Reducing E-waste by using artificial intelligence to develop repair diagnostic tools to increase lifespan of appliances.

About the Project

Project ID: 2531bd1688

(You will need this ID for your application)

Research Theme: Circular Economy

UCL Lead department: Mechanical Engineering

Lead Supervisor: Prof. Mark Miodownik

Application Deadline: 13:00 UK time on 21 May 2026

PhD start Date: 01 October 2026

The UCL EPSRC Landscape Award (UELA) is recruiting outstanding students to undertake fully-funded four-year PhD (including EngD) studentships at UCL. These studentships are open to Home fee status students only.

Funding

This PhD studentship is fully funded for 4 years and provides:

• 4 years tuition fees (Home rate).
• A maintenance stipend at the UELA enhanced rate (this will be at least £23,466 in 2026/27, and rises each year).
• A Research Training Support Grant to cover additional costs of training, courses, project costs, conferences and travel.

We welcome applications for full-time or part-time study. Part-time students will be funded pro-rata for up to 8 years.

Project Summary:

Electronic waste is the fastest-growing waste stream in the world. With the United Kingdom (UK) generating ~25 kg of WEEE per person it is among the highest globally—the consumption and disposal of electrical and electronic products are on unsustainable trajectories. These trends are leading to exacerbated greenhouse gas emissions, depleted critical materials, and adverse pollution social and health impacts globally.

Electronic products are often thrown away due to a single faulty component. Many of them send up in landfill or incineration, others are exported abroad to be dumped in other counties. Due to increasing extended producer responsibility (EPR) and the UK Carbon Emission Trading scheme due to come into operation in 2028, the economics of this waste are set to change dramatically this decade. In this project we will develop scanning and AI methods to automatically assess and diagnose product faults. We will develop tools to certify the fitness for reuse and repair as well as their economic value to current supply chains, as well as environmental benefits. The project seeks to understand how digital passports can help build the reuse and repair economy.

The project is part of a multidisciplinary team including behaviour science researchers, economists, materials and design researchers as well as environmental science experts. Our aim to reduce electronic and plastic waste and builds on our previous work in this area [1,2]. The successful candidate will work as part as part of this UCL team and the EPSRC Sustainable Engineering Plastics Manufacturing Hub [3] in collaboration with Warwick and Manchester universities and more than 60 companies and organisations including JLR, Polestar, Siemens, BEKO, Bellway, and Biffa.

Refs.

1. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/sustainability/articles/10.3389/frsus.2025.1562615/full

2. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/sustainability/articles/10.3389/frsus.2024.1432655/full

3.https://www.ukri.org/news/new-research-hubs-to-cut-carbon-and-reshape-uk-manufacturing/

Supervisory Team

Prof Mark Miodownik is a Professor of Materials and Society at UCL. He is the Director of the Institute of Making and leads the Plastic Waste Innovation Hub, which takes a design-led approach to solve the UK’s plastic waste problem [3]. He has published 200+ papers and has a prominent media presence, championing materials research that links the environment to engineering and materials science.

How to Apply

For full details about eligibility requirements and how to apply, please visit the UCL EPSRC Landscape Award Studentship website.

All applications must be made through the online application form available here. An application to UELA consists of 4 parts:

• Part A: Complete once. This must be submitted before parts B, C and D can be completed.
• Part B: Complete once. This must be submitted by 13:00 UK time on 21 May 2026.
• Part C: Complete for each project you are applying to. You can apply to a maximum of 5 projects. This must be submitted by 13:00 UK time on 21 May 2026.
• Part D: To be completed by your two nominated referees. Both references should be submitted by 13:00 UK time on 21 May 2026 for an application to be considered complete. If your references are not received by this deadline it will not prevent your application being reviewed, but your application may be at a disadvantage. We are not able to inform candidates whether their references have been received.

Late, incomplete, or incorrect applications will not be considered. A complete application consists of parts A, B, C, and D. If your references are not received by the deadline it will not prevent your application being reviewed, but your application may be at a disadvantage.

Successful candidates will also need to complete an application via the UCL admissions portal after they have been made a provisional offer by UELA.