Eco-design Implementation within a Computer-Aided Design Context

The Department of Mechanical Engineering wishes to appoint a PhD student to contribute to research into the development of eco-design tools and applications, as part of a project funded by the European Commission under its Framework Programme 7. The PhD researcher will be working alongside an already-appointed Research Officer.

The EU-project’s goal is to develop a software platform (and other engineering tools) for life cycle environmental impact analysis and eco-design improvements within a computer-aided design context.

The PhD research will investigate: ‘The Opportunities and Limitations for Eco-design Implementation within a Computer-Aided Design Context’.

The PhD Student will be making contributions to the tasks set-out in the EU-project’s work plan, these will provide an ‘action research’ context for the PhD topic. This means that the student will be working on the EU-research project, which will be implementing an already-proposed eco-design approach, whilst the PhD itself will be an objective analysis of the opportunities and limitations for eco-design implementation within a computer-aided design context in a broader sense.
The Bath research team will be contributing to the activities described below. The PhD research will be matched onto this research and will be discussed with the successful candidate:

--Critical analysis of the application of eco-design methods and tools in product design practice
--Identify the main environmental impact of modules/components in household appliances (the case-study) in relation to the different life cycle phases.
--Identify the life cycle costs of modules/components in household appliances in relation to the different life cycle phases.
--Propose the inter-relation between eco-design tools (both guidelines and evaluation tools) and traditional design tools.
--Evaluate the integration of the proposed software platform in the context of typical design processes
--Develop a web-based easy-to-use software interface for the proposed tools and platform.
--Evaluate the reduction of greenhouses emissions from a household appliance (the case-study) redesigned using the new software platform.
--Develop and run training modules on: the separate software tools; the whole platform; and case studies achieved during the project.

The Department of Mechanical Engineering is one of the leading mechanical engineering research departments in the UK. The University of Bath has a significant international reputation for high quality research and was named UK University of the Year for 2011-12.

Applicants should have a degree in engineering, design or a related area, and should have experience in: product design and in the use of computer-aided design tools; and ideally, life cycle assessment methods.

For informal enquiries please contact Dr Elies Dekoninck ([Email Address Removed]) or Prof. Chris McMahon ([Email Address Removed])

Apply online selecting 'MPhil/PhD Research in Mechanical Engineering (full-time). When asked for finance information, enter ‘Applying for PhD studentship: Eco-design implementation within a computer-aided design context’.