Collaboration and impact at Annual Assembly 2024

We held our Annual Assembly on Tuesday 5 and Wednesday 6 November at Kenwood Hall Hotel in Sheffield, with a focus on collaborating for impact. Over the two days, we had a variety of interactive workshops and research presentations, as well as site visits, public engagement training and a meeting of our Industry Forum.

Presentation slides from the day can be found towards the bottom of the page. You can revisit the full agenda here.

Day 1 kicked off with site visits to the University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) and Translational Energy Research Centre (TERC), which provided first-hand insight into AMRC’s cutting-edge manufacturing facilities and the world-leading pilot-scale research developing green energy solutions at TERC.

Public engagement was the focus of our afternoon sessions, with Paul Slater from the Big Bang Partnership facilitating an interactive session on storytelling, providing participants with tools to address the challenges we face as a community in sharing messages around bioenergy and biomass.

We explored how to make a compelling and impactful story on bioenergy using two different methods: the pyramid principle and the empathy map. Top tips to take away were to humanise your story, use real life examples, address pain points, create emotional connections, and adapt your language to your target audience.

Storytelling and impactful engagement was also the theme of the final part of the session led by Czaneil Gomez, a PhD student at Aston University. Czaneil shared a presentation on Global Bioenergy Stories, an outreach project funded by the Hub. The project empowers young people to share their vision of a sustainable future through interactive workshops, which have been delivered across the globe. We had the opportunity to take part in the new Global Bioenergy Stories boardgame, taking a journey through the fictional Island of Obodo and choosing the most sustainable options to survive and thrive.

This method of engagement raises awareness of the topic of bioenergy and sustainability in an accessible way, tailored for young people and communities. Facilitators Czaneil Gomez, Katie Chong, Dan Abudu, Thea Mae Baltazar passed on their learnings to inspire others to get involved in Global Bioenergy Stories activities, which can be delivered in any organisation using the resource pack (available to download here).

On day 2, the morning session focused on efforts to diffuse UK research knowledge, from investigating land use in Europe to increasing digitalisation, and AI in the bioenergy industry, and from research on biomass fractionation via ionic liquids to a presentation on designing biomass policy.

An interactive session on Government missions and priorities, led by Biomass Policy Fellow Freya Horsfield, helped participants understand the wider context of our work and where it can make an impact.

Over lunch, we held our first Industry Forum, connecting industrialists and academics to address the challenge of carbon utilisation within BECCUS (biomass to energy with carbon capture, utilisation and storage). Chairing the forum was Samantha Smith from the REA (Association for Renewable Energy and Clean Technology), with Michael Burnett from Innovate UK, Sarah Davidson from Croda and Richard Jackson from Standard Gas Technologies offering pitch presentations on the utilisation opportunities and challenges. These were then discussed on roundtables between academics and industry representatives to find a way forward to address the challenges collaboratively.

Over lunch we also held the Super(gen) marketplace to showcase broader activities such as early career researcher development; internationalisation; stakeholder engagement; and equality, diversity and inclusion, as well as six new funded projects.

We were thrilled to have two keynote speakers for the afternoon’s incubation and commercialisation session. Andrew Cornell from Advanced Biofuel Solutions talked us through the learnings from the Swindon gasification plant, while Zoe Harris from the University of Surrey introduced the TAEDA Tech Project, which is making incredible strides in aeroponics research and development.

We also heard from two of the Supergen technology development projects on gasification for net negative emissions and hydrogen production via mediated electrolysis of biomass.

We closed with our researchers reading postcards from our future to get us thinking about the impact our work will have in the wider context, before Hub Director Patricia Thornley elaborated on the theme and gave us food for thought on the journey home.

Thank you to all our speakers, project leads and researchers, the organising team and all participants for making it such a successful event.

Presentation slides

Global Bioenergy Stories – Czaneil Gomez, Aston University
Global Bioenergy Stories – Czaneil Gomez

Welcome and scene setting – Patricia Thornley, Supergen Bioenergy Hub
Welcome and scene setting – Patricia Thornley

Public perceptions of biomass and bioenergy – Rob Holland, University of Southampton
Public perceptions of biomass and bioenergy – Rob Holland

Land use and biomass potential in Europe – Jalil Yesufu, Aston University
Land use and biomass potential in Europe – Jalil Yesufu

Ionic liquids as tools to obtain platform chemicals from plant waste – Pedro Nakasu, Imperial College
Ionic liquids as tools to obtain platform chemicals from plant waste – Pedro Nakasu

Government missions and priorities – Freya Horsfield, Supergen Bioenergy Hub
UK Government missions and priorities – Freya Horsfield

Increasing uptake of digitalisation and artificial intelligence in the bioenergy industry – Michael Short and Benaissa Dekhici, University of Surrey
Increasing uptake of digitalisation and artificial intelligence in the bioenergy industry – Michael Short and Benaissa Dekhici

Funded project opportunity – Patricia Thornley, Supergen Bioenergy Hub
Extraordinary flexible funding call – Patricia Thornley

Gasification for negative emissions – Fabian Ejim, Aston University
Gasification for negative emissions – Fabian Ejim

Incubation and commercialisation keynote: Innovative approaches to biomass multiplication – Experiences and achievements from the Taeda Tech Project – Zoe Harris, University of Surrey
Innovative approaches to biomass multiplication – Experiences and achievements from the Taeda Tech Project – Zoe Harris

Hydrogen production via mediated electrolysis of biomass- Jun Li, University of Strathcylde
Hydrogen production via mediated electrolysis of biomass – Lewis Macdonald

Closing reflections and next steps – Patricia Thornley, Supergen Bioenergy Hub
Closing reflections – Patricia Thornley