PhD in Electrical Engineering - Digital Passport Empowered Rare Material Recycling Network

About the Project

Start date: 01 October 2026

The School of Engineering of the University of Glasgow is seeking a highly motivated graduate to undertake an exciting 3.5-year PhD project to develop Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) based digital passport to provide immutable end-to-end traceability of semiconductor materials, from sourcing through manufacturing and end-of-life collection. Smart contracts will automate recycling logistics and record the recovery of valuable metals, while a unified platform integrates supply-chain, lifecycle, and recycling data to guide industry standards and policy.

The system will leverage secure, real-time data communication networks and IoT technologies to ensure reliable and verifiable data flow between manufacturers, recyclers, suppliers, and other parties involved in the semiconductor lifecycle. Secured communication against cyber threats will also be considered to protect sensitive supply-chain and recycling data as it is logged and transmitted through the DLT infrastructure.

Leveraging the collected digital passport data, digital twins will be created to explore and visualise the patterns of the recovered materials and associated logistics before then enabling “what-if“ exploration in the operation of the end-to-end operation of recycling logistics. This digital exploration will support policy makers decisions and planning before costly and complex implementation.

The PhD candidate will be supervised by an interdisciplinary team across the REACT programme and supporting by industry partners.

Application for this scholarship is made by using the online system at the following link:

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Please note that this application is to gain admission to our PGR programme, and an offer of admission may be issued before a decision on this Scholarship is made. Candidates applying for this Scholarship will most likely have an interview/discussion with the supervisor before any decision is made.

Informal enquires to Nazila Fough (Nazila.Fough@glasgow.ac.uk), Lei Zhang (lei.zhang@gla.ac.uk)and Paul Harvey (paul.harvey@gla.ac.uk)

Funding Notes

The studentship is supported by REACT project , and it will cover home tuition fees and provide a stipend at the UKRI rate for 3.5 years (£21,805 for session 2026/27).