Conference on Product Lifetimes And The Environment (PLATE) June 2015, Nottingham (UK)

Dates: 17-19 June 2015
Location: Nottingham UK
Website: http://www.ntu.ac.uk/plate_conference/index.html
Deadline for submissions: 8 September 2014

Call for Papers 

Nottingham Trent University is pleased to be hosting the first international conference to examine Product Lifetimes and the Environment in the context of sustainability. This ground breaking event will include keynote presentations, discussion, debate and workshops, an exhibition and gallery of artefacts, and a gala dinner.

We are delighted to invite you to submit abstracts of around 500 words (2,500 characters including spaces). Please note that the closing date for submission is 8 September 2014 at 12 noon. Exploratory papers and work in progress will also be considered.  Further details of the conference themes and topics, and submission instructions can be found on our website.

We also welcome workshop proposals and posters and artefacts for the exhibition: a call for these will be announced in November 2014. Please feel free to send enquiries or expressions of interest via email in the meantime.

Conference aims

We will be reviewing current research on how and why increased product lifetimes have become an important element in resource efficiency, waste reduction and low carbon strategies for sustainability.

Academic researchers, industry representatives and policy stakeholders will share knowledge and experience on the influence that product longevity has on environmental, economic and social sustainability.

Conference themes

PLATE will embrace a multi-disciplinary perspective including design, geography, anthropology, business management, economics, marketing and consumer behaviour, sociology and politics. The conference will explore the following themes, among others:

• design approaches to product longevity
• the role of product longevity in resource efficiency and waste reduction
• strategies for product lifetime optimisation
• cultural perspectives on the throwaway society
• business opportunities, economic implications and marketing strategies
• consumer influences on product lifetimes
• policies, regulation and legislation.