Course memo Spring 2026

Headings denoted with an asterisk ( * ) is retrieved from the course syllabus version Autumn 2019

Content and learning outcomes

Course contents

The course is based on 6 different themes:

1. Sustainable business and conditions for a circular economy
2. Materials and available resources (metals, ceramics, minerals, polymers and organic materials)
3. Natural raw materials
a. Exploration and environmental impact (metals and minerals)
b. Mining and environmental impact (metals and minerals)
4. Processing and recycling of materials (all materials)
5. Design, manufacture and use in a circular economy (all materials)
6. Recycling and reuse (polymers, ceramics, organic materials and metals)

Intended learning outcomes

After passing the course, the student should be able to …

Explain the different principles of circular economy and apply them to different materials.
Explain how properties of different processes and different materials contribute to a circular economy. For higher grades it is necessary to demonstrate the ability to question and analyze the constraints and challenges in the connection between different processes, materials and circular economics.
Holistically analyze how changes in processes and / or materials composition affect sustainability goals and the conditions for a circular economy. A holistic perspective includes technical, organizational as well as society's perspective. For higher grades, the student is required to adapt the holistic analysis to the context of the problem.
Demonstrate the ability to independently solve problems, as well as the ability to present the solution orally and in writing.

Learning activities

The course is based on two parallell parts. Firstly, lectures, providing a general overview of materials in a circular economy. Attendance at all lectures is mandatory. If you missed more than two lectures, you must complete a complementary assignment. Secondly, a group project where students identify a topic of interest and summarize the current research frontier in a report and an oral presentation. Supervision for the group projects will be planned during the scheduled time for project work. All supervision is voluntary, but the projects will be graded assuming the students have had access to individual supervision.

Detailed plan

Date	Location	Teacher	Activity
14/1, 13.00-15.00	E32/Digital	Yu-Chiao Lu, Material Science and Engineering	Lec 1- Introduction to circular economy
15/1, 13.00-15.00	E32/Digital	Andreas Feldmann, Industrial Engineering and Management	Lec 2- Development of the circular economy
19/1, 13.00-15.00	E32/Digital	Yu-Chiao Lu, Christopher Hulme, Material Science and Engineering	Lec 3- Metals in a circular economy
22/1, 13.00-15.00	E32/Digital	Carl Moser, Fibre and Polymer Technology	Lec 4- Cellulose in a circular economy
27/1, 13.00-15.00	E32/Digital	Annika Gram, Civil and Architectural Engineering	Lec 5- Concrete in a circular economy
3/2, 13.00-15.00		NA	Own work
9/2, 13.00-15.00	E32/Digital	Minna Hakkarainen, Fibre and Polymer Technology	Lec 6- Polymers in a circular economy
11/2, 13.00-15.00	E32/Digital	Mari Lundström, Material Science and Engineering	Lec 7- Circular economy of batteries
12/2, 13.00-17.00		NA	Own work
17/2, 13.00-15.00		NA	Own work
19/2, 13.00-15.00	E32/Digital	Chuan Wang, Material Science and Engineering	Lec 8- Circular economy of industrial by-products
24/2, 13.00-17.00		NA	Own work
26/2, 13.00-17.00		NA	Own work
6/3, 8.00-17.00	E32/Digital		Final seminar

Preparations before course start

Specific preparations

None.

Literature

Some literature will be suggested during the course. No single source is recommended for the course, as everyone is different and so no single source will help everyone.

Support for students with disabilities

Students at KTH with a permanent disability can get support during studies from Funka:

Funka - compensatory support for students with disabilities

Examination and completion

Grading scale

A, B, C, D, E, FX, F

Examination

PRO3 - Seminar assignment, 1.5 credits, grading scale: P, F
PRO4 - Project assignment, 6.0 credits, grading scale: A, B, C, D, E, FX, F

Based on recommendation from KTH’s coordinator for disabilities, the examiner will decide how to adapt an examination for students with documented disability.

The examiner may apply another examination format when re-examining individual students.

If the course is discontinued, students may request to be examined during the following two academic years.

The examiner, in consultation with the KTH Disability Coordinator (Funka), decides on any adapted examination for students with documented permanent impairment.

The examiner may grant another examination form for reexamination of single students.

The section below is not retrieved from the course syllabus:

The course is assessed based on two parts:

PRO 3 - Case work assignment, 1.5 credits-due 13-02-2026

Write a self reflection regarding the following topics and upload to Canvas:

A reflection on how the course contents of the lectures meets the learning outcomes. Select relevant examples from lectures. (1 page minimum)
What are, in your opinion, the biggest challenges (min 2 challenges, max 4) to a transition into a circular economy? Select one examples based on your background and study program (1 page minimum)

PRO 4 - Project assignment, 6.0 credits

Carry out a state-of-the-art study in a group or as an individual. Some suggested project topics will be announced on Canvas. You may also propose your own topic of interests. You will formulate your own scope of work and discuss it with your supervisor. Include at least 10 journal (scientific) articles, outside the literature given in the course. Write a report which length should be a maximum of 10 pages excluding bibliography.

