Dr Sally Beken has a Ph.D. in Polymer Science and is the founder and lead of the UK Circular Plastics Network at Innovate UK KTN. She is Non Executive Director at MMC Holdings, a sustainable material packaging company, and at LitterAware Ltd who have developed LitterLotto, an app designed to reward those who deal with litter responsibly.

Her remit at Innovate UK KTN includes building collaborations and partnerships for innovative projects and has recently worked with £97m worth of successful projects in the Smart Sustainable Plastics Packaging challenge. Sally’s professional background is 15 years’ experience in knowledge transfer 

for the plastics sector and assessment of innovative projects. Prior to Innovate UK KTN she worked in the medical industry formulating polymeric materials to support the Kyoto protocol enabling the protection of the Ozone layer from harmful CFC’s. 

Passionate about the responsible use of materials Sally ran a furniture up-cycling business for almost a decade and now focuses on polymers.  She sits on the board for the Sustainable Material Innovation Hub in Manchester, The Centre for Enzyme Innovation in Portsmouth and as a Fellow at IOM3 on both the Polymer and Elastomer Group boards.