The 2026 Symposium hosted by the Imperial Life Cycle Network on 12th June 2026.
The symposium's fireside chat emphasised that LCA must evolve beyond carbon footprinting to address broader challenges such as resource security and critical mineral dependency. The day’s key themes included the importance of rigorous goal and scope definition, maintaining integrity under uncertainty, and highlighted the contrasting roles of academia, which can explore sustainability challenges in depth, and industry, which demands practical, timely answers. Trust in LCA results was raised as a persistent issue, compounded by concerns over AI-generated inventory data and results. Paper presentations reinforced these themes, with studies on digital archiving, EV lithium mining, coffee consumption, and biofuel certification all demonstrating that LCA frequently surfaces systemic and policy challenges rather than straightforward technical solutions.
Keynote speakers and the panel session converged on the view that LCA education must shift from teaching technical inventory-building skills toward developing critical thinking, judgement, and the ability to interpret and communicate trade-offs. There were calls for earlier exposure to life cycle thinking, alongside short courses and broader curriculum integration. AI was seen as promising way forward for filling data gaps and improving transparency but would require robust safeguards given reliability concerns. Significant gaps were also highlighted around biodiversity, toxicity, and novel chemicals, pointing to the need for a more interdisciplinary approach. The overarching consensus was that future practitioners must be equipped not just to run models, but to make informed decisions, communicate uncertainty honestly, and engage meaningfully with policymakers and industry.
Slides and photos from the event can be found below:
Keynotes
Alejandro Gallego Schmid 'Teaching Life Cycle Assessment at the University of Manchester: Embedding life cycle thinking in engineering education'
Alejandro_Gallego_Schmid_keynote
Sharizal Ahmad Sobri 'Teaching LCA as Systems Thinking'
Richard Murphy 'Filling knowledge gaps with LCA: an example of progress and challenges'
Photo highlights from the day
Welcome from Prof Anna Korre
Fireside chat
Keynote- Dr Alejandro Gallego Schmid
Panel session
Summary of event delivered by Prof Richard Murphy
Closing delivered by by Prof Jem Woods