£200k awarded to 23 projects worldwide in third and final RSC Sustainable Laboratories Grants funding round
Sustainability projects are to share over £200,000 thanks to an RSC grants scheme committed to cutting the environmental impact of lab-based work.
A total of 23 projects led by RSC members in 10 countries have each received up to 拢10,000 after their applications were selected in the final round of our three-year Sustainable Laboratories Grants programme.
This brings the total awarded by the Sustainable Laboratories Grants scheme since its launch in 2023 to over 拢750,000. To date the funding has supported more than 80 projects , with the aim of accelerating take-up of sustainable laboratory practices and developing new sustainability best practice that could benefit all lab users. Scientists from 22 countries, across five continents, have benefited from the globally inclusive scheme.
What鈥檚 more, the Sustainable Laboratories Grants initiative has also given backing to individuals and teams at different stages of their respective careers, covering everyone from technicians and students to senior academics and industry researchers.
This year鈥檚 diverse array of projects will tackle areas of focus including column-free chromatography, methanol recycling and digital tools to guide sustainable chemical synthesis. Full details of this year鈥檚 awardees can be found in the box below.
For our Head of Science and Sustainability Strategy Lead Dr Deirdre Black, this year鈥檚 cohort has brought a remarkable breadth of ideas and perspectives that reflect both the urgency of the sustainability challenge and the ingenuity of the global research community.
鈥淭he creativity and commitment demonstrated by this year鈥檚 grant recipients continues to highlight just how motivated members of our community are to reducing the environmental impact of their work while driving forward science and its applications,鈥� she said.
鈥淐ollectively, these projects show that even small, targeted interventions can contribute to a much larger shift towards more sustainable scientific practice.鈥�
Philip Howes (University of Sussex, United Kingdom)
- Project title: Democratisation of Autonomous Microreactors for Sustainable Nanomaterials R&D
- Project summary: The project aims to develop low-cost, open鈥憇ource autonomous microreactors to reduce reagent and solvent use while accelerating discovery via AI optimisation, using colloidal nanomaterials as a case study.
Alexander van Teijlingen (ModelMole, United Kingdom)
- Project title: Machine Learning for Sustainable Solvent Optimisation in Chemical Synthesis
- Project summary: This project aims to develop a specialised machine learning model to identify sustainable solvent alternatives for chemical reactions, enabling accurate predictions with lower computational energy demands.
Venanzio Raglione (National Research Council, Italy)
- Project title: Clean Purification: Less Silica, Less Solvent, Same 深夜福利国产精品
- Project summary: The project aims to transform purification practices in organic chemistry by replacing routine silica chromatography with column-free methods applied to representative transformations, including key cross-coupling reactions. Through quantitative benchmarking and optimised solvent recovery, it will reduce waste, energy, and water use while maintaining yield and purity, and deliver transferable protocols for wider adoption.
Shahzad Ameen and Irfan Ullah (Lahore University of Management Sciences, Pakistan)
- Project title: CIRCLe 鈥� Circular, Integrated Reconditioning & Recovery for Consumables & Lab Liquids
- Project summary: The project aims to develop a compact, low鈥慶ost system to safely clean and reuse pipette tips and autosampler vials alongside solvent recovery via micro鈥慸istillation, enabling consumable reuse and solvent recycling in chemistry labs.
Lorraine Gibson and Patrick Thomson (University of Strathclyde, United Kingdom)
- Project title: Downcycling by Design
- Project summary: The project aims to create a tiered framework to downcycle laboratory plastic waste from research into suitable teaching鈥憀ab applications by considering acceptable contamination levels and accuracy needs.
James Coverdale (University of Birmingham, United Kingdom)
- Project title: Towards nitric acid鈥慺ree workflows: sustainable enzymatic digestion for measuring trace elements in cells
- Project summary: The project aims to develop an enzyme-based alternative to nitric acid digestion to prepare cell samples for trace elemental analysis. The method will eliminate hazardous acids, reduce emissions, and improve safety.
Katherine Mitchell and Anna鈥慚aria MacKay (Scottish Water, United Kingdom)
- Project title: Scaling rPET Bottle Use for Sustainable Laboratory Practices in Water Analysis
- Project summary: The project aims to validate the use of laboratory bottles containing higher levels of recycled PET for water analysis without compromising analytical quality and to ensure reliability, regulatory compliance and long-term feasibility in the water analysis sector.