To pass this assignment, you must:

Make reasonable contribution to your group’s report, and submit a declaration of contribution (due 13-03-2026)
Submit the first draft of report (due 23-02-2026)
Submit a peer review report for another group (due 27-02-2026)
Attend and make oral presentation at the final seminar (06-03-2026)
Submit the final version of report (due 13-03-2026)

Grading criteria/assessment criteria

The overall grade for this course is based on 4 parts:

Peer review report - 10 pt
The contribution to the group project (PRO 4) - 10 pt
The oral presentation (PRO 4) - 40 pt
The final report (PRO 4) - 40 pt

The points you score in each assessment will be added together to give an overall score out of 100 for the course. Your final letter grade will be based on the overall score. The following further illustrates the scoring scheme for each assessment:

Peer review report for PRO 4

You get 2 points for each criteria that your report satisfies:

The report is submitted on time
Has a clear title which includes the name of the author and the project title of the group that the peer review is addressed to
The review should be no shorter than 1 page in length
The review makes minimally 2 suggestions for changes for all sections of the report
The review asks minimally 3 questions for the peer project group to think about

Individual contribution to the project (PRO 4)

You will be asked to fill in a declaration form for your contribution to the project work (PRO 4). Your grade will be assigned as follow:

0 point: You made no contribution to the project. This will also result in a failing grade for PRO 4.
5 point: You made lower than average contribution than other members in the group.
10 pts: You made even contribution as other members in the group.

Students working individually will automatically get 10 pt for this assessment.

Final seminar oral presentation

You will get a summation of points for based on the following assessment criteria:

Assessment criteria	0 pt	4-6 pts	6-8 pts	8-10 pts
Assessment criteria	Fail	Poor	Good	Excellent
1. Presentation structure-basic structure includes introduction, method, results and discussions, and conclusions. Other presentation structures may also be used provided that the authors could elaborate their ideas clearly.	The presentation lacks clear structure and there is significant missing information.	The presentation follows a clear structure, but contains too much or too little information which makes the presentation difficult to follow.	The structure is clear and logical, but may have some minor problems that could confuse an audience, such as out-of-order information or missing sections.	The structure is clear and logical. It follows normal scientific conventions and the audience can understand the format easily. It is appropriate for the scientific content you will deliver.
2. Presentation content	The presentation contains inadequate amount of information and lacks own analyses of the topic and proper citation.	The presentation contains too much or too little information and is not presented in clear a way that is comprehensible for the audience. Only qualitative (descriptive) or quantitative (numerical) information is included in the presentation. The presentation also lacks the authors' own analyses and reflections on the topic. Proper citation for some of the reference information may be missing.	The presentation contains a reasonable amount of information and is presented in a way that is easy to understand. Both qualitative (descriptive) and quantitative (numerical) information are included in the presentation. However, the presentation lacks the authors' own analyses and reflections on the topic.	The presentation contains a reasonable amount of information and is presented in a way that is easy to understand. Both qualitative (descriptive) and quantitative (numerical) information are included in the presentation. The presentation includes the authors' own analyses and reflections on the topic. Proper citations are made for any statement or findings which are not created by the authors.
3. Slideshow design	The slideshow contains plain text or figures without any deliberate design or arrangement. The figrues and tables are copied directly from references without proper citations.	The arrangement of the slides is below acceptable level--the text, figures, and tables on the slides are not arranged in a logical manner. The color scheme is not well designed and the content on the slide could not be read with ease. Slide titles, slide numbers, and proper citations may be missing.	The slideshow has an average level of graphical design and is easy to follow. The font size is appropriate. The color of the text, tables, and figures are appropriate and friendly for a color-blind audience. Some slides may contain too much or too little information and the space for some of the slides is not utilized efficiently. Some slides may be missing titles or the titles are not very informative. Some slides may be too wordy, and slide numbers may be missing.	The slideshow is professionally designed, contains creative and illustrative graphics, and is easy to follow. Each slide contains a clear an informative title. The font size of the text is appropriate. The color of the text, tables, and figures are appropriate and friendly for a color-blind audience. The slides are not crowded with too much or too little information. There is a good balance between text, figure, and table. All slides are labeled with a slide number.
4. Time keeping-15 min for a group with 2 people and 25 min for a group more than 2 people.	The presentation was excessively short or long (+/- more than 10 minutes).	The presentation was too short or too long (+/- 5-10 minutes).	The presentation was slightly too short or too long (+/- 3-5 minutes).	The presentation completed on time (+/- 1 minute from target).
5. Teamwork*	For a group more than 1 person, only one group member make oral presentation and answer all the questions.	Not all group members make oral presentation and there is less than 2 members who could answer questions during Q&A.	All group members take turn to present. But less than 2 group members can answer questions during Q&A.	All group members take turn to present. More than 2 group members can answer questions during Q&A.

