Bringing the Membrane Community Together to Discuss Sustainable Separations

On 7-8 September 2026, the SynHiSel Research Programme welcomed delegates from across the international membrane community to the University of Bath for the Sustainable Membranes and Membrane Processes Conference (#SustainMemPro2026).

It was great to see industry and academia coming together to discuss the sustainability of membranes and membrane processes.

Across two days, delegates heard about developments in sustainable membrane materials, fabrication and processes, with applications in gas separations, carbon capture, bioseparations and resource recovery. Plenary and keynote talks were delivered by Suzana Nunes, Professor at KAUST, Karl Britt, Vice President of R&D and Head of Sustainable Innovation at Cytiva, Alberto Figoli, Director of the Institute on Membrane Technology (ITM) of the National Research Council of Italy (CNR) and Gyorgy Szekely, Associate Professor in Chemical Engineering at the Advanced Membranes & Porous Materials Centre at KAUST and visiting Professor at MIT. Their talks provided perspectives on the future of membrane technology, covering high-performance membranes, greener fabrication, sustainable solvent systems and decarbonisation. The panel discussion, held at the end of the conference, highlighted the importance of close collaboration between academia and industry. It was particularly valuable for PhD students and postdoctoral researchers to see the breadth of opportunities for membrane research.

Conversations continued beyond the technical sessions, with plenty of opportunities to exchange ideas and make new connections during the breaks, conference drinks and dinner.

Thank you to all of our speakers, chairs and delegates for contributing to such an engaging conference.

We are also grateful to Cytiva and Surface Measurement Systems for their support of the conference, and to the European Membrane Society EMS for sponsoring our presentation prizes.

We hope the discussions and connections made in Bath continue well beyond the conference.