On September 5, 2025, Dr. Xiaobin Zhao, founder of Cambond Ltd and chairman & chief scientist of the UK Centre for Circular Economy in Agriculture, delivered an academic report entitled “Transdisciplinary Migration of Regenerative Concepts: From Tissue Repair to Environmental Restoration” to the faculty and students of our college. The lecture was held in Conference Room E202 of the School of Environment and chaired by Professor Zhou Mingxi; more than 50 teachers and students attended.

Dr. Xiaobin Zhao is the Founder of Cambond Ltd, Chairman and Chief Scientist of the UK Centre for Circular Economy in Agriculture (AgriCycle Innovation), Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC), Chartered Chemist (CChem), Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (FIMMM), and Fellow of the Society for Biomaterials (USA). He is an internationally recognized expert in renewable resource utilization, a renowned biomaterials inventor, and a green chemistry innovator. He holds over 30 international patents, has published more than 80 scientific papers, and has edited or contributed to five books. He has led 16 national-level innovation projects funded by the EU and the UK, covering areas such as bio-based materials, biomedical materials, and the high-value utilization of renewable resources.

Before the lecture began, Dean Huan He presented Dr. Xiaobin Zhao with an appointment letter as an adjunct professor of the School of Environment and, on behalf of the entire faculty and student body, extended a warm welcome to his joining.

Dr. Xiaobin Zhao began by retracing his educational path and cross-disciplinary research trajectory, then shared the motivations and hands-on experience behind founding Cambond Ltd and the UK Centre for Circular Economy in Agriculture (AgriCycle Innovation). Leveraging spent mushroom mycelium, his team has developed reinforcement fillers, bio-based leather, biodegradable packaging, biochar fertiliser and construction insulation boards. Through a video that followed the full “lab–pilot–market” chain, he explained in depth how these green materials simultaneously deliver high performance, low cost and full recyclability. To tackle the long-standing health risks of formaldehyde-based resins in wood panels, the group further created a zero-formaldehyde bio-adhesive from organic wastes such as cyanobacteria and distillers’ grains. In 2014, in partnership with the Yixing municipal government, they built the world’s first cyanobacteria-bonded panel demonstration line, pressed the first cyanobacteria medium-density fibreboard and achieved early volume deployment at a timber mill in Danyang—still in stable operation today. For these systematic contributions to low-carbon technologies, sustainable materials, bio-adhesives and the valorisation of agricultural waste, Dr. Zhao has received the IOM3 Circular Economy Award, the IOM3 Sustainability Award, the MSDUK Business Innovation Champion prize and wide recognition from UK and EU governments, industry bodies and international innovation platforms.

Dr. Xiaobin Zhao displayed the bio-based alternatives developed by his team, allowing faculty and students to examine and handle them at close quarters. In-depth discussions followed on the breadth of biomass feedstocks, whether water resistance relies on chemical additives, and the full-life-cycle safety and all-natural credentials of the products. The seminar not only broadened the audience’s view of cutting-edge “environmental remediation” directions, but also injected fresh momentum into the School’s research on renewable-resource valorisation and green low-carbon technologies.