Photo of Dr Okechukwu Okorie

Dr Okechukwu Okorie

RAEng Research Fellow & Senior Lecturer in Sustainable Manufacturing (E&R)

Email:

Location: Hope Hall 1.14

BIO

I am open to highly motivated PhDs and Visiting Scholars (see my research interests below). Send me an email with the necessary information. 

I am a Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellow and a Senior Lecturer in Sustainable Manufacturing in the Department of Engineering, Systems, Processes and Data-Centric Engineering Section, Faculty of Environment, Science and Economy (ESE), the University of Exeter. My research concerns digitally enabled remanufacturing in operations and supply chains, as well as developments of novel circular business models and solutions for more sustainable, resilient and better-performing manufacturing processes, products and services.

For the 2022/2023 Academic Year, I am the Module Leader for the Sustainable Manufacturing (ENGM023) and Design, Innovation & Entrepreneurship (ENGM026) modules. I was the Acting Programme Director MSc Entrepreneurship and Technology Innovation during the 2022/2023 academic year. I am also a guest Lecturer at the Exeter Business School supporting colleagues in teaching in area of Sustainable Business. I am currently pursing my Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (Advance HE) qualification. I hold an Associate Fellowship of the Higher Education (AFHEA, 2023).

Before joining the Department of Engineering I worked as an EPSRC Senior Research Fellow in Circular Technology at the Exeter Centre for Circular Economy (ECCE), University of Exeter Business School (2021-2022), a Research Fellow at ECCE (2019-2021), and a Research Assistant in the School of Water, Energy and Environment, Cranfield University (2019). In these Post-Doctoral roles, I led the research in the development of novel solutions in employing data-driven intelligence to optimise the selection of Circular Economy strategies for products as well as defining the modes and timings of intervention in the product lifecycle. I have also held external positions outside the United Kingdom, as a Visiting Research Academic Scholar in Remanufacturing at the Rochester Institute of Technology, New York. Overall, I have worked on large collaborative projects and industry-oriented projects funded by the EPSRC, GW4 and British Council/ Newton Fund, collaborating with Airbus, Rolls Royce, Phillips (Signify), Techbuyer, PSS Remanufacturers amongst others. I have been a Co-I on two SPRITE+ EPSRC (EP/S035869/1) projects and I am a member of the Exeter Academic Steering Group. In 2021, I was selected as one of the 30 selected future research leaders of the GW4 region in the GW4 Crucible 2021 cohort. I was recently awarded a 5 year Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellowship for my study, "A novel circular economy-modelling approach to achieving net zero manufacturing" by the Royal Academy of Engineering.

I hold a BEng (Hons) degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maiduguri, Nigeria and an MSc in Engineering Management from the University of South Wales, United Kingdom. I completed my PhD (Manufacturing) at the Sustainable Manufacturing Systems Centre, Cranfield University. From my PhD, I won a Best Poster Award at the Network Plus: Industrial Systems in the Digital Age Conference and a Cranfield University 3MT Award (2018). My PhD research was focused on integrating digitisation with the circular economy where I examined the data-enabled decision-making process in the remanufacturing of sensor-embedded products. This work utilised a mixed-method approach, employing system dynamics modelling tool as well as qualitative research methods. I regularly publish and present my work at conferences and industry-based webinars.

Previous work experience includes Condition Monitoring Analyst and Asset Care Maintenance Planning Engineer at Diageo Nigeria (Guinness Nigeria Plc). Here I led projects including integrating maintenance planning with condition monitoring analysis and logistics, adoption of SAP from Maximo for maintenance planning as well as the design of new warehousing facilities. I have also worked as a Supply Chain Development Analyst for Damco, United Kingdom. I am an IMechE Chartered Engineer and a UK STEM Volunteer. 

RESEARCH INTERESTS

  • Sustainable Manufacturing
  • Circular Economy (Quanifitication and applications within Digital Manufacturing).
  • Life Cycle Assessment and Carbon Accounting
  • Circular Value Chains
  • Circular Business Models
  • Smart Manufacturing and Remanufacturing
  • Modelling and Simulation of Manufacturing Systems
  • Condition Monitoring and Predictive Maintenance.
  • End-of-Product Life Cycle Analysis.
  • Smart Decision Support Systems.

RESEARCH PROJECTS

CLIENTS

  • PSS
  • HSSMI
  • Riversimple
  • Cisco
  • Airbus
  • Rolls Royce
  • Techbuyer

FUNDING BODIES

  • EPSRC/UKRI
  • GW4
  • British Council/ Newton Fund.
  • Royal Academy of Engineering (The RAEng)

NEWS/ Media

AWARDS AND HONOURS

EXTERNAL POSITIONS

  • Research Participant, Wharton Global faculty Development Program, Wharton Business School, University of Pennsylvania. (2020)
  • Visiting Academic Scholar in Remanufacturing, Golisano Institute for Sustainability, Rochester Institute of Technology, New York, USA. (2019)
  • Journal Reviewer: International Journal of Precision Engineering and Manufacturing-Green Technology, Journal of Manufacturing Systems, Journal of Remanufacturing, Journal of Cleaner Production, Sustainability, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health), Energies. (Ongoing)
  • Associate Editor for Engineering Management, Frontiers in Industrial Engineering.
  • Editorial Board Member,  International Journal of Sustainable Engineering
  • Associate Supervisor (MSc Student, Cranfield University) (2019 – Ongoing)
  • Member, Academy of Management
  • Chartered Engineer, Institution of Mechanical Engineers (CEng IMechE)
  • Member, Institution of Engineering and Technology
  • Research Affliate | Exeter Centre for Circular Economy, Exeter Business School.
  • Research Affliate | Centre for Simulation, Modelling and Analytics.
  • External Examiner (PhD): Cranfield University, School of Aerospace, Transport and Manufacturing.
  • External Examiner (MRes): University of Birmingham, School of Engineering.
  • Judge (2024-) : STEM for Britain, British Science Week.
  • Scientific Committee Member: the International Scientific Committee of the 32th CIRP Conference on Life Cycle Engineering (LCE 2025), April 7th to 9th 2025
  • Poster Chair: The Operational Research Society- 12th Simulation Workshop (SW25), 31st March to 2nd April, 2025.
  • Forum Member, the EPSRC Manufacturing and the Circular Economy Early Career Forum (Appointed 2024)
  • Member, the EPSRC Peer Review College  (Appointed 2024)