 I'm Katie Woodison. I'm originally from Reading. I'm a first-year PhD student from the School of Life, Health and Chemical Sciences at the Open University. My research focuses on finding an alternative to traditional plastic food packaging and I'm investigating turning organic waste products such as food into biopolymers to create a new biodegradable packaging. This packaging is also going to have an active function so it's going to include some antimicrobial antioxidants that are going to help keep food fresher for longer. Every year millions of tons of plastic are thrown away littering our cities, countryside and our oceans harming wildlife and leaching chemicals into our natural world. At the same time a third of all food produced for human consumption is wasted and this food accounts for 70% of our fresh water usage and around 30% of our overall greenhouse gas emissions per year. I want to find a way to reuse food waste to eliminate single use packaging and also to reduce food waste. This will help feed more of the global population and hopefully reduce our overall environmental impact. Being a postgraduate researcher at the Open University has been somewhat unusual as it started during the coronavirus pandemic however it's clear that everyone is so nice and the community is so good, very collaborative and very helpful even if I've only met people online so I'm really looking forward to meeting everyone in person.