Gavin Co-Authors IEEE Paper on Stress Testing Rare Earth Semiconductor Supply Chains

Gavin is a co-author of a paper accepted by IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, "A Hybrid Simulation Modelling Framework for Stress Testing Rare Earth Element-Centric Semiconductor Supply Chains" (DOI 10.1109/TEM.2026.3731827). It was developed with colleagues at the Institute for Manufacturing, University of Cambridge, and the University of Birmingham.

The framework couples system dynamics, agent-based modelling and discrete event simulation to trace how disruption spreads across strategic, tactical and operational planning horizons. Its findings challenge the assumption that fragility sits mainly upstream at extraction and refining. The authors conclude that uniform measures such as broad stockpiling cannot resolve downstream access bottlenecks, and that policy levers should match the decision layer where disruption propagates. The early-access version is available open access. Funders included the UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), iCEM and TEXMiN.