Details
The built environment is a significant consumer of resources, and an excessive producer of waste. The circular economy aims to turn waste into resources and reduce carbon emissions.
We are seeking up to 2 talented PhD students to work on multi-disciplinary projects to help advance the transition to a circular economy in the built environment.
Successful applicants will focus on one of the following circular economy topics:
1) Threats to – and opportunities for – global building stocks under extreme climate change
This project will explore the intersection of work considering built environment material stocks and regions with high exposure to extreme climate change in order to understand threats to, and circular economic opportunities for, the global building stock. It will consider regional confluence of climate anomalies (e.g. consecutive dry days) at different geographical scales to identify specific regions at risk, and quantify constituent material stocks and associated adaptation and reuse potential.
2) Novel data and methods for building stock modelling and circular urban planning
This project will develop and apply novel approaches to collecting/processing large scale building data for material stock/flow analysis and future urban planning. It will explore a range of data sources (e.g. estate agent listings, regional masterplans) and analysis methods (e.g. web scraping, participatory-GIS) to characterise existing, and proposed future building stock and assess future space demands for different building uses. Requirements for different circular interventions will be explored, alongside causes of premature building demolition.
3) Supply-driven design frameworks for maximising circularity in structural design
This project will combine material flow analysis and structural optimisation to evaluate the best use of available second life/waste materials in building design. It will evaluate material availability and supply data from the BuildZero research programme and investigate the applicability of existing design/optimisation frameworks; aiming to ascertain which materials best serve different structural purposes, e.g. to form extensions to existing construction. The project could also explore novel optimisation methods linking two or more structural forms (e.g. modern methods of construction and traditional) and/or perform a geospatial analysis on material flows for a particular application, e.g extension.
These PhDs will work alongside the £6M EPSRC BuildZero investment, with successful applicants benefiting from working alongside researchers from 5 institutions on transdisciplinary research which seeks to catalyse a circular economy in the built environment, and ultimately answer the question, can the UK’s building needs be met with zero new material extraction, zero waste and zero carbon.
We are seeking applicants who are keen to work on multi-disciplinary projects. You will likely have a background in a built environment discipline, although we will also consider exceptional candidates with broader engineering/maths/physics background. Experience of programming and/or Geographical Information Systems are likely to be beneficial.
3.5 years funding is available to cover maintenance stipend and UK home fees ONLY. Alternative arrangements (e.g. partial self-funding) may be explored for international candidates.
Successful applicants would start in either September 2024, or February 2025.
Please submit a one page application statement, which outlines: which topic you wish to focus on, your initial ideas/approach to this topic, and a short paragraph on why your background makes you suitable for this topic. You should submit this along with your CV to the University of Sheffield Online Postgraduate Research application portal: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/postgraduate/phd/apply
If you wish to discuss the projects before making your application, for projects 1 and 2 please contact Charles Gillott ([email protected]) and for project 3 please contact Helen Fairclough ([email protected]).
Funding Notes
Funding will cover 3.5 years of equivalent UK home PhD fees, a yearly maintenance stipend which starts at £19,162, with yearly increases in line with UK Research and Innovation stipends, and a £1,500 per year Research Training Support Grant.