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Politics Home | A unique industrial chemical partnership is addressing real-world challenges
Credit: Fergus Burnett
With the necessary investment, BASF and Imperial College London say their innovations have the potential to create new economic opportunities in the UK
The chemical industry plays a vital role in all our lives. Chemicals and their derivatives are used in more than 90 per cent of manufactured products and materials – everything from construction and automotive products to everyday items like cleaning products and medical devices.
But with the advent of AI and new technologies, innovation is crucial to support the success of the industry.
With that in mind, world-leading chemical company BASF and Imperial College London are working in partnership to share their expertise and develop innovative solutions to real-world challenges. These include meeting sustainability commitments by developing sustainable products and technologies, improving resilience to supply chain shocks caused by geo-political events, and potentially being ready to manufacture pandemic pharmaceuticals at speed.
Our partnership with BASF is unusually close, interactive and genuine
Since 2019, the partners have been pioneering ways to produce chemicals with less energy and fewer materials, implement continuous production techniques at smaller scales, and use AI to optimise manufacturing, thereby ensuring that the industry continues to be as competitive as possible. Innovations like these could improve the performance of BASF’s production sites and support economic growth across the UK.
Working together, the partners are creating advanced technology and know-how to support the green transformation of the chemical industry by accelerating a shift to non-fossil feedstocks and less energy-intensive methods.
At the same time, they are nurturing a new generation of industrial chemists able to boost the industry’s success, resilience and sustainability.
“We are always looking to work with the best and brightest students and the top people in their fields,” says Darren Budd, Managing Director of BASF plc.
“We have around 10,000 researchers globally, and 40 or 50 years ago maybe we could do it all in-house. But research requires a multi-disciplinary approach today and we can’t do everything ourselves. We need to find the best partners – partners who fit with our ethos, allow us to progress our research and bring products to market much faster.
“Imperial has like-minded individuals with whom we can work, collaborate and share best practice. Working with them allows us to pick up new techniques and new ideas to support the way in which the world is changing, whether that’s the labs of the future in terms of digitalisation or getting the best students and training them in new techniques and new technologies.”
“Our partnership with BASF is unusually close, interactive and genuine,” agrees Dr Philip Miller, Associate Professor in Applied Synthesis at Imperial’s Department of Chemistry.
“Having a steer and direction from industry as to what some of the challenges are is really important to us. We get to work hand-in-hand with an industrial partner, so from the ground up we co-create projects together. It means that we can take the fundamental research that we do in our labs and apply it to real-world problems.
“Having early-stage input from industrial chemists, engineers or other scientists within companies is important. When you have support from industries like BASF, it puts the rocket boosters on what you can do over the short and medium term – and hopefully sustain that investment, research and translation into the longer term.”
Advancing the chemical industry, a report on the Imperial-BASF partnership published last autumn (2025), showed how the partners are translating their research findings into technologies that are ready for adoption and roll-out. Turning a lab-scale reaction into a commercial manufacturing process can take anything up to 12 years, but the partners believe that their respective expertise can help bring projects to market more quickly.
To date, the partnership has supported 35 PhD students, many of whom are working on improving the economic and environmental performance of the chemical industry – for instance, by improving the yield and selectivity of chemical reactions and by using digital techniques to reduce the time-to-market for new continuous manufacturing processes. Their research has led to numerous papers in leading academic journals, patents and new technologies.
As the partnership evolves, the partners are increasing their focus on bringing new techniques and technologies to industrial adoption.
Routes include their direct transfer to BASF, joint development with consortium partners, and the launch of start-up companies to commercialise their joint research. The formation of SOLVE Chemistry, for instance, is the first time BASF has jointly launched a spin-out with a university. SOLVE Chemistry is now working independently to provide the whole industry with access to its AI-based solutions to find the best way to manufacture chemicals more rapidly.
BASF and Imperial believe that their partnership is a model for the way industry and academia can work together and benefit from each other.
“The pragmatic, impact-driven mindset is what you find at Imperial,” says Dr Christian Holtze, Open Innovation Manager at BASF and BASF’s lead in the partnership. “Imperial is very advanced in how they’re deploying digital science into every aspect of research. They are very strong in areas such as scientific modelling and optimisation – and the way the students are educated is always integrating a digital component. This is fairly unique when compared to research and education at other universities.”
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Meanwhile, Professor Mary Ryan, Vice-Provost (Research and Enterprise) at Imperial, sees the partnership as one of the university’s most significant strategic partnerships. “Using Imperial’s advanced expertise in chemicals and digital technologies, the technical advances we now have in the pipeline with BASF are both highly realistic and deliverable and potentially transformational, opening up opportunities for dramatic increases in efficiency and even new value chains,” she says.
