23 July 2024 – EMBO is delighted to announce that Martin Farley, Associate Director of Environmental Sustainability Programmes at UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), has been honoured with the EMBO Lab Sustainability Award. The award recognizes new and impactful contributions to improving the sustainability of scientific research activities, with a focus on the environmental impact of wet and dry laboratories.
Farley receives the award for his pioneering work in driving lab sustainability across the sector, including developing tools to promote and incentivize sustainability in laboratories. In particular, Farley founded the Laboratory Efficiency Assessment Framework (LEAF) at University College London. LEAF provides standardized guidelines to enhance efficiency and sustainability, featuring an online tool which contains actions regarding reducing single-use plastic, energy and waste as well as calculators to quantify environmental, energy and financial impacts.
“Winning the EMBO Lab Sustainability Award is an amazing feeling and a fantastic honour,” Farley says. “I’m thrilled to see how the landscape has changed since I started working in sustainable science more than a decade ago. The EMBO award recognizes the work we and others have been doing to improve the sustainability of science across Europe and provides a great platform for us to do more in future.”
Farley has led a wide range of other initiatives that focus on identifying actions that can reduce the environmental impacts of research and incentivizing organizations and teams to adopt them. He has also developed criteria that link sustainable research practices to improved scientific outcomes, including reproducibility and open access, and has contributed substantially to the broader international movement toward sustainable science. At UKRI, Farley takes a broad approach to advancing sustainability in research, building on his previous work at the University of Edinburgh, King’s College London, and UCL.
“Martin’s commitment to improving sustainability in research is a shining example of how sustainable lab initiatives can lower carbon emissions and save resources, even in the intricate environment of laboratories,” says EMBO Director Fiona Watt. “His efforts have inspired many others, with sustainable lab roles now integrated into many research organizations across Europe and I congratulate Martin on this well-deserved award.”
The EMBO Lab Sustainability Award 2024 includes a grant of 10,000 euros, which Farley says he will use to support sustainable lab networks across Europe. Applications were assessed by an eight-member jury of specialists from across EMBC Member States. Criteria inspired by the UN 2030 Agenda were applied, which include the direct and indirect long-term impact of projects, the diversity of stakeholder groups involved or affected, and evidence of creative and visionary thinking that offers new perspectives.
“Martin’s project stood out due to its innovative, pragmatic, and structured approach to promoting and incentivizing sustainability in labs,” says EMBO Member Gisou van der Goot, Vice-President for Responsible Transformation at EPFL, Switzerland. “Crucially, his work emphasizes the importance of combining data collection and engagement to guide teams in developing strategies for the most impactful change. I congratulate Martin and extend my gratitude to all the nominees for their inspiring initiatives and dedication to this important work.”
This EMBO Lab Sustainability Award is an EMBO initiative to expand activities that promote excellence in the life sciences, in celebration of its sixtieth year.
