Yanan Liang is a postdoctoral researcher in industrial ecology whose research focuses on critical raw material stocks and flows, supply-chain resilience, and the circular economy. Her work combines IE tools like material flow analysis and scenario analysis to investigate the material requirements of the energy transition, resource dependencies, and opportunities for more sustainable and circular material systems.

More information about Yanan Liang

Professional experience

Yanan Liang is a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML) of Leiden University. She obtained her PhD from Leiden University in September 2024. Her doctoral thesis, The material side of the energy transition: Analyzing flows and stocks of critical and other metals, investigated the material requirements of low-carbon energy technologies, future metal demand, and the role of material stocks and recycling in the energy transition. Before joining CML as a PhD researcher in September 2019, she obtained her BSc in Civil Engineering and MSc in Industrial Engineering in China.

Research topic

Yanan's research interests include:

• Assessing the stocks and flows of critical raw materials and their future demand in the energy transition
• Investigating critical raw material supply chains, import dependencies, and supply-chain resilience
• Exploring circular economy strategies, including urban mining and end-of-life material management
• Improving material and product-level data for material flow analysis, and sustainability assessment
• Examining the role of material traceability and information transparency in sustainable supply chains

She has contributed to two completed research projects at CML:

Getting the Data Right, funded by the KR Foundation, focused on improving environmental data and life cycle assessment databases to support more reliable climate-footprint analysis.

MaDiTraCe (Material and Digital Traceability for the Certification of Critical Raw Materials), funded by the European Union's Horizon Europe programme, explored approaches to improving the traceability, transparency, and sustainability of critical raw material supply chains through material and digital traceability technologies and certification.

Her research aims to advance the sustainable and circular use of critical raw materials while strengthening supply-chain resilience.

Publications