PLATE is an international, multidisciplinary conference that addresses product lifetimes in the context of sustainable development.

Our current patterns of production and consumption are unsustainable. Accelerated resource use and waste generation, and the associated environmental impacts, require evidence-based action. In both upstream and downstream domains, products represent a key intervention point. Academic researchers, businesses, think tanks, government bodies and policymakers have recognized that product lifetimes research is critical to dealing with these challenges.

PLATE brings together leading academics, researchers, policymakers and practitioners from different disciplines to present cutting-edge research and explore product lifetimes and sustainability.  We take pride in building a community deeply focused on Product Lifetimes, with representation across design, engineering, materials science, social sciences, and diverse disciplinary perspectives.

History

• 2015: Initiated in order to share and develop expertise in this field of knowledge, the first Product Lifetimes and the Environment (PLATE) conference was held in 2015, at Nottingham Trent University in the UK.
• 2017: The second PLATE conference was held at the University of Delft in the Netherlands.
• 2019: The third PLATE conference, in Berlin, Germany, was held in 2019, organised by Fraunhofer IZM in cooperation with Technische Universität Berlin.
• 2020: Due to the impact of the COVID pandemic, the fourth PLATE conference, held in 2021, was a virtual, online event, organised by the University of Limerick, Ireland.
• 2023: The fifth PLATE conference was a hybrid event organised by Aalto university, Finland held in 2023. The 2023 edition of the conference encouraged researchers to propose how to extend, widen or critically re-construct thematic sessions for the PLATE conference, and the call was constructed based on these proposals. 
• 2025: The sixth PLATE conference was hosted by Aalborg University in Aalborg, Denmark. 

Around 240 participants have attended recent PLATE conferences, from disciplines such as design, engineering, business management, marketing, environmental science, anthropology, geography, economics, sociology and politics. The number of papers presented has grown from 66 in 2015 to 171 in 2023, reflecting increased academic activity in the field. Papers are selected by a scientific committee through a rigorous peer review process.

Conference proceedings are open access and can be viewed here. 

2027 Scientific Committee

PLATE is happy to announce our Scientific Committee for 2027. We extend our gratitude to the committee members for their time and contributions.

 

Conny Bakker, TU Delft, Netherlands 

Els Du Bois, University of Antwerp, Belgium 

Tim Cooper, Nottingham Trent, UK 

Hervé Corvellec, Lund University, Sweden

Carl Dalhammar, Lund University, Sweden 

Melanie Jaeger‑Erben, Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus‑Senftenberg, Germany 

Eleni Kalantidou, Griffith University, Australia 

Julian Kirchherr, Roskilde University, Denmark 

Angelina Korsunova, University of Helsinki, Finland 

Linda Nhu Laursen, Aalborg University, Germany 

Michael Søgaard Jørgensen, Aalborg University, Denmark

Mitsutaka Matsumoto, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Japan 

Leonidas Milios, ESCI-UPF, Spain 

Ruth Mugge, TU Delft, Netherlands 

Kirsi Niinimäki, Aalto University, Finland 

Nils Nissen, Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration (IZM), Germany 

Georgios Pardalis, Lund University, Sweden 

Daniela Pigosso, DTU, Denmark 

Jessika Luth Richter, Lund University, Sweden

Jennifer Russell, Virginia Tech, USA 

Anna Seravalli, Malmö University, Sweden

Jagdeep Singh, Lund University, Sweden 

Vitor Souza, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark 

Nazlı Terzioğlu, Royal College of Art, UK 

Katherine Townsend, Nottingham Trent, UK 

Matthew Watkins, Loughborough University, UK 

 

Membership PLATE Consortium

Universities are welcome to apply to join the PLATE Consortium, which oversees and supports PLATE conference activities. If your organisation is interested in membership, please contact us.

Conference chairs

The PLATE Conference series was initiated by Prof. Tim Cooper (Nottingham Trent University, UK), who chaired the Consortium from 2015 until 2021. The Consortium is currently chaired by Prof. Conny Bakker and Prof. Ruth Mugge (Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands).

Corporate identity components

Our identity is subdivided and built on the basis of standard components. The logo/image, typography and colours. For more information and/or downloads see the Corporate Identity Components