Today’s chemists are a world away from the days when they worked at benches cluttered with beakers, burners and rising smoke; they now work in highly controlled environments that blend AI, advanced instrumentation to generate high-quality data and data-driven design.
“If you have sufficient data, you can feed that into a machine learning algorithm that enables decisions to be taken out of humans’ hands and direct the temperature, pressure or flow rate to maximise yield or minimise factors such as cost,” says Imperial’s Dr Miller.
Some of the partnership’s other projects include the introduction of flow chemistry, a form of chemical production that allows the fine control of parameters such as temperature, flow rate and real-time monitoring via sensors. Imperial and BASF are also combining new computational approaches with experimental data to improve crystalline products and make production processes more scalable. A third project is looking at a new technique that uses light instead of heat to set off the chemical reactions needed to produce products such as crop protection chemicals.
BASF and Imperial are confident that with the necessary investment, the innovations under development have the potential to create new economic opportunities in the UK, including new manufacturing facilities and high-skilled employment. To date, their work has been supported by the government through the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and other organisations in the Innovative Continuous Manufacturing for Industrial Chemicals programme, a £17.8 million research scheme in continuous chemical production.
Economic challenges in the chemical sector and in the European societies mean we need support to secure the continuity that is required to deploy our transformative innovations
The partnership’s current priority is to intensify the focus on translation, thereby turning technology innovation into commercially viable businesses – with support from senior stakeholders at BASF, Imperial and UK public funding bodies.
The chemical industry is one of the UK’s foundation industries, producing the core materials on which much of the manufacturing economy depends. As Darren Budd of BASF puts it, it is “the building block of everything”, underscoring its vital role in the UK economy.
It is therefore essential for universities like Imperial to attract the best students from around the world so they can work on new technologies that can then be deployed at scale. The industry also needs the government to enable the regulatory environment and to offer financial support and backing to drive the chemical industry forward.
“But we are at a tipping point,” writes BASF’s Dr Christian Holtze in the partnership’s Advancing the chemical industry report.
“Economic challenges in the chemical sector and in the European societies mean we need support to secure the continuity that is required to deploy our transformative innovations and we need to work hard on removing hurdles to technology translation. This will take a concerted effort by the key stakeholders in our partnership – BASF, Imperial and the public funding institutions.”
Read the full report here: Advancing the chemical industry: A report on the Imperial College London – BASF partnership
In addition to accusing his mother and father of “controlling” and “performative” behaviour his whole life, Brooklyn also spoke about an alleged incident that took place at his wedding to Nicola Peltz Beckham in 2022.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter as part of an interview published on Monday, the four-time Grammy winner insisted he had “nothing to say about what’s happening” within the Beckham family.
“They’re a wonderful, wonderful family,” he continued. “I’ve known them since before the kids were born. I’m godfather to Cruz. I’m really close to the family.”
He added: “I have nothing to say about what happened there. It’s extremely unfortunate how it’s playing out – but [how it’s playing out] is hardly the truth.”
“Fat Tony” previously claimed that Nicola had left the room “crying her eyes out” after Victoria was introduced as the “most beautiful woman in the room”, while Brooklyn himself said that the ensuing dance left him “more uncomfortable or humiliated” than he’d ever felt in his “entire life”.
Neither Sir David nor Victoria Beckham has spoken out about Brooklyn’s Instagram posts about them, and did respond to HuffPost UK’s requests for comment last month.
An ‘emotional’ performance: Lizzy-Rose Esin-Kelly as Mairead Kenny | Image by: Johan Persson
3 min read
This brave and compelling musical is an evening well spent for any political nerds in search of a little optimism
The battle of Cable Street in 1936 is one of those rare moments in our history that we celebrate. A moment when good defeated evil, a moment when communities came together to reject right-wing extremism, a moment when the Jews joined with Irish dockers, members of the then flourishing Communist Party, trade unionists, socialists and regular concerned folk, to take a joint stand against Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists and their tyrannical hatred of Jews. They halted the fascists’ march through the Jewish East End and ensured that, “They shall not pass.”
What happened then resonates so strongly with what is happening now. The scapegoating of Jews during the Great Depression then and the scapegoating of migrants today; the rise of the extreme right then and the rise of the populist right today; the political upheaval then and the volatile politics of today. So this new musical chronicling the Battle of Cable Street is both timely and appropriate. The work of Alex Kanefsky who wrote both the original book and the play, and the composer and lyricist Tim Gilvin brings us an ambitious, brave and compelling show that is creatively complex and excellent – an evening well spent for any political nerd wanting an optimistic night out.
