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: Our eating habits have changed dramatically over the past few decades. People are snacking frequently, purchasing more pre-prepared food than ever before, and demanding global cuisine from their supermarket deli counters. In addition, there is a growing requirement for specialist nutrition through trends towards diets such as veganism as well as intolerances like coeliac disease. Therefore, as lifestyles become busier and more diverse, this demand for a wider variety of fresh and personalised food is also increasing. One of the most prominent challenges for meeting these demands however arises out of greater urbanisation. In this context, this PhD project seeks to explore how the design, production, and consumption of food will change within cities and large urban centres in the coming years. How will manufacturers ensure they deliver the right food, to the right people, at the right time? The aim of this research is not only to answer these questions and develop future models for urban food production, but also to create tools and strategies for the support of product design and development of these new food products.

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 design engineering, product development, food science, manufacturing engineering or any other relevant field. Good communication skills are essential as well as an interest in environmental design 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 LKS010415 on all correspondence and especially on the application form.