Title of the research

Statistical methodologies for the development of green and eco-sustainable cosmetic products from marine environmental DNA

Abstract 

Sustainable Fashion, Luxury, and Design are currently key sectors of Milan's economy. There is an increasing interest in an ecological and digital transition within all economic sectors, and Milan Universities, together with many innovative firms, are heading such an effort, also in the cosmetics field. This research project aims to contribute to transforming the production and distribution processes within the area of cosmetics to reduce environmental impacts and foster the market transition. The research will have a first phase to perform market research on cosmetics and luxury, firstly on bibliographic sources, and successively integrating different sources of information obtained from public repositories and from specific analyses that can be conducted on web scraped data. The first part of the study aims to understand and assess customers' interest in green cosmetics for topical use and identify the specific features that could make a difference in market share. As a result, particular skills related to data collection through different sources, data cleaning, and data integration should be developed along with the research. It also involves the processing of a vast amount of data, therefore, a good familiarity with and/or predisposition to the use of big data is welcome and desirable. Research should be carried on to devise the key factors required by the market or beneficial to it, and to scrutinize appropriate models for economic forecasting. The second phase of the research will be carried out on experimental data originated by studying new products. Within a wise ecological transition, microplastics will be replaced with natural materials for cosmetic products. This transition will be performed in collaboration with the Bicocca Marhe center (located on Maldives island), where particular plant species are found, and great biodiversity is available for the purpose. The activities will be conducted under a surveillance protocol to monitor these marine species' conservation status and assess the impact of human activities, to protect important offshore marine sites. Experiments with new cosmetics will also originate from studies of the microbiota of the skin, and how it is altered and modified with newly developed products. New chemical formulas will be experimented to find alternatives to analog formulas used in valid but not green cosmetics, perfecting and optimizing existing molecules, and formulating them as better alternative products. Finally, the third part of the research will be devoted to providing indications for production and distribution processes that will agree with the project's overall purpose of sustainability. Possible research exchange visits are envisaged with other foreign universities currently involved in ongoing collaborations.