Applications are sought for a PhD studentship within the Centre for Sustainable Manufacturing and Recycling Technologies (SMART), http://www.lboro.ac.uk/smart, in the Wolfson School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, one of the largest Engineering Schools devoted to this subject area in the UK.

Following the award of a substantial grant, the Centre for SMART is building its research activities in sustainable food manufacturing and requires a number of PhD students to work on its ‘Grand Challenge’ projects of Eco-Production of Food, Sustainable Food Supply Chains and Distributed Manufacturing of Food.

Project Description: Will we still have supermarkets in 2050? The way we live is changing rapidly, and the way we produce, purchase and consume food is set to look radically different in the coming decades. With changing lifestyles and social demographics, food manufacturers are facing growing pressure to not only meet customer demand, but also operate responsibly and sustainably. Factors such as scarcity of key resources, rapid population growth, climate change and loss of biodiversity are raising complex challenges for realising resilient and sustainable configurations of food supply chains. In this context, this PhD seeks to explore how the food industry will shift and develop in the future – from farm gate to fork. The research will map out new opportunities for the production and consumption of food across the whole value chain, and will develop tools and strategies to enable and realise future sustainable businesses in this sector.

Although based within the Centre for SMART at Loughborough, this position will work within an EPSRC National Research Centre in Food Manufacturing, in collaboration with the Universities of Nottingham and Birmingham as well as a large food manufacturing companies and retailers including AB Sugar, Cargill, Mars, McCain Foods, PepsiCo, Premier Foods, Nestle, Unilever, Marks and Spencer and J Sainsbury. It is expected that the successful student will spend some time working within these other organisations during their study.

Applicants must be expecting, or have already obtained a first degree (1^st class or high 2:1 honours or equivalent) in business or supply chain management, manufacturing engineering, design engineering or any other relevant field. Good communication skills are essential as well as an interest in environmental business management and sustainable development.

The studentship will start in July or October 2015, is for three years, and is valued at £13,863 p.a. plus tuition fees at the UK/EU rate. Non UK applicants must meet the minimum English language requirements, details of which are available on the Loughborough University website.

Please apply through the following web page: http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/mechman/pg-research/howtoapply/.  Applicants seeking additional information are invited to contact Leila Sheldrick (l.sheldrick<στο>lboro.ac.uk) to discuss this project in more detail.

Deadline for applications: 30^th April 2015.

Interviews are planned to take place in late May. Please quote the reference LKS020415 on all correspondence and especially on the application form.