Dr Alessio Franconi

Alessio’s research delves into circular design and business model innovation, focusing on creating sustainable systems and interventions. His work spans from theoretical frameworks for circular design to practical solutions like decentralised water harvesting and circular product design strategies. His studies address the transition to a circular economy, examining smart fashion economies, circular bike-sharing systems, and co-creating sociotechnical visions for circular metal economies.

He supervises four PhD researchers: Amy Lee, Maria Joseph, Sureya Gulzar, and Eva Loprieno (from ISIA Firenze), whose projects investigate the role of design in facilitating social, systemic, and environmental transformation across domains including policymaking, sustainable logistics, housing, and industrial transitions.

Alessio serves as Agenda Manager for the Circular Design Forum (CDF), a collaborative initiative that connects manufacturers, universities, research institutes, and design firms to exchange knowledge and practices in circular design. In this role, he curates the forum’s themes and discussions, fostering collaboration between academia and industry. The CDF acts as a platform for building meaningful partnerships and advancing systemic change toward a more sustainable and circular design economy.

He is also the creator and manager of Circular Design (circulardesign.it), an open commons repository of design strategies supporting the transition to a circular economy. The platform aims to build a community of best practices where designers, researchers, and specialists share knowledge. Developed around a scientific framework (Franconi et al., 2022), it helps map and organise design strategies across the supply chain, enabling designers to identify effective pathways for multi-life-cycle product development from the earliest design stages.

London Arts & Humanities Partnership in collaboration with the Sustainable Shipping Initiative (SSI), 2025

London Arts & Humanities Partnership in collaboration with the Peabody Foundation, 2025

LeadTech Global Executive MBA – Ranked Top Green MBA 2025, CEO Magazine (2025) Brunel Open Research Award 2024, Brunel University London (2024)

Borgianni, Y., Berni, A., Gaziulusoy, I., Ceschin, F., Terzioglu, N., Franconi, A., ... & Becattini, N. (2025). A survey to investigate approaches, methods, contents and objectives in education for sustainable design. Design Science, 11, e32.

Halid, A. B., Baurley, S., Boons, F., Ceschin, F., Charnley, F., Cummings, B., Dawes, C., Franconi, A.,... & Zayas-Garin, E. (2025). Human behaviour and the circular economy: Social, behavioural, and cultural dimensions of the circular economy transition.

Beigi, H., & Franconi, A. (2025). Design for Traceability (DfT): How to enhance transparency and accountability by designing products and materials with features that allow their entire lifecycle to be tracked and documented?. In No. 6 (2025): Proceedings of the 6th Product Lifetimes and the Environment Conference (PLATE2025) (Vol. 6).

Ghoreishi, M., Franconi, A., Mate, O. A., Godsell, J., & Pynnönenb, M. (2024). Supply Chain 4.0 and the Transition towards a Circular Economy. In Environmentally Responsible Supply Chains in an Era of Digital Transformation: Research Developments and Future Prospects. Edward Elgar Publishing Limited.

Tait, C., Ford, D., Franconi, A., Ceschin, F., & Harrison, D. (2024). Circular business model toolkit for the metal sector. The Interdisciplinary Centre for Circular Metals. ISBN 978-1908549600.

Franconi, A., Ceschin, F., Harrison, D., & Godsell, J. (2024). Navigating the transition: Pathways to a circular metal economy in the UK. The Interdisciplinary Centre for Circular Metals. ISBN 978-1908549600.

Franconi, A., Ceschin, F., Godsell, J., & Harrison, D. (2023). Circular business models for metals (Vol. 2). The Interdisciplinary Centre for Circular Metals. ISBN 978-1908549587.

Franconi, A., Ceschin, F., Godsell, J., Harrison, D., Mate, O. A., & Konteh, T. (2023). "Co-creating Sociotechnical Visions for a Circular Metal Economy Transition in the UK." Presented at the 5th Product Lifetimes And The Environment Conference (PLATE 2023), 31 May – 2 June 2023, Aalto University, Espoo, FI.

Franconi, A., Ceschin, F., Terzioglu, N., Corsini, L., & Ghoreishi, M. (2023). "Defining Alternative Recovery Strategies for Reuse: An Analysis of Multiple Case Studies under the Reuse Umbrella." Presented at the 5th Product Lifetimes And The Environment Conference (PLATE 2023), 31 May – 2 June 2023, Aalto University, Espoo, FI.

Franconi, A., Ceschin, F., & Peck, D. (2022). Structuring Circular Objectives and Design Strategies for the Circular Economy: A Multi-Hierarchical Theoretical Framework. Sustainability, 14(15), 9298.

Franconi, A., & Reich, J. (2022). Decentralized Passive Water Harvesting: A Possible Solution for a Water Paradigm Shift in Urban Areas. MD Journal, 13, 194-203. Media MD.

Ghoreishi, M., Bhandari, K., & Franconi, A. (2022). Smart Fashion Economy through a Data-Driven Circular Ecosystem: A Case Study. In IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science (Vol. 1009, No. 1, p. 012012). IOP Publishing.

Badalucco, L., & Franconi, A. (2022). Quattro Dialoghi su Economia Circolare e Design (Four Dialogues on Circular Economy and Design). In Futuro Continuo: Esperienze di Design per la Transizione Ecologica e Digitale (pp. 54-85). Anteferma Edizioni. ISBN 979-12-5953-032-5.

Alessio is a Research Fellow at the Circular Economy Research Center (CERC), École des Ponts Business School, Paris, France, and a member of FIND – Future, Innovation Design: Industria 4.0, Economia Circolare e User Experience Design at the University Iuav of Venice, Italy.