The EPSRC invites expressions of interest to attend a scoping workshop to be held in Birmingham on 26 April 2012. The workshop will bring together researchers from a wide range of disciplines, industrialists and other stakeholders that have a broad and forward thinking view of the area.

The scoping workshop will inform a resource efficiency sandpit that the EPSRC intends to run in late July by identifying the key challenges and priorities that need to be addressed:

The management of resources within the UK and across the world is becoming ever more important. A number of related issues and challenges come together under this umbrella, for instance but by no means exclusively: the scarcity of metals and minerals; the importance of moving towards sustainable materials across a range of products and sectors; adaptations of existing structures and systems; management of waste and pollution; sustainable manufacturing; engineered approaches to resource recovery; recycling of critical materials; and disruptive product design.

The scoping workshop will help to identify the non-biological research challenges from an engineering and physical sciences perspective, placing this in context of work already funded. It will also identify topics for the sandpit and potentially engineering-led grand challenges.

Should you wish to attend the workshop please complete the EOI form which can be found on the call page.