Dr Lucia Corsini (University of Oxford)
Enabling a low-carbon and Circular Economy for electrical and electronic equipment is a critical element of reducing carbon emissions from the extraction and processing of minerals.
Electrical and electronic equipment is the fastest growing waste stream in the UK and the world. Less than 35% of waste electrical and electronic equipment is recovered in the UK.
Our ability to effectively reuse, repair, remanufacture and recycle electrical and electronic equipment is locked in by decisions made at the design and manufacturing stage.
So, how do we design more circular products, services and systems to enable the effective maintenance, reuse, remanufacture and recycling of electrical and electronic equipment?
How can we help industry to do the same, within the socio-economic, technical and regulatory constraints they face?
The Circular Electrical and Electronics Project aims to tackle these challenges and has been carefully co-created with more than twenty-four partners from across the electrical and electronic equipment value chain.
This project is supported by UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship funding of £1.56m awarded to Dr Lucia Corsini to explore “Tackling Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment”. The initiative develops systems and engineering design solutions to enable a Circular Economy for electrical and electronic equipment, in which product lifetimes are maximised and products are effectively reused, remanufactured, repaired and recycled.
Forming part of a systems approach, this research project develops design and engineering solutions to:
- Model flows of waste electrical and electronic equipment and related carbon emissions
- Identify waste and carbon reduction scenarios and strategies
- Develop circular product design and business model solutions that leverage emerging technologies and behavioural insights
- Help industry to embed novel circular economy solutions
- Support entrepreneurship and incubation of circular economy solutions
- Raise awareness and improve consumer access to circular economy solutions
Please contact Dr Lucia Corsini at lucia.corsini@eng.ox.ac.uk if you would like to:
- Participate in the Circular Electrical and Electronics Project to get early access to research findings and publications
- Attend the annual Circular Electricals and Electronics Project Knowledge Exchange event
- Co-create future pathways for a Circular Economy for electrical and electronic equipment by participating in policy and industry stakeholder workshops (January– April 2025)
- Invite the Circular Electricals and Electronics Project team to speak to your organisation or provide guidance on the Circular Economy, waste electrical and electronic equipment, or critical minerals
Dr Lucia Corsini is a UKRI Future Leaders Fellow and is an incoming Senior Research Fellow and Head of the Circular Economy and Sustainability Lab at the Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford. Previously she was a Reader in Product Design Engineering at Brunel University London.