Dr. Maya Jacob John is a principal researcher and leader of the Bioplastics & Biocomposites platform at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), South Africa. She completed her Ph.D in Chemistry at Mahatma Gandhi University, India. Her current research focus is the development of materials from renewable and sustainable resources and includes areas such as natural-fibre-reinforced composites, bio-based materials and organic waste beneficiation. Dr Maya has published more than 100 peer-reviewed publications, was granted two patents and has an overall citation record of more than 12000 citations and an h-index of 42.