Animate Materials: how we build a more sustainable future
Mark Miodownik, University College London, UK
Monday, 5 October 2026, 12.00 PM
ICMAB - Sala d'Actes MATGAS and ONLINE (Register here)
Abstract
Currently almost all current products and materials in our homes and cities are designed to be disposable to drive consumption, the economic engine of our age. This is causing huge pollution and climate change. To address these problems we need to redesign practically everything so we can replace consumerism with another less polluting economic growth engine. In this talk I discuss our work creating animate materials with increased durability due to self-repairing mechanisms. I also discuss our work exploring self-disassembling materials to aid recycling at end of life. In each case the importance of taking a systems approach emerges and brings with it the added complications of working across disciplines, from materials science to economics.
Short bio
Mark Miodownik is the UCL Professor of Materials & Society. He received his Ph.D in turbine jet engine alloys from Oxford University, and has worked as a materials scientist in the USA, Ireland and the UK. For more than twenty years he has championed materials science research that links to the arts and humanities, medicine, and society. This culminated in the establishment of the UCL Institute of Making, where he is a director and runs the research programme. In 2019 Mark set up the Plastic Waste Innovation Hub to carry our research into solving the environmental catastrophe of plastic waste dealing with topics such as biodegradable plastics and animate materials. Mark is the multi-award winning author of New York Times bestselling book Stuff Matters. He regularly presents BBC TV and radio programmes on materials science and engineering. In 2014 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. In 2025 he was appointed the Royal Society Professor of Public Engagement with Science.
Hosted by Martí Gich, from the NN research group (Materials for Electronics Research Line)
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