Barney Wilkinson (Ron) gives a convincing performance of how desperation and failure can drive you into extremist arms
The play revolves around three young individuals and their families: a Jewish ex-boxer, Sammy, who changes his name to find a job; an Irish woman, Mairead, who dreams of becoming a poet and works in a Jewish bakery; and a young lad from the North, Ron, who lives with his alcoholic mother and can’t find a job.
There is a fantastic range of catchy music, from rap to songs that reflect Jewish and Irish cultures, to others based on pop music and mirroring Stephen Sondheim and Hamilton; and plenty of strong protest songs, including My Street and No Pasaran!
The energy and passion of the actors is fabulous, with quick changes of costume as they change their roles. Lizzy-Rose Esin Kelly as the Irish Mairead gives a really strong and emotional performance, blasting out some memorable songs, while Isaac Gryn (Sammy) as a rapper shows a masterly display of breath control and clear delivery, and Barney Wilkinson (Ron) gives a convincing performance of how desperation and failure can drive you into extremist arms. They play alongside a talented cast. It will be hard to forget Jez Unwin on stage as the concerned Jewish dad one minute and then immediately emerging as the thuggish local Blackshirts leader.
It is great that the musical is moving to Brits Off-Broadway in America. Perhaps small changes can be made. Cable Street tries to encompass too much with too many characters so that it ends up being two-dimensional with little room for nuance in the stories or the characters. Did we really need the puppetry of the horse; did we have to be distracted by the windows opening just once; and did the scenes with the papers reporting on the happenings really add value?
But that apart, the energy, vibrancy, passion, music and story make this an important new musical show that is gripping, thought provoking, enjoyable and optimistic. A show for our times.
Baroness Hodge of Barking is a Labour peer
Cable Street
Directed by: Adam Lenson
Music and lyrics by: Tim Gilvin
Venue: Marylebone Theatre, London NW1, until 28 February
Britain’s favourite polling guru has predicted that the “crunch point” will come in Summer when MPs move against Starmer. Curtains closing…
Water companies preying on benefits through the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) deductions regime are compounding poverty amongst their most vulnerable customers.
Amid soaring bills, rampant pollution, and rank profiteering, privatised water firms are getting away with this at welfare claimants’ expense.
And notably, it’s all within the context of layers of DWP-facilitated debt deductions that are leaving claimants unable to afford the bare necessities.
DWP and water companies entrenching destitution
The DWP enables private companies to chase people who owe them money via the welfare system. In August 2025 for instance, the department facilitated £24m in ‘third party’ deductions. These so-called third parties include landlords, energy companies, and local authorities (for council tax).
Water and sewerage companies can also do this. When an individual is in arrears to their water supplier, the company can apply to the DWP to deduct directly from their welfare payments. And as it stands, despite their appalling performance and rampant pollution, there are no restrictions on this.
Research has shown that the majority of Universal Credit claimants experiencing debt are in arrears with multiple parties. Notably, a report the previous Conservative government suppressed revealed in 2024 that nine in ten claimants with debt have more than one source of it. On average, they have four sources of debt. As many as half owe money to five or more different sources.
This is significant — because water bills are low on the pecking order for deductions. Notably, the DWP operates third party deductions on a priority list. It’s based on what the department determines poses a greater risk to claimants when they’re unable to pay. It puts water bills sixth, behind payments like rent arrears and gas and electricity bills.
Compounding layers of debt
As the Canary previously revealed, across an 18-month period, water companies have preyed on £32.4m in claimants’ Universal Credit. For the most recent twelve months (between September 2024 to August 2025), they’d nabbed £21.7m.
In that same 12-month period, the DWP and government were also making deductions to around three-quarters of households with third party deductions.
DWP data doesn’t provide an indication of how many households have multiple third party deductions. However, it’s safe to say that water company deductions would rarely come in isolation.
In other words, water firms are stripping vital social security from people who are likely among those with multiple oppressive debts.
Pilfering profits from the welfare system
The same suppressed DWP report also identified that more than two-thirds of Universal Credit claimants with debt had gone without food and essential items. Some claimants felt “so helpless” that they had considered suicide.
And water poverty statistics from Citizens Advice in September 2025 chimed with this. It found that companies had forced 42% of households to forego groceries and reduce their energy usage within the last year. Skyrocketing water costs caused more than a third to ration water during this time.
