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Sussex researcher awarded €1.5 million ERC Starting Grant to investigate the global impact of a circular economy
By: Maria Andreou
Last updated: Friday, 11 September 2026
Shyamain’s research focuses on the political economy of global value chains, with particular interests in the global apparel industry, including inter-firm relations, uneven development and labour.
Funding pioneering research
Dr Shyamain Wickramasingha, Senior Research Fellow at the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU) at the University of Sussex, has been awarded a €1.5 million European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant to investigate how the global transition to a circular economy could affect workers, industries and communities in the Global South.
The ERC Starting Grant is one of Europe’s most competitive research awards. It supports talented early-career scientists who show the potential to become research leaders. Grant recipients are selected for the strength of their research track records and the quality and ambition of their proposed research projects.
In 2026, the ERC awarded 421 Starting Grants to outstanding early-career researchers across Europe through the Horizon Europe programme, following a record 4,807 applications.
Shyamain’s award will support a major new research programme examining who benefits from, and who may be left behind by, the global transition to a circular economy.
Exploring a fairer transition to a circular economy
The project will be hosted by the School of Global Studies and will examine emerging circular economy policies and practices in the EU and UK alongside textile waste industries in Bangladesh and Ghana.
It will also consider how existing circular practices in the Global South can contribute to a more sustainable textile industry, while bringing questions of power, justice and inclusion to the heart of the transition.
“The project responds to a significant imbalance in circular economy research, with more than 95% of the work based in and led by the Global North. Yet, across the Global South, generations of knowledge and practice already support livelihoods and economic activity for millions of people.
“I’m delighted to have been awarded a €1.5 million ERC Starting Grant to bring these perspectives into the debate, examining how the transition can be made more inclusive and equitable.
“The idea for the proposal goes back to my childhood in a rural Sri Lankan community, where circular economy practices were part of everyday life. Born out of necessity rather than policy or business intervention, the clothes we wore never became waste. Instead, they went through multiple lives – from garments to rugs and bedding, and eventually to wicks for oil lamps and makeshift torches,” says Shyamain.
Research with global reach
Shyamain’s research focuses on the political economy of global value chains, with particular interests in the global apparel industry, including inter-firm relations, uneven development and labour.
She has published research in leading journals such as Economic Geography, Journal of Economic Geography, Environment and Planning A and Competition and Change. She has secured over £325,000 in UKRI research funding, including an ESRC New Investigator Grant, under which she led a multi-sited project in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
Earlier in her career, Shyamain worked in South Asia and East Africa as a sustainable development specialist, addressing issues including poverty, climate change, local economic development, corporate social responsibility, conflict-induced displacement and resettlement.
Professor Geert De Neve, Head of the School of Global Studies, said:
“It’s a real pleasure to welcome Shyamain to our School and host her ERC Starting Grant in our Department of Geography.
“Her research brings important questions of sustainability, justice and global inequality into conversation with the work of colleagues across our School, and it's closely aligned with our School’s strategy on Transformative Research for Global Justice. We look forward to seeing Shyamain’s project develop and flourish at Sussex.”
You can read more about Shyamain’s research, publications and wider contributions, and explore the ERC’s mission, structure and governance.