S. Akpotu is a Research Associate in the Department of Chemical Engineering, Loughborough University (LU), hosted by Dr. J. Wagner. His research at LU is focused on the development of catalysts for hydrothermal liquefaction of biomass, plastic wastes and bio-oil upgrade to produce important chemical feedstock/platform chemicals. He obtained a PhD in Chemistry from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa and has carried out postdoctoral research in South Africa (NRF fellowship), Germany (DFG, Georg-Forster fellowship) and the United Kingdom. His primary research is in the synthesis, characterisation and application of porous materials as sorbent/catalysts for wastewater treatment, energy storage and the production of platform chemicals from bio-oil/biomass.