We are happy to introduce WISE Guest Professor Magdalena Titirici

Magda Titirici is a Chair in Sustainable Energy Materials in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Imperial College London. She is also a RAEng Chair in Emerging Technologies. Prior, she was a reader and professor at Queen Mary University of London and an independent group leader at the Max-Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces. Magda obtained her PhD from University of Dortmund in Germany.

Magda’s research interests are related to the sustainable production of advanced materials from waste streams and their application in energy storage and conversion technologies. Her work is cited over 40.000 times and has been recognized with several awards from the Royal Academy of Engineering, Royal Society, Royal Society of Chemistry, Institute of Materials and Mines. At Welcome Meeting 2023, she will talk about her research in sustainable energy materials.

When are you planning to visit Sweden?
-I plan to visit Sweden the last two weeks of August and then again in January 2023 for another two weeks and I hope to continue after. I plan to stay in Sweden two months per year. I already visited Sweden when the WISE Professorship was just announced and spent a week in the Department of Materials and Environmental Chemistry at the University of Stockholm where I met with several academics, PhD students and postdocs and gave a departmental seminar.

Are there any research activities planned already?
-At the end of August, I have plans to visit the Department of Materials and Environmental Chemistry (MMK) at the University of Stockholm and catch up on collaborations and of course attend the WISE kick off meeting and also attend the SUCCeSS Fall SUMMIT 2023 also organized by Stockholm University. In the future I am hoping to be able to organize together with Prof. Jiayin Yuan a joint Imperial-Stockholm early career researchers’ workshop to foster collaborations between my research group and MMK. I am also hoping to visit other universities in Sweden to foster some already existing collaborations at Linköping, Upsala, KTH and Gothenburg and also at RISE.

Could you share your thoughts on the challenges materials science faces to promote a sustainable society?
-I believe the main challenge is that a lot of the materials today are still produced using very traditional methods using fossil fuel derivatives and high energy consumption methods.  Finding more sustainable raw materials or working with recycled materials can significantly reduce or potentially eliminate the CO2 emissions associated with advanced materials production. However, production is not everything and we need to look at materials using a holistic approach across their all-life cycles from precursors to methods of production, to optimizing the use phase as well as addressing their end of life. It is a multifaced challenge requiring multidisciplinary efforts.