Back to News >

Last year, Amy Summerton, a research chemist at SABIC, won our NEPIC Young Achiever Award and later went on to receive the 2023 Young Ambassador Award at the CIA Chemical Industry Awards.

Driven by her profound passion for chemistry, Amy started her career at the age of 16 when she joined SABIC as a laboratory technician apprentice.

Now eight years on, Amy works as a research chemist within SABIC’s Technology and Innovation Feedstock and Cracker team, working on various projects that support SABIC’s sustainability and carbon neutrality ambitions. One of them is Teesside’s Olefins 6 Improvement Project, which aims to utilise hydrogen as a fuel source and become the world’s first carbon neutral cracker.

Since winning her awards, Amy has started working on SABIC’s global chemical recycling initiative, TRUCIRCLE, which seeks to close the loop on used plastic. The initiative takes mixed plastic waste as a cracker feedstock, to seek to build a truly circular economy.

Speaking to us a year on, Amy said: “Winning both awards has been an incredible journey, opening doors to remarkable opportunities for me, from speaking at the Youth Forum of ICCM5 to hosting roundtable events on the significance of STEM.

“Engaging with NEPIC through networking events has opened pathways for me and I have created valuable connections with individuals I might never have crossed paths with otherwise.

“It’s great to know that awards like these exist to give people recognition. It’s truly rewarding to have it in my repertoire.”

Amy is passionate about inclusion within the industry and when asked if there was anything she would like to share with the next generation, she commented: “I would like to encourage young people to explore a variety of paths upon completing their schooling and to embrace the less conventional routes available to them.

“The future of this industry, not only in the UK but globally, is exciting and being involved in SABIC’s Plastic Waste and sustainable technologies of the future is fantastic.”