Robert Abbel is a senior scientist at Scion (New Zealand) and
leads their Polymer Chemistry research team. He studied chemistry at the
Universities of Mainz (Germany) and Toronto (Canada), before moving to the
Netherlands for his PhD in supramolecular chemistry at Eindhoven University of
Technology. In 2009, he joined Dutch research institute Holst Centre / TNO where
he worked on printed and organic electronic materials and devices. Since his
move to Scion in 2018, his main research focus is on chemicals and materials
derived from renewable resources, especially from waste streams of the forestry
industry. His particular interest is their synthesis, processing, and
application in functional materials and devices with low environmental
footprint.
Dr James Bridson is the Team Lead of Sustainable Chemistry at Scion, the New Zealand Forest Research Institute. He received his PhD in chemistry at the University of Canterbury. His recent work has focused on assessing the presence, abundance, and environmental fate of plastic pollution, microplastics, and plastic additives. He is also involved in developing sustainable materials by utilizing phytochemicals as functional plastic additives and precursors for polymer synthesis. Dr. Bridson has extensive experience in various analytical techniques, including high-resolution mass spectrometry for non-target analysis and infrared microscopy, enabling spatially resolved chemical analysis of fibers, composites, and biomaterials.
