About the lecture
Pharmaceuticals and biopharmaceuticals are essential for our wellbeing and quality of life. However, developing new medicines is a challenging and costly process.
Pharmaceutical production is fragmented and solvent-intensive, and recycling solvents and key ingredients is not common practice. Hundreds of active pharmaceutical ingredients - both existing and new - are released into the planet's ecosystems, often with harmful consequences.
In his inaugural lecture, Brahim will explore the complexities and biases of the methods used to measure the environmental impact of the pharmaceutical industry, including carbon footprint, green chemistry practices, and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). He will address the technical, regulatory, and mindset issues, and the urgent need for harmonisation.
Brahim will also discuss hopes and misconceptions around achieving Net Zero and highlight the significant digital shifts occurring in the industry. He will showcase compelling examples of digital transformation, including computer-assisted greener-by-design total synthetic routes, self-optimised processes, self-driven laboratories, and a systems approach to sustainability and quality.
About the lecturer
Professor Brahim Benyahia studied Chemical Engineering at the National Polytechnic School in Algeria. He was awarded his PhD at the Engineering School of Chemical Industries (ENSIC) in France in 2009.
He then joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA), where he developed digital twins and plant-wide control strategies for the world’s first end-to-end integrated continuous pharmaceutical manufacturing platform.
In 2013, he moved to the UK and joined Loughborough University as a Lecturer in Chemical Engineering. He was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2017, then to Reader in 2022, and became a Professor of Chemical Engineering in 2023.
Brahim has played an active role in several major milestones in the pharmaceutical industry. He has witnessed and contributed to transformative changes that have led to the adoption of more effective manufacturing technologies, Industry 4.0 and digital transformation, and robust quality management systems.
Brahim is a leading member of several active international researcher consortia, including Horizon PharmEco, SusPharma, REFINE, and the EPSRC Manufacturing Made Smarter initiative.
His current research focuses on digitally enabled sustainable pharmaceutical manufacturing, Green-by-Design recipes and processes, artificial intelligence, systems approach, self-driven laboratories, Digital Quality Control and Quality by Digital Design.
For further information on this lecture, please contact the Events team.