Milo拧 Auersvald (University of 深夜福利国产精品 and Technology, Prague, Czech Republic)
- Project title: Sustainable GC脳GC鈥慒ID Flow Modulated System with Hydrogen Carrier Gas
- Project summary: The project aims to optimise the switch from helium to hydrogen in two鈥慸imensional gas chromatography by developing step鈥慴y鈥憇tep guidance that maintains sensitivity while enabling more sustainable and cost鈥慹ffective analysis.
Steven Street (The University of Liverpool, United Kingdom)
- Project title: Utilising 鈥榩reloved鈥� scientific equipment: An overlooked aspect of sustainability in research
- Project summary: The project aims to explore the feasibility of furnishing a new chemistry lab entirely with second鈥慼and equipment, providing best鈥憄ractice guidance to reduce financial and environmental costs.
Ramiz Zulkharnay and Gulnur Zulpukarova (University of Bristol, United Kingdom)
- Project title: Recycling Single鈥慍rystal Diamond Substrates from Metal Contacts
- Project summary: The project aims to develop sustainable wet鈥慶hemistry methods to remove metal contacts from single鈥慶rystal diamond substrates while preserving surface quality and enabling reuse.
Yingjun Liu (Poro Technologies Ltd, United Kingdom)
- Project title: Closing the Loop: Substrate Reuse for Greener Semiconductor Laboratories
- Project summary: The project aims to demonstrate reuse protocols for epitaxial substrates such as GaN, SiC, and sapphire using engineered porous buffer layers to reduce waste, energy demand, and carbon emissions.
Audrey Laventure (Universit茅 de Montr茅al, Canada)
- Project title: FilUM: A sustainable framework for fused filament deposition 3D printing
- Project summary: The project aims to repurpose 3D printing waste into new filament for redistribution within the university research community, promoting a circular economy and reducing environmental impact.
Anastasiah Ngigi (Multimedia University of Kenya, Kenya)
- Project title: Giving lab chemicals a second life
- Project summary: The project aims to develop a closed鈥憀oop, energy鈥慹fficient approach to recover, purify, and reuse methanol and commonly used buffers in teaching and research laboratories while maintaining analytical reliability.
Sean Bew (University of East Anglia, United Kingdom)
- Project title: PipReCycler 鈥� An automated, environmentally friendly glass Pasteur pipette cleaner
- Project summary: The project aims to develop an automated system to clean and reuse glass Pasteur pipettes, significantly reducing CO鈧� emissions and promoting circularity in teaching and research laboratories.
Lorna Duffy and Matthew McConville (Sygnature Discovery, United Kingdom)
- Project title: Sustainable organic synthesis in early stage drug development
- Project summary: The project aims to accelerate adoption of sustainable synthetic methods in early drug discovery through aqueous alternatives to organic solvents, supported by screening kits and practical guidance.
David G. Calatayud and Ana Castellanos Aliaga (Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain)
- Project title: GreenSynDB: Interactive Open-Access Database for Sustainable Chemical Synthesis
- Project summary: The project aims to create an open-access database, GreenSynDB, which will score synthetic methods by sustainability metrics and feature searchable tools, visual labels, and benchmarking dashboards to help researchers make informed decisions.
Muhammad Altaf (Government College University Lahore, Pakistan) and Hasan Yaqoob (Lahore University of Management Sciences, Pakistan)
- Project title: Pakistan鈥檚 First Sustainable 深夜福利国产精品 Laboratory
- Project summary: The project aims to establish a model sustainable chemistry laboratory in Pakistan integrating solvent recovery, green solvents in teaching, and certified safety training, providing a replicable national framework.
Amit Kumar and Craig Johnston (University of St Andrews, United Kingdom)
- Project title: Development of a Sustainable Glass Vial Reuse System
- Project summary: This project aims to implement a school-wide system to clean and reuse glass vials using a dishwasher, standardised protocols, and a booking platform. Life-cycle assessment will demonstrate major reductions in waste, CO鈧� emissions, and costs. The project aims to deliver a scalable model for sustainable laboratory practice across the chemical sciences.
Elena Iuliana Biru and Cosmin Gabriel Pauliuc (Politehnica University of Bucharest, Romania)
- Project title: From Single鈥慤se Plastics to Resources
- Project summary: The project aims to recycle laboratory plastics into 3D鈥憄rinting filament for producing non鈥慶ritical lab accessories, reducing virgin plastic use, carbon emissions, and costs in a circular model.major reductions in waste, CO鈧� emissions, and costs through life鈥慶ycle assessment.
