IULTCS: Winners of 2025 IUR Research Grants announced

The Executive Committee of the IULTCS announced the winners of the 2025 IUR research grants to be awarded to young scientists, under the age of 35. The monetary awards help support the work of young talent in the leather sector.

This is the tenth year of the grants which have been generously supported by the industry. The Selection Committee of the IULTCS Research Commission (IUR), chaired by Dr. Volker Rabe, announced the following recipients:

 Basic Leather Research Grant 2025

Mr. Zoheb Akhter from LASRA, New Zealand. The title of his project is “Alkaline Hydrolysis of Zeolite and Chrome Shavings: Investigating the fate of their hydrolysate and Undigested Materials”

Project’s main objective is to hydrolyse Shavings (zeolith and chrome tanned) to providing insight into the purity of the hydrolysates, particularly in terms of organic and inorganic content. Furthermore, studying the fate of chrome and zeolites during hydrolysis will reveal the extent to which these tanning agents remain bound to the collagen matrix or are released for assessing the implications of tanning agents on the hydrolysis process.

Professor Mike Redwood Sustainability/Environmental Grant 2025

Dr. Yudan Yi from Jiaxing University, China “A cationic amphiphilic acrylic copolymer for metal-free eco-leather production: Integration of retanning and fatliquoring”.

The general objective is to develop a cationic amphiphilic copolymer with retanning and fatliquoring dual function, which can be utilized in post-tanning process to produce eco-friendly metal-free leather with high performance and the ability to save leather chemicals, reduce the discharge into wastewater, and shorten the processing time.

Leather Machinery/Equipment Grant 2025

Will not be awarded this year

Dr. Volker Rabe congratulates the winners and thanks all participants who submitted proposals. He emphasizes the strong innovative power and talent of the industry. He also acknowledges the contributions of the reviewers and the generous support of the sponsors Tyson Leather (basic leather research) and Leather Naturally (sustainability/environment). The IULTCS looks forward to the valuable insights from these projects and wishes the award winners continued success in further developing industry knowledge.