SAP and Circular Economy
ESR 3
This project analysed national strategies and identified best practices to implement the Circular Economy objectives in public procurement. It conducted comparative and interdisciplinary research into the various techniques to promote, facilitate and implement Circular Economy in the procurement cycle, namely reduce, reuse, recycle and recover.
ESR 3 was supervised by associate and executive professor Steven Van Garsse and co-supervised by associate and executive professor Andrea Appolloni.
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Learn More About Aura Iurascu
Aura Iurascu is a former SAPIENS Early Stage Researcher who obtained her PhD in July 2025 at Hasselt University (Belgium) with a dissertation titled “Advancing the Circular Economy Through Public Procurement: Legal Framework and Implementing Pathways.” Her research expertise lies at the intersection of public procurement law and environmental law. In her doctoral work, she investigated the EU legal landscape concerning the Circular Economy and conducted a comparative analysis of Belgium and Italy, examining the legal mechanisms that enable the integration of circular economy objectives into public procurement.
Aura has been a licensed lawyer in Italy since 2021, a background that enriched her academic research. She is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Faculty of Law, Centre for Government and Law, Hasselt University, working on the FWO project “Einstein Telescope”.
Her publications include:
- How Will the Adoption of Mandatory GPP Criteria Change the Game? Lessons from the Italian Experience — European Procurement & Public Private Partnership Law Review, Vol. 18, Issue 1, 2023;
- La mise en œuvre belge du principe de durabilité dans la législation sur les marchés publics — Marchés et Contrats Publics / Overheidsopdrachten en -overeenkomsten, 2024, pp. 109-120;
- The concept ‘Circular Economy’: towards a more Universal Definition’, Ius Publicum Network Review, 2/2021, 2022, 1-28. (with J Voorter and S Van Garsse);
- L’inefficacia del contratto pubblico concluso in violazione dei criteri ambientali minimi (CAM), Giurisprudenta italiana, 2/2023, 399-405
In this video, ESR 3 Aura Iurascu tells us what her research project is about and how it contributes to society as a whole.
Blog Posts by the Early Stage Researcher
Host Institution: Hasselt University
PLANNED SECONDMENTS
Tor Vergata University of Rome (3-month resident work with co-supervisor on economic aspects relevant for CE)
Electronics Watch (2-month participation in developing policies, instruments, and measures for monitoring of SPP in Public Procurement Electronic Supply Chain)
OVAM Public Waste Agency of Flanders (2-month research investigating legislative and policy measures to implement circular public procurement)
