UK International Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Resource Management for the Circular Economy (UK ICE-SRM CE)
UK International Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Resource Management for the Circular Economy (UK ICE-SRM CE)
Welcome to the UK ICE-SRM CE, we are a UNECE and UK Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs backed centre of excellence in sustainable resource management for the circular economy.
A circular economy is one in which resources are kept in use for as long as possible, rather than being taken from the earth, used once and disposed of in landfill. Our coalition will leverage their expertise to explore circularity in areas such as metals, construction and critical minerals to develop effective data, technological innovation, finance models and policy.
Following a vote by member states of the UNECE we formally opened in April 2024, the centre will comprise five institutions: University College London (UCL), University of Exeter, Brunel University London, Swansea University and the British Geological Survey, co-ordinated by a UK government-funded UNECE research manager based in Geneva.
Our centre has expertise in many areas. These include but are not limited to:
– Material Flow Analysis –
– Critical Minerals –
– Mining –
– Geology –
– Circular Economy –
– Metallurgy –
– Construction Materials –
– Materials Science –
Click on our partner logos below to explore each institutional specialty and to find out their latest activities.
The centre will develop sustainable approaches to the circular economy and resource efficiency to enable carbon reduction and the transition to a greener future.
The UK will help countries across the world to maximise the environmental and economic opportunities the circular economy offers. Our focus is to develop and deliver innovation that delivers change and supports the UNRMS and UNFC.
The UNRMS offers a strategic framework designed to guide responsible resource stewardship, shaped by global sustainability agendas and lifecycle thinking.
The UNFC provides a standardised global method for evaluating how viable it is to develop and utilise various resource types. Devised under UN guidance, it applies to everything from fossil fuels and mineral deposits to renewables, water and geothermal energy.
Click each button to find out about these important frameworks.
The centre will also draw heavily on the success of several of the partner institutions in the National Interdisciplinary Circular Economy Research (NICER) research and development programme, a four-year £30 million investment established by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ chief scientist Sir Ian Boyd in 2019 under the UK Government’s Strategic Priorities Fund.
You can find information about the NICER programme by clicking the button below – this links to our colleagues over at the Circular Economy Hub (CE-HUB). This page includes links to all the other successful projects facilitated by NICER, which many of our experts have contributed to.
‘Making the use of our resources more sustainable and moving towards a circular economy is fundamental to sustainable development and climate action. Partnerships mobilising international expertise play an important role in UN cooperation to develop and share best practices. I welcome the establishment of this new Centre of Excellence, with its focus on circularity of metals, construction and critical raw materials’.
This page will show updates from each of our centre’s contributors. Watch this space for updates, papers, case studies, events, conferences, webinars and anything else.
Don’t forget to check out our brand new resources page. Here, you can find teaching materials, conferences presentations and links to the work of our sister sites with resources they have produced. Go check it out!
Webinar: Closing the Circle – Embedding UNRMS in the Circular Economy
By Craig Withers, University of Exeter. Webinar: Closing the Circle – Embedding UNRMS in the Circular Economy We are pleased to announce our upcoming international webinar, Closing the Circle – Embedding UNRMS in the Circular Economy, which will explore how the United...
UK ICE-SRM at UNECE Resource Management Week 2025, Geneva
By Craig Withers, University of Exeter. The UK ICE SRM team had a strong and diverse presence at the UNECE Resource Management Week in Geneva this year from 24th till the 28th of March. The event hosted and heard from international experts, policymakers, researchers,...