Kadambari Lokesh is a post-doctoral research associate at the Green chemistry centre of excellence, Department of Chemistry. She obtained her PhD in Aerospace from Cranfield University (2012-2015) with her multi-disciplinary work focussing on the techno-economic environmental risk analysis (TERA) of advanced biofuels in civil aero-engines. Environmental and economic impact studies, particularly via the approach of life cycle assessment (LCA) and socio-economic evaluationin the context of circular/ bio-economy is her main research interest.

She is currently working on the H2020-funded “Sustainability Transition Assessment and Research of Bio-based Products” (STAR-ProBio) which is a multi-disciplinary and multi-actor collaborative project encompassing the construction of a common framework for the development of regulations and standards, suitable for horizontal industrial application, to support the growth of and transition to a bio-based economy. This will be achieved through development of a “fit-for-purpose” sustainability scheme (including standards and labels for bio-based products). An integral part of this project entails use of life cycle assessment (LCA) in a circular economy framework, with emphasis on “end-of-life” phase. This assessment with cover the three pillars of sustainability: environmental, economic and social impacts of exemplary bio-based products from different sectors; http://www.star-probio.eu/

Her past project, while working as a part of the Sustainable Consumption and Productions group at SEI-York and undertaken in collaboration with the Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence (GCCE), was an EPSRC-funded “Sustainable Chemical Feedstock” (2015-2016) research. This study aimed at evaluating the sustainability of a potential supply chain of bio-surfactant sourced from a low-value, low-cost feedstock in the UK, wheat straw. The bio-surfactant is synthesised by upgrading organic molecules extracted from left-over wheat straw. This cross-disciplinary study was approached via LCA encompassing the environmental and socio-economic impact of this potential value chain.  The collaborating partners of this project were Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence, University of York and University of Liverpool.