Dr Litos's research centres on sustainability and the circular economy in manufacturing and supply chains, with a consistent focus on translating conceptual frameworks into tools practitioners can actually use. Recurring themes across his publication record include:

• Circular economy and materials recovery – barriers, enablers and system-dynamics modelling for post-consumer aluminium recycling and urban mining, traceability improvement across recycling supply chains, and circular approaches to e-waste and PCB recovery.
• Carbon accounting and Scope 3 emissions – how manufacturers operationalise Scope 3 reduction in supplier and procurement decisions, the role (and limits) of AI-enabled analytics in emissions data, and development of sector-specific GHG accounting tools for SMEs, particularly in agri-food.
• Eco-efficiency and maturity assessment – long-running work (dating back to his PhD) on maturity grids and self-assessment methods for energy and resource efficiency in factories, and organisational models for sharing environmental best practice across multi-site manufacturing operations.
• Sustainability frameworks for foundation industries – conceptual assessment frameworks and knowledge/technology transfer mechanisms to help foundation industries (metals, materials, chemicals) scale sustainable practices, developed through the TransFIRe Hub.
• Lean thinking and resource efficiency beyond manufacturing – applying lean principles to public service design and environmental performance, exploring transferability of manufacturing sustainability practices into the service sector.
• Innovation, sustainability and process optimisation – links between sustainable manufacturing practices and innovation capability, and simulation/optimisation of material recovery facility (MRF) processes using AI-based robotics.
• Food security and resilience – sustainability and security in agri-food systems under crisis conditions, connecting to his earlier industry background in food processing.

Underpinning this is a design research and practitioner-engaged methodology throughout — most projects combine literature synthesis with semi-structured interviews, case studies, or tool/framework development validated with industry.