Materials- a SUBJECT that MATTERs
Welcome to Materials- a SUBJECT that MATTERs! I am Chloe Skidmore, a fourth-year Materials Science and Engineering student at The University of Sheffield.
‘Materials- a SUBJECT that MATTERs’ has been created over the course of my final academic year and forms the basis of my final year project, titled ‘Outreach for Materials Science and Engineering’, focusing on the topic of public engagement, supervised by Dr Julian Dean.
Follow the link below to listen to the series and join me in talking to SUBJECT MATTER specialists about some of the most inspiring topics of research within this diverse and growing field. The following interviews showcase how important the study of materials science is to the real world around us and the future of our planet.
Click here to listen to the podcasts
To explore the world of materials further, use the drop-down menu below to meet the renowned academics that are looking to inspire the next generation. You can also download our interactive PDFs which contain resources and further activities to help you understand how this all aligns to your current teaching curriculum.
- Episode one - Making flight more sustainable
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In this episode I am joined by Dr Kathy Christofidou, a senior lecturer in metallurgy at The University of Sheffield, where we are asking how we can make flight more sustainable?
Kathy is also the Materials Discovery and Prototyping technology platform lead for the Royce institute. As a result of her work with novel alloys for the aerospace industry, Kathy won the 2022 IOM3 Grünfeld Medal and Prize and is a member of the Aerospace Technology Institute’s Cross-cutting advisory board, helping to shape the direction of research within the aerospace industry towards net zero.
To explore this topic and the future world of materials further, more information and activities are provided in the teaching resource.
Click the image to download the teaching resource
- Episode two - Cementing the barricades to climate change
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In this episode I am joined by Professor John Provis, a professor of Cement Materials Science and engineering at The University of Sheffield where we are asking how we can make construction more sustainable and if we can decarbonise the cement industry?
John is the only person in the UK with the official title ‘Professor of Cement’. His research has been funded by the European Research Council as well as other EU sources and international funding bodies. As a result of his leadership and contribution in the field of geopolymers, other construction and novel cementious materials he has received several awards including the 2013 RILEM Robert L’Hermite Medal and an honorary doctorate by Hasselt University, Belgium. Dr Provis is currently the editor of several papers whilst also being appointed as a Visiting Professor at Luleå University of Technology, Sweden, in the Building Materials division.
To explore this topic and the future world of materials further, more information and activities are provided in the teaching resource.
Click the image to download the teaching resource
- Episode three - Why developing new glasses isn’t a WASTE of time
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In this episode I am joined by Professor Russell J Hand, Professor of Glass Science at The University of Sheffield where we are asking how we safely dispose of hazardous radioactive waste? We learn what waste vitrification is and why developing new glasses for this process is so important.
Professor Hand is also the Director of Education for Materials Science and Engineering and a past president of The Society of Glass Technology. He joined the department at Sheffield in 1989 from Cambridge University as the Redland Research Fellow and was appointed to a Lectureship in 1990, becoming Professor of Glass Science and Engineering in 2012. Russell’s research is currently based upon glasses and focuses in particular on radioactive waste vitrification and the chemical durability of nuclear waste glasses.
To explore this topic and the future world of materials further, more information and activities are provided in the teaching resource.
Click the image to download the teaching resource
- Episode four - Modelling Brain Tissue
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Today I am joined by Dr Michael Trikic, a University Teacher in Materials Science and Engineering here at Sheffield, whose work is focussed upon Biomaterials and Bioengineering. In this episode we begin to understand how materials science is accelerating the research into a cancer that occurs in the brain called Glioblastoma.
Michael has investigated drug resistance mechanisms in cancer and is currently involved in a collaborative project with Prof Claeyssens and researchers in the Medical School, to identify biomaterials that will allow for improved modelling of brain tissue and testing of treatments for Glioblastoma. In the past, Michael set up the Bioengineering labs in The Diamond building at the University as well as the bioreactors in the pilot plant.
To explore this topic and the future world of materials further, more information and activities are provided in the teaching resource.
Click the image to download the teaching resource
- Episode five - Jurassic Park. Did it even exist?
