Working toward a resilient rare earth element supply chain

The aim of the REEsilience project is to improve the resilience and sustainability of the European Rare Earth Element (REE) supply chain. REEs are important components of the permanent magnets needed by the renewable energy, e-mobility and other strategic sectors. These sectors are expected to grow significantly in the coming years, leading to increased European REE demand. However, to fulfill this demand, Europe has a high import-dependency along the entire REE supply chain, which increases vulnerability to disruptions. To reduce this vulnerability, the REEsilience consortium will explore and implement options for increasing European REE supply chain resilience.

Past September, Jessie Bradley joined the Faculty of Technology Policy and Management as a PhD candidate working on the Horizon Europe REEsilience project. Jessie’s role in this project is using Exploratory System Dynamics Modelling and Analysis (ESDMA) to model the global and European REE supply chains, and to explore and analyse the consequences of various scenarios, policies and other uncertainties that can challenge and impact the resilience of the supply chain. This analysis can aid other project partners and policy makers in their decision making and implementation, and thereby contribute to increased resilience of the European REE supply chain.

Jessie is working on this project under the supervision of Willem Auping, an assistant professor at the Policy Analysis section of the Multi-Actor System department, and Benjamin Sprecher, an assistant professor at the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering. Professor Jan Kwakkel is the promotor.