Dr Sophia Van Mourik

Sophia is a Postdoctoral Research Associate partnering with BUPA to address the challenge of non-reusable materials in healthcare, with a specific focus on their recycling potential. She’s undertaking a detailed analysis, mapping and categorizing of material flows and investigating how these materials move within healthcare environments. Understanding waste stream accumulation and current segregation is key to assessing recyclability potential and informing end-of-life processing strategies that avoid incineration. This understanding will also guide the effective utilization of mechanical recycling and chemical depolymerization downstream.

With an MEng in Chemical & Biological Engineering and a PhD in Polymer Chemistry from the University of Sheffield, she brings a strong foundation in process engineering and polymer chemistry. Her doctoral research, undertaken in the Ryan-Mykhaylyk Group under the supervision of Professor Anthony Ryan and Dr. Heather Walker, focused on leveraging mass spectrometry to investigate polyurethane biodegradation mechanisms and interpret complex data from mixed polymer and biological samples.