Sustainable Procurement and Purchasing

Our CES Practitioner Doctorate Student (PDS) programme gives its multi-disciplinary Doctoral Researchers a unique opportunity to develop and apply the latest thinking in sustainability research to solve a sustainability challenge in industry.

The University of Surrey Estates and Facilities department are looking to hire a new Practitioner Doctorate in Sustainability (PDS) to build on the success of of previous PDS placements. This student will be embedded within the Sustainability Team, working on behaviour change relating to purchasing of goods and services and aims to enable and enhance wider circular economy activity at the University of Surrey. 

The aim of the project is to increase the uptake and success of sustainable procurement practices and enable and enhance wider circular economy activity at the University of Surrey.

The objectives of this research project are to understand the capabilities, opportunities, motivations and behaviours of staff involved in purchasing and procurement in public bodies and education institutions. In particular, we seek to understand how behaviours differ according to the job role of employees, particularly between procurement, administrative, finance, academic and professional services staff, as well as according to commodity areas, in order to overcome barriers and improve performance.

Expected Impacts

– A comprehensive mapping of the purchasing and procurement activities and processes of HEIs and public bodies, including the capabilities, opportunities and motivations of key staff at each point.

–  Testing of behavioural interventions in sustainable procurement.

–  Informed proposals for practical behavioural interventions for sustainable procurement and policy recommendations for organisations and institutions seeking to implement sustainable procurement practices.

 Methodologies

–  Collation of emission data from purchased goods and services in UK HEIs to identify the most impactful commodity areas.

–  Questionnaires sent to HEI (pre-existing network) and public body staff using a snowball sampling methodology to identify and recruit non-procurement staff involved in purchasing. Questionnaire will be designed to inform the content of the following semi-structed interviews and will be used to recruit a more focused group of participants for interview.

–  Semi-structured interviews informed by questionnaire results and used to explore capabilities, opportunities and motivations and identify current behaviours.

–  Thematic analysis performed on semi-structured interview transcripts to discover common capabilities, opportunities, motivations and existing behaviours.

–  Statistical analysis of questionnaire results to support the identification of differences in capabilities, opportunities, motivations and behaviours, according to job role and commodity area.

Location:

·      Training to take place in Guildford, Surrey, GU2 7XH

·      Project to be based in Sustainability, Stag Hill, University of Surrey

Supervisors: Martina Wiles, Nick Jones, Dr Elena Dawkins, Professor Birgitta Gatersleben and Professor Angela Druckman.

Entry requirements

Open to candidates who pay UK/home rate fees. See UKCISA for further information. Starting in October 2025.

You will need to meet the minimum entry requirements for our PhD programme.

Candidate profile

Essential:

·      English proficiency.

·      Ability to work independently and in teams.

·      Strong communication skills.

·      Capacity for independent thought, as well as a pragmatic attitude to working within industry.

·      A passion for sustainability.

·      Knowledge of behaviour change theories and/or circular economy/procurement, or related topic.

Desirable experience:

·      Experience of working with stakeholders at varying levels.

·      Technical skills such as questionnaire creation, interviewing, and data analysis.

How to apply

Applications should be submitted via the Practitioner Doctorate in Sustainability PhD/EngD programme page.

In place of a research proposal, you should upload a document stating the title of the project that you wish to apply for and the name of the relevant supervisor.

Applicants should ALSO send a copy of their CV and covering letter via email to [email protected].