Benjamin Ward

Dr. Benjamin Ward is a Reader in Inorganic Chemistry at Cardiff University's School of Chemistry, where he leads research in polymer chemistry and environmental analysis. His work spans both fundamental organometallic chemistry and applied environmental studies, with particular expertise in polymer preparation, recycling technologies, and analytical methods for water-soluble plastics.

His research focuses on two interconnected areas: environmental analysis of polymers (developing methods to monitor water-soluble plastics, microplastics, and wet-wipes) and future polymers (designing catalysts for novel recyclable polymers through depolymerization technologies). Key projects include preparation of new ligand environments for catalysis, development of catalytically active complexes, reaction mechanism studies, and materials property analysis of novel polymers.

Dr. Ward's recent publications reveal strong trends in environmental polymer analysis (particularly water-soluble contaminants like PVP) and sustainable polymer design (focusing on chemical recycling pathways for PET/PLA). His work bridges fundamental organometallic chemistry with urgent environmental challenges, showing increasing emphasis on practical applications for plastic pollution mitigation.

He supervises multiple postgraduate students including Halimah Alahmari, Taylor Young, and Eve Tarring, and collaborates extensively with environmental scientists and engineers across research domains. His laboratory develops both analytical methods for environmental monitoring and catalytic systems for sustainable polymer production.