PhD Studentship: Improving lifecycle of complex domestic waste

Area

Engineering

UK Other

Wednesday 19 August 2026

ENG
404

The increasing use of multilayer materials and mixed‑fibre textiles has created significant challenges for recycling, as these materials are difficult to separate yet retain valuable functional properties such as flexibility, durability, and water resistance. As a result, large volumes are currently downcycled or sent to landfill.

This PhD addresses the lack of systematic approaches for identifying and repurposing such complex waste streams. The project will focus on understanding the relationships between material composition, structure, and residual properties, and how these can be exploited in alternative applications.

The research will combine detailed materials characterisation (e.g. microscopy, compositional and structural analysis) with the development of frameworks for classifying and matching waste materials to viable reuse pathways. In parallel, the project will explore constraints on implementation, including material variability, supply consistency, and user behaviour, incorporating insights from survey data and textual analysis.

By integrating technical and socio‑economic perspectives, the project aims to develop new strategies for the valorisation of complex waste streams that are currently considered unrecyclable.

The successful candidate will gain experience in advanced materials characterisation, interdisciplinary research design, and both quantitative and qualitative data analysis, with opportunities to contribute to publications in sustainable materials and circular economy research.

You must be a university graduate, or be expecting to graduate, with a 2.1 (or international equivalent) and / or a masters at merit level or above in a relevant subject (engineering, physics, or materials science or closely related disciplines). The work will include consideration of public perceptions and behaviour, hence an interest in economics and/or psychology would be an advantage.

The successful candidate will be expected to go out and about to directly engage with a variety of different relevant parties, making communication skills important.

This is a self‑funded PhD opportunity; therefore you must secure your own funding for both fees and maintenance either privately or via a scholarship from external/government funding bodies.

Open to UK and international candidates.

This PhD project is open until filled.

To apply, please email Dr Katy Voisey at  attaching a cover letter, CV and academic transcripts.