Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, University of Cambridge


The Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy is a large research and teaching division of the University of Cambridge. Since 2013 it has been located in West Cambridge., having previously occupied several buildings on the New Museums Site in the centre of Cambridge.

Academic staff

Professorial staff include:
  1. Zoe Barber, Professor of Materials Science
  2. Mark Blamire, Professor of Device Materials
  3. Serena Best, CBE, FREng, Professor of Materials Science
  4. Harry Bhadeshia, FREng, FRS, Tata Steel Professor of Metallurgy
  5. Ruth Cameron, Professor of Materials Science
  6. Manish Chhowalla, Goldsmiths' Professor of Materials Science
  7. Bill Clegg, Professor of Materials Science
  8. Judith Driscoll, FREng, Professor of Materials Science
  9. Cate Ducati, Professor in Nanomaterials
  10. James Elliott, Professor of Macromolecular Materials Science
  11. Lindsay Greer, Professor of Materials Science
  12. Vasant Kumar, Professor of Materials Chemistry
  13. Neil Mathur, Professor of Materials Physics
  14. Paul Midgley, FRS, Professor of Materials Science
  15. Rachel Oliver, Professor of Materials Science
  16. Chris Pickard, Sir Alan Cottrell Professor of Materials Science
  17. Cathie Rae, Professor of Superalloys
  18. Jason WA Robinson, Professor in Materials Physics
As of October 2019 Readers and Lecturers include:
  1. Rachel Evans, Reader in Materials Chemistry
  2. Sohini Kar-Narayan, Reader in Device & Energy Materials
  3. Howard Stone, Reader in Metallurgy
  4. Louise Hirst, University Lecturer
  5. Nick Jones, University Lecturer
  6. Kevin Knowles, Senior University Lecturer
  7. Emilie Ringe, University Lecturer

    Heads of Department

  8. Professor R.S Hutton -1944
  9. Professor Wesley Austin 1945-1958
  10. Professor Sir Alan Cottrell FRS 1958-1966
  11. Professor Sir Robert Honeycombe FREng FRS 1966-84
  12. Professor Derek Hull FREng FRS 1984-1991
  13. Professor Sir Colin Humphreys, CBE FREng FRS 1991-1996
  14. Professor Alan Windle FRS 1996-2000
  15. Professor Derek Fray FRS FREng 2000-2005
  16. Professor Alan Lindsay Greer 2005-2013
  17. Professor Mark Blamire 2013-2018
  18. Professor Paul Midgley FRS 2018-

    Research Themes

Current research is organised into seven themes:
  1. Device materials
  2. Electron microscopy
  3. Materials chemistry
  4. Medical & pharmaceutical materials
  5. Structural materials
  6. Clean energy & sustainability
  7. Nuclear energy

    Research Groups

Research is organised into the following groups.
Notable alumni and former staff include: