Francesca Kerton

Keynote lecture: Sustainability of Elements and Materials

Francesca Kerton is a professor of Chemistry at Memorial University of Newfoundland and has a global reputation for her innovative research on sustainable chemistry related to the oceans. She is a Fellow of The Royal Society of Chemistry and is a member of many scientific panels and committees worldwide. She currently chairs IUPAC’s standing committee on Chemical Research Applied to World Needs (CHEMRAWN). She is an Advisory Board member for Reaction Chemistry & Engineering and an Associate Editor for RSC Sustainability. She will chair the 2027 IUPAC World Chemistry Congress and General Assembly, which will be held in Montreal, Canada.

She obtained her PhD in Chemistry at the University of Sussex and was a postdoctoral research associate at the University of British Columbia. In addition to authoring many journal articles, she has contributed several books and book chapters on aspects of green chemistry including “Alternative Solvents for Green Chemistry”. Her current research group is focused on developing environmentally friendly ways to process bio-sourced molecules and materials, catalysis and sustainable polymers. She also performs research in the area of carbon dioxide utilization and is part of an NSERC-funded training network “Centre for Innovation and Research on Carbon Dioxide Utilization in Industrial Technologies”. She received the 2019 Canadian Green Chemistry and Engineering Award and the 2023 SCI-Canada Kalev Pugi Award for exceptional achievements in research and development.