I have had an interest in protecting the environment since a young age and I have always wanted to be a part of the solution to make the world a better place. This started with my interest for plastic and how to reduce our use of it in the environment and in packaging. I completed my BSc in Environmental Conservation where I learnt about the environmental issues in the world and how we can tackle them, policies in conservation and sustainable use of Earth’s resources and much more. During my third year dissertation work I had the opportunity to start exploring the effects micro and macroplastics are having on the environment through planting them with maize in my thesis that looked at the impacts of different types of plastic on crop and soil health. It was during this time that I really got to delve into my passion for the environment and gain an understanding of how successful conservation is fed by interdisciplinary approaches. Ultimately this marked the start of my interest for research into packaging materials.

I started studying my research masters at Bangor University in July 2022 which was a project funded by the KESS 2 East Wales scholarship and supervised by Dr Qiuyun Liu and Dr Graham Ormondroyd of the Biocomposites Centre at Bangor University. The project was also in collaboration with Wipak UK Ltd to research a bio-polymer/bio-polymer blend coating that can be applied to paper-based packaging products. 

This project has recently been converted to a PhD to continue working in this research area which gives increased opportunities to work with a variety of new bio-polymer coatings for market application to paper packaging.