The demand for circular economy materials is accelerating—and fast. By 2030, the EU’s recycling rate is expected to nearly double from 11.8% (2023) to 23.3%, driven by both economic incentives (reduced material and CO₂ costs) and evolving regulatory frameworks.
To meet these ambitious targets, innovation in circular design is critical. That’s where two groundbreaking EU-funded projects—SALIENT and ZEvRA—come in.
🔧 SALIENT (Novel Concepts for Safer, Lighter, Circular, and Smarter Vehicle Structure Design) is redefining vehicle front-end structures for improved crashworthiness, circularity, and sustainability.
🔹 Launched in Sept 2022
🔹 Northumbria University UNN (Prof. Ahmed Elmarakbi) is the project technical Coordinator, and Dr Engy Ghoniem leads the circular design work package.
🔹 Learn more: www.salient-project.eu
🔗 Project page: SALIENT on LinkedIn
🚗 ZEvRA (Zero Emission electric Vehicles enabled by haRmonised circulArity) focuses on embedding circularity into the entire EV value chain—from design to end-of-life.
🔹 Launched in Jan 2024
🔹 Targets at least 59% of European EVs by 2035
🔹 Led by five OEMs and top European universities, including Northumbria University (where Dr Engy Ghoniem is leading circularity awareness training for industry and Academia)
🔹 Learn more: www.zevraproject.eu
🔗 Project page: ZEvRA on LinkedIn
🛠️ To kickstart the conversation, we invite you to join our upcoming workshop at Northumbria University:
🔹 Workshop Title: Rethinking Automotive Design for a Sustainable Future
📅 Date: 30th April 2025
🕐 Time: 13:00 – 15:00 GMT+1
📍 Location: SAN205, Northumbria University
🎙️ Speaker: Dr Engy Ghoniem, Senior Research Fellow
Let’s drive the shift toward a smarter, circular, and more sustainable mobility future—together. 🚀
This workshop is open to staff, undergraduate students (specially final year students) and postgraduate students from Northumbria University’s Department of Mechanical and Construction Engineering, and automotive engineering students/staff. To register please click the image below or scan the QR code.
