James Clark is widely recognised as internationally leading in his work on sustainability and the circular economy especially as driven by green and sustainable chemistry and its application to biorefineries and waste valorisation. His work and his achievements cut across research, commercialisation, education and outreach and he has won international acclaim in all these areas. He has held a Chair at the University of York since 1994 (now Emeritus) and was (Founding) Director of the world-leading Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence (GCCE) from 2006 to 2022 and the scale-up facility the Bio-renewables Development Centre (BDC) from 2012 to 2023.
In 2019 he was appointed as Chair Professor at Fudan University. In 2022 he set up and became Director of the Circa Renewable Chemistry Institute (CRCI). He has set up four additional spin-out companies operating in the UK and Ireland, two of which have commercialised some of his inventions with commercial applications including medical devices, solvents and catalysts. His activities are worldwide with significant roles in countries across Europe and Asia and with honours and distinctions from Belgium, China, Germany, Greece, Mexico, Portugal, South Africa, Sweden, the USA, and UK.
He has started and led some of the most important green and sustainable chemistry initiatives in the world in education (including establishing the world’s first Green Chemistry MSc), commercialization (as above), networking (including the international Green Chemistry Network and Global Green Chemistry Centres network with a new network on Renewable Chemistry now in the pipeline), and publishing (including founding Scientific Editor of the world’s premier journal on sustainable chemistry Green Chemistry, Chief Editor for the RSC Green Chemistry Book Series and Chief Editor of Frontiers Green and Sustainable Chemistry) and most recently, he has started the new journal “Renewable Chemistry” (SciLight).
James is now actively involved in consultancy work on topics including waste recycling, sustainability and oxidation chemistry. He serves on national and private research funding boards and panels in several countries, and he acts as an expert witness in patent disputes. He also acts an advisor on new sustainability education and training projects and regularly contributes to courses in Germany, Morocco and China.