Dr G Medero
No more applications being accepted
Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)
About the Project
In a world of finite resources, a circular economy strategy is fundamental for tackling shortages in the supply of raw materials to help reduce environmental impact. Imminent UK and EU legislation requires a significant reduction in waste to landfill, with only 5% of waste from construction being permitted and 70% of waste requiring recycling by 2025. Given that the construction sector is currently not only the largest contributor of waste generation globally, which is in Europe alone responsible for 821 million tonnes of waste annually, but also the largest contributor of carbon emissions, there is a huge demand for new construction materials with sustainable credentials in terms of carbon footprint and raw input materials. With regards to the building sector, strict targets and requirements have been set out by the UK and a number of EU Governments in terms of building over 4 million new houses by 2020. Affordable low-carbon building materials are key to ensure that the UK and the rest of the EU Governments will meet these house-building targets.
This research project aims to research and experimentally investigate a new generation of building materials considering the re-use of raw materials as input component, reduction of energy consumption during manufacturing and exploiting the potential of carbon negative properties by using additives within the mixture. This project will take advantage of the complementary expertise and laboratory facilities of the geomaterials group and the cementitious material group at Heriot-Watt University.
Funding Notes
Scholarships will cover tuition fees and provide an annual stipend of approximately £14,500 (at the RCUK approved rate) for the 36 month duration of the project.
To be eligible, applicants should have a first-class honours degree in a relevant subject or a 2.1 honours degree plus Masters (or equivalent).