Resourceful Futures
Providing for human needs in ways that sustainably manage finite resources and recover value from rather than lose materials into the environment.
The Resourceful Futures challenge area explores the importance of providing for human needs and regenerating nature by sustainably managing both renewable and finite resources, and recovering value rather than wasting energy, materials and water. The magnitude of the threats of not achieving the Resourceful Futures objectives is significant enough to consider it an independent challenge, but is clearly interlinked with the rest of the challenges of Sustainable Futures. The smart management of resources implies a systemic vision and is crucial to becoming resilient, tackling climate change and achieving healthy and inclusive futures.
The Resourceful Futures challenge has been divided into the following six sub-groups. These sub-groups bring academics with different perspectives together to collaborate. Some examples of keywords have been included after each subgroup to give some context, but the idea of these groups is to have broad visions. The Resourceful Futures sub-groups are:
- Economy
- Society and politics
- Environment
- Technology and materials
- Policy
- Quantification, qualification and modelling
If you are interested to be part of one (or more) of the subgroups and being informed of future activities (e.g. specific seminars, working in internal or external consortia for calls or doing networking) please contact the Area Challenge Lead Dr Alejandro Gallego Schmid.
Case Studies
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Zombie batteries
Exploding or zombie batteries can cause injury and disruption during the recycling of discarded electronics. Experts at The University of Manchester have used artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to develop a vision-based device to scan electrical junk and detect problem batteries - even in the most damaged equipment.
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Reducing waste at festivals
Every year millions of festivalgoers across the globe gather to enjoy live music. But once the party is over, they often leave a large ecological footprint behind. Seeking a greener way forward, researchers at The University of Manchester helped Glastonbury Festival reduce waste via education and behavioural change initiatives.
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Resourceful Futures Challenge Lead
Dr Alejandro Gallego Schmid, Senior Lecturer in Circular Economy and Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment, Faculty of Science and Engineering.
Dr Alejandro Gallego Schmid works as a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Circular Economy and Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment at the Department of Mechanical Aerospace and Civil Engineering at The University of Manchester. He is part of Tyndall Manchester - an interdisciplinary team working on relevant research on climate change sustainability, where he works identifying sustainable solutions for industrial, agricultural, construction, water and energy systems on a life cycle and circular economy basis, taking into account economic, environmental and social aspects. His current research is focused on: i) the role of circular economy to tackle climate change and achieve net-zero solutions; ii) the implementation of circular economy in renewable sources of energy; iii) circular economy and the informal waste sector in the Global South; and iv) the nexus between circular economy and digitalization.