Below280 is not purely a commercial consultancy. We have a long history of funded research participation, peer-reviewed publication, and academic collaboration, spanning EU Framework Programme 7, Horizon 2020, Horizon Europe, Innovate UK, and EEA and Norway Grants projects.

We actively seek new research partnerships with universities, research institutes, and industry consortia. If you are building a consortium and need an LCA or environmental sustainability partner, we would be glad to hear from you.

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What we bring to research consortia

Below280 contributes something that purely academic partners cannot: the combination of research-grade LCA methodology with direct commercial deployment experience. We understand how EU and UK research projects are structured, how work packages are managed, and what funders expect from environmental assessment components. We have led work packages, not just participated in them.

We typically contribute to research consortia in the following areas:

• Life cycle assessment of emerging and novel technologies
• Environmental footprint modelling and methodology development
• Sustainability assessment of energy, biological, and industrial systems
• Integration of LCA into technology development and demonstration projects
• Science communication, dissemination, and policy-relevant environmental analysis

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Research projects

Our team has participated in funded research across FP7, Horizon 2020, Horizon Europe, Innovate UK, and EEA and Norway Grants programmes.

InteSusal (FP7) Work package lead for the LCA component, calculating the environmental impacts of microalgae-derived biodiesel compared with conventional feedstocks including palm oil.

INOMANS2HIP (FP7) Computational modelling of renewable energy generation systems on cargo ships, contributing to the environmental assessment of marine energy integration.

BIOMOD (Innovate UK) Work package lead for the LCA of pharmaceutical production via green chemistry, assessing the environmental performance of alternative synthesis routes.

MAGNIFICENT (Horizon 2020) Led the LCA and S-LCA work on a project focused on high-value products derived from microalgae at a demonstration facility in Portugal, producing one of the first detailed environmental assessments of a microalgae biorefinery at demonstration scale.

Algae Cycle (EEA and Norway Grants) A microalgae project bridging MAGNIFICENT and REALM, generating key process and environmental data that carried forward into subsequent research.

REALM (Horizon Europe) Currently active. Undertaking the LCA of an agricultural system that uses microalgae as a vector for nutrient and fertiliser recycling, building directly on the methodology and data developed through MAGNIFICENT and Algae Cycle.

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Academic output

Our team has authored and co-authored peer-reviewed scientific articles, contributed to book chapters, and presented research at academic conferences across Europe. We have contributed to the development of EU-level LCA guidelines, including those covering carbon capture and utilisation. We engage with the academic community as active contributors, and our commercial work is continuously informed by current scientific literature.

View our articles, book chapters and conference presentations

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Research interests

Our scientific interests centre on life cycle assessment and its methodological frontiers. We are particularly interested in social LCA, novel approaches to measuring environmental impacts across multiple categories, open source LCA software development, and methods for communicating environmental science to non-specialist audiences.

We hold PhD-level expertise in LCA, with specialist knowledge of microalgae systems, bioenergy, and novel biomass-derived products. That depth of expertise in emerging and pre-commercial technologies is directly relevant to the kinds of systems that Horizon Europe and Innovate UK projects tend to focus on.

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Working with us on research

If you are coordinating a Horizon Europe, Innovate UK, or other funded research proposal and are looking for an LCA or environmental sustainability partner, we are interested in hearing from you early in the proposal development process. Early engagement allows us to contribute meaningfully to the environmental methodology and work package design, rather than simply being added as a partner at the last stage.

We are also open to collaborative research on LCA methodology, environmental impact communication, and sustainability assessment of novel technologies.

Research collaboration enquiries: info@below280.com

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Research and commercial practice

The connection between our research activity and our consultancy is not incidental. Clients who work with Below280 get access to thinking grounded in current scientific literature, not just established practice. When LCA methodology is contested or evolving, as it frequently is for novel materials and emerging technologies, that distinction matters considerably.