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In this episode I am joined by Dr Colin Freeman, a Senior Lecturer in Materials Simulation at The University of Sheffield, where we are exploring how Materials Science goes beyond general engineering to make predictions about the lifetimes of molecules and the best environments for them to survive. We begin to understand how we can use computer simulations or modelling to understand how DNA behaves and interacts with materials surfaces. How can we then use this to prove that Jurassic Park simply cannot be real?
After studying for a degree in Chemistry and a PhD in ‘simulations of solid solutions and interfaces’ Dr Freeman has pioneered research into atomic solutions of the material-molecule interface for the study of biominerals. Colin specialises in computational simulation of molecules and material systems and their interfaces.
To explore this topic and the future world of materials further, more information and activities are provided in the teaching resource.
Click the image to download the teaching resource
- Episode six - Can spiders save the world?
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In this episode I am joined by Dr Chris Holland, a senior lecturer in natural materials at The University of Sheffield. We explore the field of biomimetics to ask how investigating the natural materials around us can provide us with an insight into the way in which evolution has optimised certain materials properties.
Following a BA in biological Sciences and MSc in Integrative Biosciences and Dphil at Oxford whilst working in the Oxford Silk Group, Dr Holland went onto hold an EPSRC Early Career Fellowship and Sheffield where he built the natural materials group. Dr Holland’s research involves using tools developed for the physical sciences to better understand nature’s materials, from latex to collagen. His work has a particular focus on silks, investigating the unspun flow properties to learn about their biodiversity, structure, and evolution. Chris has made important links between natural and industrial fibre processing leading to new ways of creating bio-inspired materials. Outside of the lab he is the chair of the IOM3 Natural Materials Group
To explore this topic and the future world of materials further, more information and activities are provided in the teaching resource.
Click the image to download the teaching resource
- Episode seven - Why materials science is key to the future of regenerative medicine
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In this episode I am joined by Dr Vanessa Hearnden, senior lecturer in biomaterials and tissue engineering at the University of Sheffield, where we begin to understand how materials science plays a vital role in the research for regenerative medicine and bioengineering.
Dr Hearnden is currently research lead for the Materials for Health group in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. She is also a committee member for the Tissue and Cell Engineering Society (TCES) and associate Editor for Frontiers in Medical Technology: Regenerative Medicine and collaborates worldwide.
Dr Hearnden’s research is fascinatingly driven by clinical need and guided by a network of clinical collaborators in the popular fields of plastic surgery, oral medicine and surgery and urology. Today’s episode focuses more specifically on how we can harness biology to stimulate soft tissue regeneration. Dr Hearnden’s research group are working with human adipose tissue and its components to understand the role fat and the stem cells within it can play in soft tissue wound healing and hypertrophic scar regeneration.
- Episode eight - Do we have the capacity to improve dielectric performance?
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In this episode I am joined by Professor Derek Sinclair, a professor in Materials Chemistry and lecturer in functional materials at The University of Sheffield, where we will be uncovering the world of dielectric materials to understand why multi-layered capacitors are so important to developments in our society.
Derek is recognised for his ability to probe the structure (crystal and defect)-composition-microstructure-property relationships of a wide range of functional oxides, spanning from superconductors to dielectrics via mixed conductors and solid electrolytes. He is also a member of the IOM3 Materials Chemistry Committee, the EPSRC peer review college for functional materials and an editorial board member for the journal of Asian ceramic societies. He has many publications and ongoing key projects.
Today’s episode focuses specifically on his research surrounding Ferroelectric BaTiO3-based ceramics for multilayer capacitors.
- Episode nine - Steel - why it is still so important to our world today!
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In this episode, I am joined by Professor Mark Rainforth, professor of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Sheffield, where we begin to understand how improving the properties of a timeless material like steel can accelerate innovation within our industries.
Steel is currently used in all of our leading industries including the energy, construction, automotive and transportation industries as well as infrastructure, packaging, and machinery. Can we manipulate the microstructure and properties of steel as we know it to create a stronger steel without increasing our production costs?
If we use a stronger steel, this will mean we can use less material in our applications creating lighter products and less emissions.
Professor Rainforth’s research centres on the high-resolution characterisation of microstructures, in particular interfaces and surfaces. His research programmes involve looking into metals, ceramics, and coatings. He is also the co-author of the book Ceramic Microstructures', a winner of the Rosenhain Medal and
has recently finished his term as President of the Royal Microscopical Society.
