Minerals, Materials and Society is partnering with leading research and teaching universities around the world to offer access to innovative course content and access to global research networks. We have based our partnership approach on striving for excellence in research as well as overall impact in scale of mineral supply chains. For curricular content our primary partner is Australia’s University of Queensland, Australia (UQ) and its Sustainable Minerals Institute. UQ was recently ranked Number one in the world in Mining and Mineral Engineering education by the Shanghai Rankings.
In 2018, a year before the war in Ukraine, we also negotiated a memorandum of understanding with the Russian National University of Science and Technology (MISiS) to undertake a field course but this has currently been suspended.
MMS also has a partnership with the China University of Geo-Sciences in Wuhan through hosting visiting scholars every year for joint research. We are also developing a field course in China focusing on urban mining and a circular economy.
Within the United States, MMS has also reached agreement with the University of Arizona’s Lowell Institute for Mineral Resources.
Dr. Natalia Yakovleva
Natalia joined Newcastle University London as a Senior Lecturer in International Business Strategy in September 2015. Natalia has PhD in Environmental Studies, BSc in Economics and Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education. After completing her PhD in 2002, Natalia worked as Research Associate at the Centre for Business Relationships, Accountability, Sustainability and Society at Cardiff University (BRASS). Prior to Newcastle, Natalia worked as a Senior Lecturer in International Business at Surrey Business School (University of Surrey, Guildford) and as a Reader/Senior Lecturer in Sustainable Development at Winchester Business School (University of Winchester). Natalia has published in international journals such as Journal of Business Ethics; Political Geography; Geoforum; International Journal of Production Research; Environment and Planning C. She authored a book on Corporate Social Responsibility in the Mining Industries, Routledge, 2005. She is a member of British Academy of Management, Academy of Management and Fellow of Higher Education Academy. She is a member of editorial boards of journals: The Extractive Industries and Society (Elsevier) and Resources (open-access MPDI journal). Professor Yakovleva is also a Associate Director of the Institute for Sustainability at Newcastle University since November 2017.
Ms. Daina Paulikas
With over 15 years of experience as a systems engineer, entrepreneur, business consultant, and economist, Daina brings a cross-disciplinary lens to understanding the dynamics of complex systems spanning human, technological, and environmental. Her research interests include learning organizations, developing social entrepreneurship ecosystems, sustainable supply chains and governance, behavioral causes of suboptimal equilibria, and multidisciplinary systems engineering; with regional interests spanning South America, Eastern Europe, and Africa. A former tech co-founder, defense systems engineer and Boston Consulting Group consultant, she has taken on projects independently for the World Bank, Google’s advanced hardware group, Buenos Aires and other municipal governments, and numerous startups and non-profits. Daina holds an MSc in econometrics and mathematical economics from London School of Economics, an MBA from Harvard Business School, and a BS in physics (honors) from California Institue of Technology. She recently led a sustainability study computing and comparing the impacts of metal production from deep-sea nodules versus land ores, entitled “Where should metals for the green transition come from?”
