PlasticsFuture 2023 Conference Programme

Session 1: Microplastics - detection, transport and impacts for environmental and human health

Chair: Dr Fay Couceiro, Reader in Biogeochemistry and Environmental Pollution, Faculty of Technology, University of Portsmouth, UK

Invited Speaker: Dr Ben Williams, Senior Research Fellow, Air Quality Management Resource Centre, University of the West of England, UK

Microplastics are everywhere in our lives, in the food we eat and the air we breathe. As research on microplastics gathers pace, it is becoming apparent that microplastics may impact human health and we need to understand how to limit our exposure. 

There are currently many projects and policies looking at how to reduce plastic use in packaging but less understanding on how this will impact microplastic numbers.  This session will take a closer look at the challenges and discuss possible solutions. 

Themes

• Methods of analysis - including data collection
• Citizen science 
• Microplastics in water, land and air
• Microplastics human health implications

Session 2: Exploring the current issues of plastic use within the context of fashion and textiles and the role of plastics in the future

Chairs: 

• Noorin Khamisani, Senior Lecturer in Fashion and Textiles, and co-lead of the Fashion, Textiles and Material Futures Research and Innovation Group, Faculty of Creative and Cultural Industries, University of Portsmouth, UK
• Karen Ryan, Course Leader Fashion Marketing, and co-lead of the Fashion, Textiles and Material Futures Research and Innovation Group, Creative and Cultural Industries, University of Portsmouth, UK

Invited Speaker: Kate Goldsworthy, Professor of Circular Design and Innovation, Co-Director, Centre for Circular Design (CCD), Deputy Director, Business of Fashion Textiles & Technology (BFTT), University of the Arts London (UAL), UK 

An opportunity to discuss current issues of plastic use within the context of fashion and textiles. Each year, the industry uses 342 million barrels of petroleum to produce plastic-based fibres such as polyester, nylon or acrylic. This equates to 1.35 per cent of the globe’s oil consumption. Worse still, these plastic-based fibres are responsible for 73 percent of microfibers pollution in Arctic waters and, according to the Ellen MacArthur  Foundation, the plastic packaging on which the fashion industry is largely reliant, is estimated to make up 26 per cent of the total volume of plastics created each year – 72 percent of which is thrown away. However you choose to measure its impact, the numbers are staggering. This session acknowledges these very pressing issues that the fashion industry and academia is currently facing. 

Themes:

This conference panel will bring together scholarly experts and practitioners in the areas of plastic use, materiality and design to share their knowledge and experiences with fellow academics and practitioners. Scholarly, conceptual and practitioner papers are welcomed, especially those that address the proposed conference themes:

• Fashion lifecycles vs plastic lifecycles
• Alternatives to fossil fuel based plastics for fashion and textiles
• Recycling of plastics
• How can plastics fit within a sustainable future
• Solutions to microfibre pollution from textiles
• A transition to a circular economic environment
• Single use plastic in fashion retail
• Consumer intention behind recycled plastic waste product

Session 3: Plastic pollution in the Global South

Chair: Dr Cressida Bowyer, Senior Research Fellow and Deputy Director of Revolution Plastics, University of Portsmouth, UK

Invited speakers: 

• Professor Susan Jobling, Director, Principal Investigator, PISCES, UK
• Esrat Karim, Director, AMAL Foundation, Bangladesh

Session 4: The Plastics That Made Us

Chair: Professor Deborah Sugg Ryan, Professor of Design History and Theory, Faculty of Creative and Cultural Industries, University of Portsmouth, UK

Guest speakers:

• Dr Louise Dennis, Curator, Museum of Design in Plastics, Arts University Bournemouth, UK
• Dr Helen Peavitt, Curator of Consumer and Environmental Technology and curator of the Plastics Collections, Science Museum, London, UK
• Johanna Agerman Ross, Curator of Furniture and Product Design at V&A Museum, London UK
• Dr Susan Mossman, Research Associate and Chair at the Plastics Historical Society

Focusing on the collections and exhibitions programme at the Museum of Design in Plastics (MoDiP), the only UK Accredited museum with a focus on plastics, this presentation will demonstrate how by learning from the past, manufacturers, designers, and consumers of plastics can make better informed choices. MoDiP's purpose is to use its Designated collection to develop understanding of the value of plastics within historical, contemporary, and sustainable contexts. Exploring the museum’s objects that encapsulate a variety of uses and activities — taking into account the clothes we wear, the games we play, and the environments in which we live — this keynote will show how valuable plastics, as a materials group, have been when used appropriately. It will also acknowledge the negative impact the poor use and disposal of plastics materials has on the environment and health. 

