Meet the team guiding our network.
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Our team
The UK LCA Network is led by our Leadership Team, with the support of our Advisory Board.
Our Leadership Team is made up of representatives from all key partner organisations. It brings together a breadth of expertise from across academia, industry, RTOs and NGOs to shape our direction and activities.
Our Advisory Board provides strategic guidance and insight. It includes representatives from government and is co-chaired by Amy Peace and Henry King.
Many members of the Leadership Team also play roles across the network that support the development and delivery of our mission, including co-leading our research activities and facilitating knowledge exchange.
Meet the Team
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Lorraine Ferris
Leadership Team
Henry Royce Institute, University of Manchester
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Stuart Walker
Network Lead
University of Sheffield
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Zoë Middleton
Network Administrator
University of Sheffield
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Amy Peace (Co-Chair)
Advisory Board
Innovate UK
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Henry King (Co-Chair)
Advisory Board
Policy Engagement
The engagement and involvement of policymakers is key to our success in regulatory science.
We work with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), as well as other government departments and devolved administrations to ensure our work connects directly with policy.
Collaborative communication between LCA practitioners and users in industry, and government regulators and policymakers is an essential part of the network.
Our research priorities are informed by representatives from both DESNZ and Defra, who are represented on our working groups, alongside other government departments.
DESNZ and Defra also sit on our Advisory Board, providing strategic oversight of all network activities, and stringent review of our working groups’ research outputs.
Policy Mobilisation
Phase 2 of the network includes a work package dedicated to Translation and Policy Mobilisation, led by our Policy Lead, Marisa Zeolla. This work package has been designed to address government departments’ need for access to coordinated, peer-reviewed, and policy-ready lifecycle evidence to inform policy-making decisions. It will provide direct, systematic integration of robust lifecycle science into the heart of UK environmental policy design and regulatory reform.
We are continually looking to further develop engagement with regulators and policymakers in areas related to LCA and regulatory science. Please contact us to discuss engagement.
Phase 2 Working Groups
Working Groups are the cornerstone of our network.
We are currently launching our phase 2 working groups, which will operate between November 2026 to March 2028.
There will be eight working groups, which will sit within two distinct work packages. Work Package A (WPA): Life Cycle Skills, Industrial Enablement & Innovation, and Work Package B (WPB): Life Cycle Data and Harmonisation.
If you would like to join one of these working groups, you can express your interest up until 20 October 2026.
A1: Supporting SMEs
Addressing the problems SMEs face when navigating complex environmental compliance, often with limited capital and a lack of internal expertise.
A2: Accreditation
Addressing the UK’s lack of a standardised, nationally recognised professional accreditation framework for LCA practitioners.
A3: Life Cycle Literacy
Addressing the systemic life cycle skills gap which exists across the UK.
B1: Artificial Intelligence
Addressing the risks posed by the unregulated proliferation of AI tools in carbon reporting, including introducing black-box calculations and data hallucinations, and threatening the scientific integrity of regulatory LCAs.
B2: Advanced Materials
Addressing the lack of standard, scalable LCA methodologies for advanced emerging materials (such as nanomaterials and 2-D materials), and the resulting data gaps that slow down their adoption in green manufacturing.
B3: Bio-based Materials
Addressing the methodological inconsistencies in biogenic carbon accounting and allocation methods which create conflicting environmental claims, causing regulatory friction and market uncertainty in the bio-economy.
B4: UK LCA Commons
Addressing the fragmentation of UK-specific secondary environmental data which forces developers and regulators to rely on incompatible, non-geographically specific or proprietary datasets.
B5: Interoperability & Harmonisation
Addressing the immense administrative burdens and double-reporting that UK exporters face due to conflicting international LCA standards, regulatory initiatives (CBAM), voluntary standards and guidelines (PACT, ISO), and complex supply-chain bookkeeping (e.g., mass balance).
You can currently express interest in joining any one of these 8 working groups.
Phase 1 Working Groups
Working Groups are the cornerstone of our network.
Our phase 1 working groups brought together experts from across industry, government and academia to tackle key challenges and generate new research and recommendations in the field of LCA and regulatory science.
During 2025 we operated five Working Groups, each co-led by sector specialists, supported by dedicated researchers and small teams of selected members. See the findings and recommendations published by these groups:
1: Data
Exploring key challenges such as data availability, transparency, comparability and quality.
2: Bio-based and upcoming materials
Critical assessment of the policy landscape surrounding bio-based materials and circularity.
3: Methodology
Insights into how LCA can be used to develop policies, benchmarks and targets that support innovation.
4: Practice and accreditation
Recommendations for government regarding the potential for accreditation.
5: Skills
Examination of the current UK LCA skills gap and recommendations of how to bridge this gap.