Exploring the role of behavioural and technological factors for transitioning to a Circular Economy

Circular Economy (CE) is broadly underpinned by the principles of:

1. Design out waste and pollution
2. Keeping products and materials in use
3. Regenerate natural systems

All of these principles can help accelerate a shift towards combating environmental challenges and promoting sustainable development.

Similar to CE, innovative and disruptive technologies, such as Industry 4.0, Artificial Intelligence and Big Data Analytics, have also grown in popularity in recent times, yet their role in contributing towards CE is still understudied. Despite the potential value of CE, further challenges, such as there being a disconnect between CE concepts and their use, behavioural disconnect, in terms of limited understanding of CE held by organisational managers and consumers, as well as a technological disconnect, in terms of there being a lack of insights into how innovative technologies, can assist in facilitating and supporting the uptake of CE, are all leading to renewed calls for an investigation into the behavioural and technological role of CE.

Accordingly, this proposed research aims to explore the role of behavioural and technological factors in facilitating successful CE uptake.

There may be scope for this project to be studied via Distance Learning.