Roundtable themes: The Care and Curation of Plastics 

• Historical and contemporary cultural perceptions of plastics
• Curatorial relationships with plastics
• The seen and unseen uses of plastics
• Sustainability and the green consumer
• What can we learn about the future of plastics from their past?

Session 5: Creative Solutions to Global Challenges

Chair: Dr Cressida Bowyer, Senior Research Fellow and Deputy Director of Revolution Plastics, University of Portsmouth, UK

Guest speaker: Nelmo Munyiri, Founder and Executive Director, Mukuru Youth Initiative, Nairobi, Kenya

Arts-based methods are increasingly being used in academic research to explore lived experience from a grassroots perspective. Artistic methods democratise the research process and disrupt traditional academic hierarchies, often revealing diverse values, and enhancing understanding. When communities collaborate with researchers to find solutions, the results are more local, targeted and contextually sensitive. 

This session will include past and present projects in the Global South, methodologies and workshops. 

Themes:

• Community-based participatory research 
• The range of arts based methods
• Working in different contexts
• Practical workshops

Session 6: Tackling plastic pollution: Global Change Perspectives

Panel Discussion: How can the global plastics treaty serve as a platform for system change

In March 2022, the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) passed resolution 5/14 ‘End Plastic Pollution: Towards an International Legally Binding Instrument’, which marked out an ambitious two an a half year timeframe to negotiate a new global treaty regulating plastics across their lifecycles, which could fundamentally change the way the world produces, uses and discards of plastics.

This panel, convened by EIA, a civil society organisation who has been involved in the process since the beginning, will bring together a broad range of speakers with different topical and sectoral expertise for a lively and open discussion with the audience on the key issues at hand.

Round Table: Time is of the Essence – Negotiating a plastics treaty fit for purpose

Chair: Professor Steve Fletcher, Director of the Global Plastics Policy Centre, University of Portsmouth, UK

Guest speakers: 

• Von Hernandez, Global Coordinator, Break Free From Plastic Movement, The Philippines
• Professor Lesley Henderson, Professor Of Communications, University of Strathclyde, UK
• Esrat Karim, Director, AMAL Foundation, Bangladesh
• James Wakibia, Environmental activist and photojournalist advocating for plastic bans and proper management of plastic waste, Kenya

Following on from the landmark resolution reached at the fifth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly in Nairobi, Kenya last year to develop an international legally binding treaty to end plastic pollution, this session will focus on the progress and ambitions of the UN Treaty. What have we learnt from the process so far?  What are the challenges and how can these challenges be addressed?  What does a successful treaty look like? How can reuse systems help address plastic pollution?

This session will include short talks, and poster presentations

Themes:

• Where are we after INC-2 (Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee session)?
• How can we build a ‘just’ transition into the treaty?
• Transparency and disclosure issues in policy development 
• Reuse as an effective policy option 
• Stakeholder perspectives

Submission Deadline: 30th September 2023

This special collection welcomes articles covering but not restricted to the following themes:

• The use of creative methods to tackle the causes and effects of plastic pollution
• New policy, legal, governance or institutional approaches
• New ways of engaging citizens in the fight against plastic pollution
• The use of arts-based methods for participatory and grassroots research
• The history and heritage of plastics
• Insight from lesser-heard voices
• Activism: the role of media, civil society, scientists, and individuals in tackling plastic pollution

• Screening room showing short films, feature films and digital research outputs
• Octopuses & Other Sea Creatures durational installation
• Plastics fashion exhibition, including items from the University of Portsmouth’s PO1 Sustainable Fashion and Textiles collection
• Scavenger Hunt
• Augmented reality microplastics app
• Plastics Monster promenade performance

We are welcoming submissions for contributions to short talks, exhibitions, film screenings, and performances