Smart Materials, Sustainable Buildings: Standardising Material Passports for UK Construction

About the Project

The UK construction industry is under increasing pressure to address climate change, reduce embodied carbon, and adopt circular economy principles. A key barrier to achieving these goals is the lack of transparency and traceability of building materials throughout their lifecycle. Material Passports—digital documents containing detailed information on the composition, provenance, and recyclability of materials—offer a promising solution. By embedding data into design and construction workflows, Material Passports can enable reuse, improve resource efficiency, and align with sustainability certifications such as BREEAM, LEED, and emerging circularity standards.

Despite their potential, Material Passports remain underutilised in the UK. There is no unified framework for their creation, integration with Building Information Modelling (BIM), or adoption across supply chains. This project seeks to address this gap by developing a standardised framework tailored to UK construction practices, regulations, and sustainability ambitions.

This research aims to develop and validate a standardised framework for implementing Material Passports in the UK construction industry, enhancing resource efficiency and enabling circular economy practices.

Academic qualifications
Have, or expect to achieve by the time of start of the studentship a first-class honours degree, or a distinction at master level, ideally in Civil/Structural Engineering, Architecture, Construction Management, Building Technology, Environmental Engineering, Materials Science, or a related discipline

English language requirement
IELTS score must be at least 6.5 (with not less than 6.0 in each of the four components). Other, equivalent qualifications will be accepted. Full details of the University’s policy are available online.

Essential attributes:

• Only a first-class honours degree, or a distinction at master level in a subject relevant to the PhD project will be considered, or equivalent achievements.
• Strong fundamental knowledge of sustainable construction, building materials, and circular economy principles.Familiarity with Building Information Modelling (BIM) or other digital design/construction tools.
• Ability to critically analyse and synthesise literature, standards, and technical data.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to engage academic and industry stakeholders.
• Analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to design and carry out independent research.
• Motivation and commitment to conduct interdisciplinary research addressing both technical and sustainability challenges.

Desirable attributes:

• Practical experience in research or industry will be considered an advantage.

APPLICATION CHECKLIST

• Completed application form
• CV
• 2 academic references, using the Postgraduate Educational Reference Form (download)
• Research project outline of 2 pages (list of references excluded). The outline may provide details about
  1. Background and motivation of the project. The motivation, explaining the importance of the project, should be supported also by relevant literature. You can also discuss the applications you expect for the project results.
  2. Research questions or objectives.
  3. Methodology: types of data to be used, approach to data collection, and data analysis methods.
  4. List of references.
• Statement no longer than 1 page describing your motivations and fit with the project.
• Evidence of proficiency in English (if appropriate)

To be considered, the application must use

• the advertised title as project title

For informal enquiries about this PhD project, please contact m.jowkar@napier.ac.uk