INCEPT – INformated Circular Economy ProducTs

Economic, environmental and social imperatives to move from a linear (take-use-dispose) to a circular economy (take-use-reuse) for low value (typically high volume) consumer products form an urgent ‘wicked problem’ requiring interdisciplinary research.

The aim of this INformated Circular Economy ProducTs (INCEPT) project is to establish a White Rose-led circular economy (CE) research agenda for low value consumer products (LVCPs).

Our interdisciplinary approach brings contributions from the design, operations and use lifecycle (including consumer behaviour). End of life phase is addressed through circularity. Digital (informated) technologies of the fourth Industrial Revolution, including Internet of Things and Big Data, is a cross-cutting theme.

Lead Academic at lead institution

Prof Peter Ball University of York

Lead Academics at other Institutions

Prof Ashutosh Tiwari University of Sheffield

Prof Alison McKay University of Leeds

Other staff associated with this project
University of York
Dr Beatrice D’Ippolito Senior Lecturer in Strategic Management The York Management School

Dr Nadina Luca Lecturer in Marketing The York Management School

Dr Samarthia Thankappan Senior Lecturer Department of Environment and Geography

Dr Matthew Cotton Senior Lecturer in Human Geography

University of Sheffield 

Dr John Oyekan Lecturer in Digital Manufacturing

Dr Windo Hutabarat Research Associate in Digitalisation

University of Leeds

Prof William Young Chair of Sustainability and Business

Dr Matt Davis Associate Professor in Organizational Psychology Leeds University Business School

Dr Gerard Duff  Teaching Fellow in Product Design

Dr Deepak Arunachalam  Lecturer – Logistics, Information, Operations & Networks [operations, digital]

Other partners

Katie Thomas, Low Carbon and Circular Economy Lead. York, North Yorkshire & East Riding Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP)

Project specific interest in post-consumer waste. They launched Circular Yorkshire, Nov 2019.

Ben Morgan, Programme Director, Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, Sheffield.

AMRC is part of the High Value Manufacturing (HVM) Catapult.

Project specific interest in innovative application of digital technologies

Alan Howard, Head of Design and Manufacturing, The Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET).

Project specific interest as a dissemination partner. Sustainability is key theme for the IET in 2020. Sector Executive email news to 30,000 members with manufacturing interest and publish manufacturing insights for national distribution.

Prof Anja Maier, Head of Engineering Systems, Technical University of Denmark, Technology, Management and Economics, Denmark.

Expertise in responsible design and design for human behaviour in systems [design]

Dr Fiona Charnley, Associate Professor of Circular Economy, University of Exeter

Leader in CE working at the interfaces of design, innovation and manufacture. [design, operations]

Prof Nancy Bocken, Professor in Sustainable Business Management and Practice at The International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics (IIIEE) at Lund University, Sweden.

Sustainable business models, sustainable innovation, scaling up sustainable business and closing the ‘idea-action’ gap in sustainability.




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