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Mining the rare metals used in smartphones and renewable energy systems comes with a significant environmental footprint. Researchers at the ÌÇÐÄÔ­´´ and the Technical University of Denmark are developing a sustainable alternative by using bacteria to dissolve metals from waste materials and accelerating the process with low‑level electric currents. This approach could enable circular recovery of copper, lithium and cobalt — reducing the need for resource‑intensive mining.

A £1m research project led by Professor Richard Field is helping shape the world’s first biodiversity credit standards, giving businesses and governments better tools to measure their impact on nature. Working closely with Attenborough Nature Reserve and Knepp Rewilding, the Nottingham team is gathering freshwater biodiversity data using both traditional fieldwork and cutting‑edge DNA techniques.