This is a task for SCI Sustainability, where the challenge will be to create a workable model in which scientific substantiation is not subordinate to persuasion.’
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