PhD – Integrating Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) into the development of new technologies @ University of Bath

This project is one of a number that are in competition for funding from the University of Bath URSA competition, for entry in September 2025.

Early application is encouraged, as excellent candidates may receive an early offer of a funded place before the end of the year. To be eligible for early consideration, you must apply before 24 November 2024.

Project Background:

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is an established method for estimating the environmental footprint of technologies. However, it is usually applied once technologies are being sold in a market, which is too late to inform their design and thus ensure the best possible environmental outcomes. Applying LCA during the development of new technologies is an important new area of research, as reflected in a recent journal special issue (Bergerson et. al. 2020). This PhD will involve two inter-related strands: 1. Contributing to international methodological development in LCA of emerging technologies (building on Bergerson et. al. 2020). 2. Applying of the above methodology to support material or technology development within the Faculty of Engineering and Design. The successful applicant will have opportunity to select the area of application to suit their interests. For step (1), the initial stages will depend on the experience of the successful applicant, but are likely to involve: (i) Conventional attributional LCA of selected product and associated lab-scale technology; (ii) Development of scenarios for how lab-scale technology could be scaled up to commercial level; (iii) Comparison of scaled-up system to conventional reference products.

The aim of this PhD will be to improve our ability to incorporate LCA into experimental work within the Faculty, to ensure development of environmentally sustainability new technologies.

Candidate requirements:

Applicants must have, or be about to obtain, a UK Honours degree 1^st or 2.1, or international equivalent.

Non-UK applicants, who are not currently studying in the UK, must meet the programme’s English language requirement before the application deadline – no exceptions will be considered.

Enquiries:

Informal enquiries are encouraged! Direct these to Dr Stephen Allen – [email protected]

Application Instructions

Please follow the below instructions carefully.

You must make a formal application via the University of Bath’s online application form for a PhD in Civil Engineering

Please note that you can apply for a maximum of two PhD projects on this programme.

In the ‘Funding Your Studies’ section, you must select ‘University of Bath URSA’ from one of the drop-down menus.

In the ‘Your PhD project’ section, you must quote the project title in the PhD project title field, and you must quote the lead supervisor’s name in the field ‘Name of intended supervisor at University of Bath.’

If you are applying for two projects, you must quote the project title for your second choice project in the field ‘Project 2 Title’ and the lead supervisor’s name in ‘Name of intended supervisor for 2^nd choice project at University of Bath.

You must ensure that you follow the above steps correctly. Failure to complete these steps will cause errors in the automated processing of your application and may mean that you are not considered for a particular project.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

We value a diverse research environment and strive to be an inclusive university, where difference is celebrated and respected. We encourage applications from under-represented groups.

If you have circumstances that you feel we should be aware of that have affected your educational attainment, then please feel free to tell us about it in your application form. The best way to do this is a short paragraph at the end of your personal statement.

The Disability Service ensures that individuals with disabilities are provided the support that they need. If you state if your application that you have a disability, the Disability Service will contact you as part of this process to discuss your needs.