This August saw the biannual SEM section meeting and the ISIE Asia-Pacific Conference, organized by our colleagues and friends at the College of Urban and Environmental Sciences (CUES) at Peking University in Beijing, China, from August 24-27.
Two years had passed since our last section meeting in Vienna in 2022, and now, it was time to reconnect in order to network and present and discuss the latest research in our field.
With more than 300 participants, the conference united a global research community seeking for knowledge-based solutions for a sustainable resource future.
The 2024 SEM conference featured a rich lineup of 8 keynote talks, 28 parallel oral presentation sessions, 3 poster presentation sessions, and 3 interactive sessions (roundtable, panel, world café). Participants addressed critical issues in industrial ecology and socioeconomic metabolism, such as built environment, urban sustainability, circular economy and policy, sustainable agri-food systems, industrial sustainability, value and supply chains, AI and digitalization, energy transitions, and more. The program is still available on the conference website: https://isiesem2024.net/Program/.
We are particularly happy that many early-career researchers joined the conference with enthusiasm and engagement, and that ample space for presentations and posters was allocated to them to showcase their research.
Congratulations to our award winners for the Oral Presentation Award:
Frist prize: Jiajia Li (Norwegian University of Science and Technology): Exploring the relationship between urban form and transportation stocks
Second prize: Yunhu Gao (University of Cambridge): Mitigating greenhouse gas emissions from end-of-life polymers
Third prize: Mohammed Isah (Tohuku University): LCA of palm oil production using developed Nigeria ecological scarcity method
Congratulations to our award winners for the Poster Presentation Awards:
First prize: Junxi Liu (The University of Tokyo): Quantifying recycling effects in life cycle assessment using material flow analysis
Second prize: Zhimin Shi (Beijing Normal University): Unlocking the resources of end-of-life ICEVs: Contributing platinum for green hydrogen production under the IEA-NZE scenario
Third prize: Sota Nagata (Nagoya university): Exploring concrete circularity potential from buildings in Japan using high-resolution material stock and flow analysis
The 2024 SEM-Asia-Pacific conference was a collaborative effort from the International Society for Industrial Ecology (ISIE), China Society of Natural Resources, Japan Society of Civil Engineers, Chinese Society for Industrial Ecology, and the College of Urban and Environmental Sciences of Peking University (CUES).
There were two side events to this conference: A 1.5 days summer school for dynamic material flow analysis with Python, organized by Zhi Cao and Stefan Pauliuk, and a Green Campus Tour based on the Peking University Sustainable Campus Project.
On behalf of the organizers, we thank all esteemed partners, the advisory board, the scientific committee, the organizing committee, and all local helpers who have made this event possible!
A huge thank you goes to the College of Urban and Environmental Sciences (CUES) at Peking University and the conference chairs Gang Liu and Xin Tong and their supporting teams for the tremendous work that went into this event. Thank you very much for this successful conference and the good time in Beijing!
The SEM Section Board
