Professor Anthony J Ryan's pioneering research into polymer chemistry has had a major impact on sustainability. One example of the projects he has engaged in is a UNHCR project to help the 80,000 refugees in the Za'atari camp in Jordan grow their own food.

For legal reasons, the refugees couldn’t get permission to cultivate the land, which would have been impossible in any case due to water scarcity and soil salination.

Anthony J Ryan spearheaded the development of a solution that enabled refugees to use old polyurethane mattresses as a growth medium – a kind of ‘synthetic soil’. This turned out to be a good way of growing vegetables that also minimised water consumption.  This low-tech approach is now being adopted at other camps.

Anthony J Ryan is Director of the Grantham Centre for Sustainable Futures at the University of Sheffield and leads the university's sustainability research. He has previously served as both head of department and pro-rector and has over 27,000 citations in Web of Science.

Anthony J. Ryan has close connections to iNANO at Aarhus University in particular, where he participates in research collaborations and has given lectures.

• Read more on Anthony J. Ryan’s website