EPSRC circular economy critical mass programmes

Collaboration opportunity for those interested in engineering and physical sciences research which directly contributes to a circular economy

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is currently running a circular economy critical mass programmes call. As part of the call, seven outlines have been invited to submit a full proposal by 13 June 2023.

In order to maximise the value of this activity to the wider community, details of the successful outlines, and the principal investigator name and institution, have been published.

This aims to support potential additional partners in identifying, approaching, and joining programmes, while the full stage proposal interdisciplinary consortia are scoped and developed.

The seven proposals are listed below:

• Professor Z Fan, Brunel University London - This programme will focus on slowing down the flow rate of metallic materials in the global economy by significantly extending their service life.
• Professor Elizabeth Gibson, Newcastle University -This programme will co-create and co-deliver circular economy research projects with industrial partners across chemical, fast-moving consumer goods and water sectors in a new ProCircular Innovation Alliance.
• Professor Allan Walton, University of Birmingham -The overarching aim of RECREATE is to develop a circular economy for technology critical metals, keeping the materials or components in the highest value form with the lowest environmental footprint.
• Dr Michael Johnson, University of Nottingham - This programme focuses on making reinforced polymer composites last multiple lifetimes by creating Full Loop Inversion Processes - circular loops that anticipate the entire life cycle of a composite component.
• Dr Danielle Densley Tingley, University of Sheffield- BuildZero proposes a much-needed radical vision for the UK's building stock: use of zero extracted materials, with production of zero waste and zero carbon.
• Professor Anthony Ryan, University of Sheffield - This project addresses the large sector of complex multi-material plastic products embedded in every part of the economy. It will help create a plastics circular economy system that meets government targets, eg halve residual waste by 2042.
• Professor Jhuma Sadhukhan, University of Surrey - The vision of this interdisciplinary programme is to deliver novel circular economy solutions for the UK's industrial clusters and boost their net zero transitions by circular economy approaches.

Download the summary details of the seven successful outlines (PDF, 102K).

Find out more about the circular economy critical mass programme opportunity.

First published 27 April 2023