Anabel Bennett López

Experienced communications professional with a focus on science and innovation

My Recent Work

Inpart •

What are the future trends in sustainable agriculture and food R&D?

It’s estimated that food production will need to increase by 70% by 2050 to feed the growing global population. Yet, much of the world’s arable land is already at full capacity, with non-renewable natural resources being depleted, and crop yields stagnating or falling. Our current food production methods already contribute to 34% of greenhouse gas emissions globally, which could add nearly 1 °C to global temperatures by the end of the century, 75% of which is driven by foods that are high source...
IN-PART •

IN-PART Editorial | The next Global Challenge: towards a circular economy

As highlighted in recent summers, extreme weather events are becoming a ‘new normal’ due to climate change. While more than one-third (34%) of the world’s largest companies are now committed to net zero, nearly all (93%) will fail to achieve their goals if they don’t at least double the pace of emissions reduction by 2030. We are continuing to release carbon emissions into the atmosphere, extracting finite resources at an increasing pace, and polluting the environment with plastics, clothes, and...
IN-PART •

IN-PART Editorial | The next Global Challenge: cancer immunotherapies

Cancer is a multifaceted global health challenge that continues to demand innovative solutions and interventions. 19.3 million new cancer cases and around 10 million related deaths were registered worldwide in 2020. With the number of new cases expected to rise by an average of 47% from 2020 to 2040, developing new, improved and more effective cancer therapies is an urgent global challenge requiring extensive R&D efforts.Over the last decade, immunotherapy has revolutionised the treatment of can...
IN-PART •

Top microbiome innovations 2023 | IN-PART

Our autumn/winter 2022 Global Challenge campaign aimed to surface the next generation of research leveraging the human microbiome to prevent disease and improve health. Our in-house team of STEM experts disseminated the submissions we received from 54 academic institutes to R&D leads at companies across the microbiome space based on the alignment of research priorities and needs. In this article, we showcase the twelve top microbiome innovations submitted to the campaign by academic teams that r...
IN-PART •

IN-PART Editorial | The next Global Challenge: leveraging the microbiome

We are host to an extensive and diverse community of microbes that are uniquely adapted to our bodies. Determined by our environment, our genetics, our diet, and our state of wellbeing, these microbes, known as the microbiome, have an enormous impact on our health and susceptibility to disease.Since the American National Institutes of Health (NIH) established the Human Microbiome Project (HMP) in 2008, research activity in this area has been accelerating, as scientists seek to uncover if it’s po...
IN-PART •

IN-PART Editorial | Tackling the plastic pollution crisis

Plastics are here to stay. Since their introduction to the market in the early 20th century, plastics have become an essential material for the manufacture, transportation, storage, and marketing of products such as personal care items, medical devices, food packaging, pharmaceuticals, and electronics. However, the impressive durability of plastics that makes them so convenient has led to a global crisis of plastic waste. According to the United Nations Environment Programme, half of all plastic...
IN-PART •

Can academia-industry partnerships find solutions to the plastic crisis?

On Wednesday 26th January, we ran our online ‘green carpet’ event, a conversation with three experts from academia and industry to discuss research collaborations and partnerships, and what role they can play to find solutions to the plastic crisis. This was the grand finale in our Virtual Series, which ran alongside our Global Challenge campaign, looking to uncover novel sustainable plastics innovations to tackle the plastic crisis, through university-industry partnerships.You can access the re...
Fidra •

‘Forever chemicals’ still present in food packaging from UK high street retailers - PFAS

We’re thrilled to have Anabel Bennett of environmental charity CHEM Trust present a new investigation ‘Analysis of PFAS chemicals in takeaway food packaging from UK high street retailers’.
Read on to find out what the report shows and what ChemTrust are doing to tackle this ongoing source of PFAS pollution. 
Today, CHEM trust and seven other not for profit organisations have published a new scientific investigation showing that harmful, persistent PFAS chemicals are used in disposable take-away...
Novara Media •

Rent Strike Weekender: Why Students Must Fight Unaffordable Housing Collectively | Novara Media

In late August at a National Union of Students press conference, it was announced that the NUS will be actively supporting a wave of student rent strikes across the country. This move represents a change in tack from the NUS leadership, signaling potential mobilisation around resisting evictions and providing legal assistance to strikers. This could facilitate bigger rent strikes than ever before, which could subsequently lead to greater victories. Rent strikers will collectively have greater ba...
Novara Media •

Cut the Rent: Striking Students on the Front Lines of the Housing Crisis | Novara Media

On 25 January, a rent strike was declared by more than 150 residents living in accommodation at University College London (UCL). Acting with the ‘UCL, Cut the Rent’ campaign, they’re collectively withholding over £250k in protest at the increasingly unaffordable rent costs at the institution. A rent strike of this scale has not been seen in London for over three decades. Although the actions taken by these students – the majority of them in their first year of studies – are already causing a sti...
The Guardian •

We were told free higher education was a dream. Today we march to make it reality | Anabel Bennett

Today, I will be joining fellow students marching through London on a national demonstration for free education. It will be the first protest I’ve ever attended. Not out of lack of interest, but rather because I, like many young people, didn’t believe that the ideas we will be expressing today – a more equal society, and an education system driven by public need rather than markets and managers – could ever find a voice in Westminster. For someone who grew up in the New Labour era, free higher e...