Department of Chemical Engineering
Applications are invited for a PhD studentship funded by Great Western Research (GWR) in the following research area: “Building capacity for carbon footprint reduction in small to medium enterprises (SMEs)”.
Research overview
The success of initiatives aimed at slowing global warming by reducing the carbon footprint of products and services will depend on action throughout the supply chain to reduce greenhouse gas emissions ‘from cradle to grave’. SMEs play an important role in almost every supply chain, and action by them to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is essential. Most SMEs, however, do not have the specialist resources or expertise to assess and manage their contribution to global warming.
This PhD studentship research will investigate how the capacity of SMEs (specifically, their in-house skills and knowledge, access to resources, support networks, and training) can be improved to bring about reduction in the global warming contribution associated with product and service life cycles. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) will be used to characterise the global warming contribution of particular products and services produced by collaborating businesses (both before and after planned interventions), with the aim of improving the capacity of these businesses to reduce their contributions to global warming. The range of interventions to be studied include: different forms and levels of training and awareness-raising for business staff in the assessment and management of product and service carbon footprints; energy management advice; waste minimisation assessments; and other activities to be defined in the course of this PhD research.
This research benefits from the collaboration of the Federation of Small Businesses, which will support the identification of collaborating SMEs and promote capacity-building in the businesses concerned. Case study SMEs will be based in the South West of England.
The studentship
Candidates should hold a first or upper second class honours degree in an appropriate science or engineering discipline and have a keen interest in small business. Knowledge and experience in application of LCA is desirable.
This GWR Studentship covers home/EU tuition fees and a stipend of £12,940 (tax free) per annum. Overseas students are eligible to apply, but will be expected to pay the difference between home/EU and overseas fees (currently around £8,000 p.a.) and have an English Language Qualification, IELTS of not less than 7 or its equivalent.
The successful candidate will join the Integrated Environmental Management group (www.bath.ac.uk/iem/ ) in the Department of Chemical Engineering (www.bath.ac.uk/chem-eng/ ) at the University of Bath and will collaborate with the Business School at Bournemouth University (http://business.bournemouth.ac.uk/), Federation of Small Business (www.fsb.org.uk) and Bath & North East Somerset Council. The University of Bath's Department of Chemical Engineering was awarded a grade 4 in the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise and is located within the UNESCO World Heritage city of Bath.
How to apply
Interested applicants should send their CV and covering letter to Dr David Hicks, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY or email: d.i.hicks@bath.ac.uk
The deadline for applications is 29 August 2008.
University of Bath is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
Further information available at
http://www.bath.ac.uk/iem/carbonfootprint/gwr/PhD_studentship.htm
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