*Students who work individually on the project will automatically get 10 pts for this assessment.

Final written report

You will get a summation of points for based on the following assessment criteria:

Assessment criteria	0 pt	2-4 pts	4-6 pts	6-8 pts
Assessment criteria	Fail	Poor	Good	Excellent
1. Report structure-basic structure includes introduction, method, results and discussions, and conclusions. Other report structures may also be used provided that the authors could clearly elaborate their viewpoints.	The report lacks clear structure and there is significant missing information.	The report follows a clear structure, but contains too much or too little information which makes the report difficult to read.	The structure is clear and logical, but may have some minor problems that could confuse an audience, such as out-of-order information or missing sections.	The structure is clear and logical. It follows normal scientific conventions and the audience can understand the format easily. It is appropriate for the scientific content you will deliver.
2. Language and formatting	The report is not within page limit and the language is difficult to read.	The language is difficult to read and the report suffers from major formatting issues such as a lack of paragraphing, missing page numbers, inconsistent citation/reference styles, missing captions for figures or tables…etc.	The language is easy to read. The report is within the page limit. However, there are some minor formatting issues with the headings, main body text, tables, figures, captions, page numbers, or citations.	The language is fluent and easy to read. All sections of the report are clearly labeled and formatted. All pages contain a page number. The report is within the page limit. All tables and figures are referred to in the main body text. There is a good balance between text, figures, and tables for illustration of ideas. Both qualitative descriptions and numerical data are included in the report to showcase one's stance. There is no missing citations and the styles for citation and bibliography are consistent and correct.
3. Report content	The author(s) gathers information from only 1-3 scientific articles and the scope of the work is very limited, with no connection with the concepts of a circular economy.	The report includes information from 3-9 scientific articles and there is a lack of a holistic overview of the topic and connection with the concepts of circular economy.	The report includes information from minimally 10 scientific articles. The report showcases that the author(s) have a good overview of the subject but lacks detailed comprehension of certain aspects (e.g. status-quo, challenges, future prospects). The link bewteen the present study and the concepts of a circular economy is also not particularly clear.	The report includes information from minimally 10 scientific articles. The report showcases that the author(s) have a good understanding about the current status, existing solutions, challenges of the problem studied and makes reference to the concepts of a circular economy.
4. Creativity and originality	The report merely states the findings from different reference sources and does not include any comparison, analyses, or self reflection on the subject.	The report assimilates finding across different references using only text and there is a lack of the authors' own analyses and criticism of the subject studied.	The report assimilates finding across different references using text/tables/figures and propose solution(s) to the problem(s) studied but falls short of a critical analyses of the topic and the methods used by the previous researchers.	The report assimilates finding across different references using tables/figures, identifies the strengths and shortcomings of different studies, critically analyzes the topic, and propose solution(s) to the problem(s) and suggests areas for future work.
5. Use of artificial intelligence (AI) must be stated clearly at the beginning of the report, just below the names of the authors	Does not include a statement regarding the use of AI, or uses AI to write the whole report.	Uses AI for literature search and for creating some parts of the body text (including tables and excluding figures).	Uses AI for literature search and for the creation of report structure.	No use of AI at all, or only uses AI for generating keywords for literature search, polishing of written text, and for generation of figures.

Alternatives to missed activities or tasks

Complementary assignment for missed lectures

Attendance will be taken during all lectures. If you miss more than two lectures, you are required to submit a short summary (min. 300 words) for one lecture that you have missed no later than 27-02-2026. All lecture slides can be found on Canvas.

Ethical approach

All members of a group are responsible for the group's work.
In any assessment, every student shall honestly disclose any help received and sources used.
In an oral assessment, every student shall be able to present and answer questions about the entire assignment and solution.

Further information

Changes of the course before this course offering

No changes have been made from the 2024 course offering.

Contacts

Communication during course

This course will be run in hybrid format so that all lectures will be held on zoom, https://kth-se.zoom.us/j/63199157780?pwd=GI9jIggebnJ4edr5HhzWNZwpWGp0Br.1

Canvas will be used for all assignments during the course. Lecture slides and all other relevant documents will be uploaded in the file folder. You can contact the course teachers both through canvas or with e-mails given below.

Course responsible teacher, Yu-Chiao Lu (Ishana), yclu@kth.se

Pär Jönsson, parj@kth.se

Peter Samuelsson, petersam@kth.se

Christopher Hulme, chrihs@kth.se

Chuan Wang, chuan.wang@swerim.se

Andreas Feldmann, andreas.feldmann@indek.kth.se

Carl Moser, cmoser@kth.se

Annika Gram, annika.gram@byv.kth.se

Mari Lundström, mari.lundstrom@aalto.fi