Hub researchers win commission for public art project

Charnett Chau and Danielle Purkiss from the UCL Plastic Waste Innovation Hub, together with artist Sarah Carne, have been awarded £15,000 by UCL Culture to participate in Trellis: Public Art 2020-21. Charnett, Danielle and Sarah will collaborate with Xenia, a Hackney based organisation for women learning English and women who speak English, to run a Citizen Science Project around plastic design, food waste and composting. Current data associated with the UCL Plastic Waste Innovation Hub’s Big Compost Experiment indicates there is a bias towards involvement by people who are already enthusiastic about the environment and have access to gardens or allotments. Their approach addresses this by inviting a community based on unrelated factors but who share an interest in knowledge exchange. By working together the project aims to increase our understanding of research processes, develop new approaches to public engagement and explore mediums for science-led production of art.