Research Fellow - Circular Economy of Construction Materials

About us

The UCL Faculty of Engineering is the largest of its kind in the UK, ranked as the second most impactful engineering faculty in Europe and first for Research Strength in the Research Excellence Framework. Within Engineering, UCL CEGE is a multidisciplinary department renowned for innovation and excellence in research and teaching.

Construction is one of the top 3 sectors of the UK economy. It is responsible for 8% of GDP and 10% of both UK employment and greenhouse gas emissions. Construction materials are by far the largest material resource flow globally. In the UK, we use them at a rate of more than half a million tonnes per day, and they comprise more than 60% of UK waste. Meanwhile, new infrastructure, as a proportion of total new construction, has doubled over the past 20y, and the National Infrastructure & Construction Pipeline projects £650 billion investment in infrastructure over the next 10 years. Yet the construction industry faces serious challenges with accessing materials while also reducing its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and other environmental impacts.

The ICEC-MCM is a multidisciplinary collaboration of 25 world-leading experts led by UCL, with the Universities of Leeds, Loughborough, Sheffield and Lancaster, Imperial College London and the British Geological Survey. Funded by the UKRI National Interdisciplinary Circular Economy Research (NICER) Programme to lead the transition to a Circular Economy, we are supported by a network of more than 50 national and international stakeholders from across the construction industry, with the ambition for transformative change in this sector. Our exciting programme of work is leading to actionable solutions that will create economic value from minimising use of energy and virgin raw materials, and progress towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Our portfolio of activities has a total budget of more than £8M, including support for government placements by UCL Public Policy.

About the role

Working with Professor Julia Stegemann and Dr Stijn van Ewijk in CEGE, in a team with Dr Rupert Myers at Imperial College and Tom Bide from the British Geological Survey, the Research Fellow will seek to extend the concept of Use Potential to a wider range of mineral wastes, formulate detailed work plans and be responsible for managing the day-to-day running of their projects; develop quantitative and qualitative methods for data collection, validation, and dissemination; package all data sets and models in a form suitable for open-access sharing and maintain a sound and up to date knowledge of the state-of-the-art and methods relevant to their research.

About you

The successful candidate should have:

• a PhD in a relevant discipline with previous experience
• excellent understanding/experience in relation to properties of construction materials and mineral wastes
• understanding/Experience of relevant methods and tools in relation to material flow analysis
• A good publication record
• A methodical and accurate approach to work with attention to details
• An understanding of, and commitment to, the principles of the Circular Economy and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

What we offer

Visit https://www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/reward-and-benefits to find out more.