The session, organized by the Seminars and Training Committee and hosted by Martí Gich, will feature Mark Miodownik, Professor of Materials & Society at University College London (UCL). The talk will take place in the Sala d'Actes MATGAS and will also be available online.
The conference will address the issue of products designed to be disposable, which drive consumption and cause significant pollution and climate change. Miodownik will discuss work on creating "animate" materials with increased durability due to self-repairing mechanisms, as well as materials that self-disassemble to aid recycling.
The importance of a systems approach and interdisciplinary collaboration, from materials science to economics, will be emphasized. Mark Miodownik is a director at the UCL Institute of Making and founded the Plastic Waste Innovation Hub to research solutions to the plastic waste crisis.
Miodownik is the multi-award-winning author of the New York Times bestselling book Stuff Matters and has presented numerous BBC TV and radio programs on materials science. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2014 and appointed Royal Society Professor of Public Engagement with Science in 2025.