Of course, water firms continuing to ratchet up customer bills is driving all this. The report identified that more than a fifth got into debt with their supplier. Obviously, for welfare claimants, this is when the DWP’s relentless debt chasing mechanism can kick into gear.
So in applying Universal Credit deductions, water companies will only be making all this worse. However, it’s a cycle greedy utility firms are only too happy to maintain. Because at the end of the day, pilfering profits out of a public good is the privatised water industry in a nutshell.
Featured image via author
Margot Robbie is opening up about an infuriating present she was given by a male co-star when she was first starting out as an actor.
The Wuthering Heights actor recently sat down with Complex for a video interview alongside Charli XCX, who has recorded the film’s accompanying soundtrack album.
During the conversation, both stars were asked to name the worst present they’d ever received, to which: “Very, very early in my career, a male actor I worked with gave me a book called Why French Women Don’t Get Fat.
“It was essentially a book telling you to eat less, and I was like, ‘woah, fuck you, dude’.”
As a stunned Charli questioned if the unnamed male actor in question is still performing, Margot responded: “No, that was a very [long time ago]. I have no idea where he would even be now. This was really back in the day.”
“Your career’s over, babe!” the Grammy-winning singer quipped, to which Margot added: “He essentially gave me a book to let me know that I should lose weight. And I was like, ‘wow’.”
Watch Margot Robbie and Charli XCX’s full video interview with Complex for yourself here:
The movie is the third feature-length release from British filmmaker Emerald Fennell, who previously directed Saltburn and the Oscar-winning Promising Young Woman.
On Emerald’s first two films, Margot served as an executive producer, and they also briefly shared the screen in 2023’s Barbie, while Jacob – who is currently in the running for his first Oscar – previously played one of the lead roles in Saltburn.
Wuthering Heights hits UK cinemas on Friday 13 February.
The post How Labour became the fun police appeared first on spiked.
Speaking about the accolade during a recent appearance on TalkSport, Noel quipped: “I haven’t written a song for two years. I’m not sure how I’ve got away with that one but I’ll take it.”
Defending his new award, Noel pointed out that the 2025 Oasis tour led to a resurgence in streams for the band’s old material.
“I think the Brits is all based on record sales, and I’m not sure there was another single songwriter that sold [as much as me in 2025],” Noel continued. “I mean, we sold a million records last year. Didn’t even get off the couch and I’m not sure there’s a songwriter that can match that.”
He added: “You know, if anybody’s got a problem with it, meet me there. We’ll have it out on the red carpet.
“If any of those wet wipes songwriting teams – all 11 of them, want to write a song between the lot of them – want to have it out on the red carpet, I’m there.”
The 2026 Brit Awards are being held in Noel’s hometown of Manchester for the first time, with the ceremony taking place at the Co-Op Live Arena on Saturday 28 February.
However, a community note was added to his post pointing out: “Robert Jenrick was the housing secretary for more than two years in the previous Conservative government.”
Jenrick was in the role from July, 2019, until September, 2021, when he was axed by then prime minister Boris Johnson in a cabinet reshuffle.
Social media users were also quick to pick up on Jenrick’s attempt to whitewash the part he played in the nationwide shortage of houses.
On Sunday night, Gaga was a surprise guest during Bad Bunny’s Halftime Show, delivering a Salsa-fied remix of her hit single Die With A Smile in the middle of his set.
The following morning, the Grammy winner told her Instagram followers that it had been her “honour to be a part of Benito’s halftime show”.
She enthused: “Thank you Benito for inviting me and thank you to the entire cast for welcoming me onto your stage. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
“I am so humbled to be a part of this moment,” the Abracadabra star added. “It’s all the more special because it was with you and your beautiful heart and music.”
She later said: “I’m just so happy for him. What he means to people is so incredibly important. He’s a brilliant musician and human being. He’s so incredibly kind and I thought what he said was so incredibly important and inspiring.”
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Of all the holidays, there’s possibly the most pressure involved when it comes to getting your Valentine’s Day gifts just right.
Sure, Christmas is a big holiday, and birthdays are a huge deal too, but Valentine’s is all about being romantic, and about instinctively knowing what your partner enjoys as the most heartfelt, sexy, and/or fun gift – even if they haven’t thought of it themselves.
And getting it wrong? That’s not an option.
This year, instead of playing that dreaded guessing game, why not pick something you know you’ll both enjoy and can share together?
Here’s a list of inspiration for what to shop…
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