51³Ô¹ÏÍø

A step change in the stewardship of limited materials: towards a resource-efficient economy

The Challenge

Between 2030 and 2050 the world completes the inevitable transition from a linear “take-make-dispose” industrial system to a more circular economy where reducing, reusing and recycling of resources occurs throughout the processes of design, production, circulation and consumption of all products.

The challenge today is launching systems that share stewardship of critical resources. 

The wastes of today have been minimised and are now an essential component of a resource-efficient system that has provided a high standard of living and has had a major impact on achieving climate change and wider sustainability milestones.

Mission Development

We will advance underpinning fundamental science, develop innovative technologies, optimise value chains for ultimate resource efficiency, conduct holistic product and service design, and demonstrate resource-efficient concepts across a variety of important sectors through user-led and co-designed applications.   

Our mission's vision is to: 

• Lead the world in resource-efficient economy research   

• Redefine our relationship with materials.   

• Launch systems that share stewardship of critical resources.   

• Deliver utility without pollution. 

We foresee there to be many projects emerging out of each mission. The first area of focus for the Re-Engineering mission is Sustainable Fashion & Textiles.

Past and Future Activities

We have held two cross faculty meetings in the area of Sustainable Fashion & Textiles. The first was held in December 2025 and the second was a few weeks later in February 2026.

The aim of these workshops was to map 51³Ô¹ÏÍø's expertise, define the largest and most pressing challenges in this sector, and to see how a convergent approach can unlock system level pathways to impact.

Since then, the Co-Directors have established high-level aims across five key pillars of research that needs further investigation. These range from local & global sustainable fibres, sustainable yarn & fabric manufacturing,  to sustainable fashion by design.

Going forwards

• We are building a community around this mission and seeking engagement from people who bring a systems perspective for tackling global challenges, moving away from single discipline solutions.
• Another area of interest, and a key challenge that this mission is investigating, is the development of reliable, safe and low carbon transportation of goods. We are engaged with internal and external  stakeholders to find system-level solutions to decarbonising the transport and maritime sectors.
• Develop a 'theory of change' for the mission, that will plan out a route to maximum impact.
• We will be hosting on-going workshops to co-create projects and focus areas in this mission.

Get involved

If you are interested to get involved or want to discuss this mission with us, please get in touch;

You can email us at: sustainable-convergence@imperial.ac.uk

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