Research Associate (Material Flows for UK Buildings Circular Economy)

About the role

We are looking for a researcher to join our team at the Institute for Sustainability at the University of Bath, to work on an exciting new five-year multi-institution project on circular economy for buildings: BuildZero.

BuildZero aims to understand if the UK’s needs from its building stock can be met with zero new raw material extraction, zero emissions and zero waste. Our research will show to what extent this vision is achievable and desirable, and provide a platform for translating circular economy approaches into practice and policy at scale.

Within this wider project, your focus will be on understanding flows of relevant materials and components in and out of the UK building stock, using various data sources to model flows and stocks over time using Material Flow Analysis approaches. You will also be an integral member of the large, multidisciplinary BuildZero project team, and will contribute to wider project tasks, events, and outputs.

This role is initially offered for 2 years with an expected end date of 31^st October 2026. There is potential for a researcher who brings or can develop suitable skills to extend this to deliver further work packages: on modelling how circularity strategies interact to create change at UK building stock scale, and developing and using novel 'prospective life cycle assessment' methods to ensure environmental impacts properly consider expected future changes to processes and systems.

If you are interested, please get in touch to find out more or informally discuss the project before applying: email Dr Rick Lupton (Bath project lead) on rcl38@bath.ac.uk.

About you

We are looking for applicants who have a PhD or equivalent relevant experience, in industrial ecology or related areas. You will also need:

• Knowledge of relevant modelling approaches such as Material Stock and Flow Analysis and Life Cycle Assessment.
• Experience of successfully processing and interpreting data, building models and analysing research results in a transparent and reproducible way, using tools such as Python (or equivalent).
• Ability to organise and prioritise your own workload, and to work in a broad interdisciplinary team, both within Bath and across the wider project.
• Excellent oral, interpersonal and written communication skills.
• Familiarity with issues of circular economy and the built environment (desirable).

What we can offer you:

• a very generous employer contributory pension scheme
• generous annual leave allowance with an additional 5 discretionary days so that you can enjoy a positive work life balance
• we are a family-friendly University and with an increasingly agile workforce, are open to flexible working arrangements
• an excellent reward package that recognises the talents of our diverse workforce
• a wide range of personal and professional development opportunities
• a number of support options available for new and existing staff to help with the cost of some immigration expenses which you may be eligible for: Relocation allowance, Visa Reimbursement, Interest-Free Loan.

Find out more about our benefits.

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