Date: May 14th, 2026 | Time: 3:00 PM | Location: McGill Faculty Club | Co-Host Event With McGill Mechanical Engineering
This seminar will explore the often challenging relationship between modern industrial systems and the living world. Industry produces much of what improves our quality of life, yet at the same time it can undermine the very ecological foundations that make life possible (and at an industrial scale). We will begin by looking at what industry is currently doing, what it could do quickly and what it could do if we prioritized our intelligence rather than budget constraints. We will then explore the transition that is already underway and imagine some different, and hopeful, futures.
Professor Steve Evans
Professor Steve Evans is a leading researcher in sustainable manufacturing whose career spans industry, academia, and national policy. After engineering roles at Marconi, Plessey, and Martin‑Baker, he joined Cranfield University in 1988, where he advanced early UK research in eco‑design, WEEE take‑back logistics, sustainable business models, and multidisciplinary engineering. He became the UK’s first Professor of Life Cycle Engineering in 1998 and later moved to the University of Cambridge, where he established the national Centre for Industrial Sustainability. Evans works closely with companies to improve manufacturing performance and has contributed to major policy efforts through advisory roles with Parliament, government foresight groups, and industry panels, while also co‑founding several cleantech start‑ups based on his research.