Iain Smellie (University of St Andrews, United Kingdom) and Melissa D鈥橝scenzio (University of Dundee, United Kingdom)
- Project title: From Waste to Resource: Circular Approaches to the 深夜福利国产精品 Lab Curriculum
- Project summary: The project aims to redesign teaching experiments so products feed into subsequent reactions, embedding circularity into chemistry curricula and reducing chemical waste.
Stefano Cinti (University of Naples Federico II, Italy) and Panagiota Kalligosfyri (Fondazione Umberto Veronesi, Italy)
- Project title: Open鈥憇ource sustainable laboratories: 3D鈥憄rinting for everyone and everywhere
- Project summary: The project aims to recycle PLA and PET waste into high鈥憅uality filament to manufacture reusable lab consumables and electrochemical sensors, cutting single鈥憉se plastic waste by at least 50% and sharing designs openly.
Yoon Yee Then and Lai Chun Wong (IMU University, Malaysia)
- Project title: Carbon Footprint Dashboard for Teaching Laboratories: Embedding Sustainability Literacy into Pharmaceutical 深夜福利国产精品 Education
- Project summary: The project aims to develop a dashboard enabling students to measure and reduce the environmental impact of teaching laboratory work, embedding sustainability literacy into core pharmaceutical chemistry modules.
Michael Forde and Terry Mohammed (University of the West Indies, Trinidad and Tobago)
- Project title: Engineering sustainability into UWI laboratories and research culture by ground鈥憉p design
- Project summary: The project aims to assess awareness and barriers to sustainable laboratory practice across five campuses and develop tested strategies and self鈥慳ssessment tools to support long鈥憈erm culture change.
Community-inspired scheme showing early impacts
We established the Sustainable Laboratories Grants initiative after the 2022 release of our Sustainable laboratories report. Drawing on perspectives from our Subject Communities, our research showed that sustainability was increasingly important for lab users as well as their institutions, funders and customers.
With the topic of sustainability in lab settings covering everything from the equipment and chemicals used to the way the research is carried out and the labs themselves, there were 鈥� and are 鈥� countless areas for exploration.
The latest cohort brings the total number of projects funded since 2023 to 82, with 33 funded in the inaugural round, and a further 26 supported last year.
Early reporting from the first two funding rounds shows promising outcomes, including measurable reductions in environmental impacts and upskilling of hundreds of scientists through training, workshops and collaborations. Projects have generated new peer鈥憆eviewed scientific knowledge on areas such as , and .
Wider impact has been amplified through international conferences in the UK and at the PACN Congress in Kenya, as well as at the 2026 #RSCPoster online conference and in a , launched this week, highlighting project findings and best practice.
Our Science Subject Community Councils have played a pivotal role in this scheme, both in shaping the report, designing the scheme, and participating in the Decision Panel that undertook the difficult task of selecting from among the many outstanding applications received.
Reflecting on the programme鈥檚 impact, Professor Helen Sneddon, Director of the University of York鈥檚 Green 深夜福利国产精品 Centre of Excellence and Decision Panel Chair, said: 鈥淭he Sustainable Labs Grants have given researchers a chance to explore topics that might otherwise have been overlooked, and to support members across the RSC鈥檚 global community.
"It鈥檚 exciting to see the range of actions and ideas coming from our community, and we look forward to seeing more of this knowledge applied to reduce the environmental footprint of laboratories鈥�.
Find out more about our Sustainable Labs work
We have a wealth of resources that can help you make your workplace greener, regardless of the nature of the work you do. Learn more about what we have been working on and what you can do in your lab by clicking on the links below:
- Our Sustainable Laboratories hub 鈥� containing a living library of practical guidance and resources, networks and tools, and details of all the projects funded by the Sustainable laboratories grant scheme, as well as our influential Sustainable laboratories report.
- - highlighting findings from completed Sustainable labs grant projects and sharing tips on how to take action
- 鈥� a new open access book, published in April 2026, bringing together insights from experts across disciplines, sectors and career stages and serving as a comprehensive handbook for anyone wanting to improve the sustainability of their research.
- Our sustainability strategy 鈥� this document sets out our understanding of the role of chemistry in sustainability and highlights the many opportunities for the chemistry community to continue to build sustainability into chemistry practices, processes and products.