♻️ After seven years since being created, the Materials Science Research Centre at the @royalcollegeofart is being renamed as the Centre for Materials Science & Culture!
The new name reflects seven years of materials research shaping sustainable futures through culture and community. The research impact of the Centre is significant – but what truly sets us apart is how our work is enabling sustainable behaviours, industries and communities using advanced technology.
To reflect this broader cultural role, we are now becoming the Centre for Materials Science & Culture.
Find out more about the Centre's history and future at the link in our bio.
#MaterialsScience #Sustainability #Design #RCAResearch #SustainableFutures
🥳 Our foundational paper is out in NATURE Humanities & Social Sciences Communications!
When we started researching a circular economy for textiles, there was a very significant gap: a lack of theory and no practical tools for designers to truly enable consumers to play a role in closing the loop of circular flows of materials.
Four years on, we’re incredibly excited to share the publication of two interconnected papers that tackle this issue head-on! Our work moves away from the old narrative that consumers are "helpless" or "insatiable" and need to be incentivised; instead, we adopt a humanist, design-focused approach that fosters alternative cultures of consumption. We argue that to close the loop on the flow of materials, we must mobilise human wellbeing.
Our Integrated Approach: Theory → Action
1. The Theory: The Wellbeing Framework
Our first paper is our conceptual and foundational underpinning. We are so proud that this work is published in a Nature title! It provides the "why", positioning consumer wellbeing as a strategic necessity for a successful circular value chain and linking circular actions to personal and societal wellbeing.
2. The Action: The Circular Experience Toolkit (CET)
Our second paper describes how we operationalise this framework. The CET is a practical, card-based resource that provides the "how," enabling the design of products, services and experiences that make circular practices intuitive whilst contributing to wellbeing.
This integrated approach—theory and tool—is essential for moving the textile industry from intentions to effective, consumer-centric action.
Read both papers at the links in our bio.
🖊 Wellbeing Framework graphic by Mary Stansfield and Amber Anderson.
📸 CET photo by Gianni Diliberto
📣📖 We are thrilled to present 'Textiles Circularity: Establishing a culture of circular economy in society' - a book by the @weareukri Interdisciplinary Textiles Circularity Centre.
The culmination of four years of hard work, this book marks the end of the Textiles Circularity Centre, documenting the results of research conducted by the three strands, the design of the Regenerative Fashion Hub and our vision for a future circular fashion system. It ends with our Design Manifesto for a Circular Economy Culture.
We hope that our research inspires others to address the core challenge of effecting a cultural transformation to grow the reuse sector in order to reduce the environmental impacts of apparel.
Download the book for free via the link in our bio!
Calling UK-based sheep and wool multi-stakeholders: farmers, sheep breeders, wool traders, wool processors & manufacturers, wool associations' members, wool industry stakeholders, artisans and designers working with wool, scientists and engineers working with wool, and wool innovators and entrepreneurs.
Chiara Tommencioni Pisapia, @chiaratompi PhD Candidate at the Centre for Materials Sciences & Culture at the Royal College of Art, is inviting you to participate in her research study Wool Ecosystemic Future Vision, which focuses on wool ecosystems in the UK and the value of wool in the context of regenerative transition.
The study consists of focus group sessions and an optional pre- and post-focus group online questionnaire.
Study session dates:
- Friday 20th March from 2.30 pm to 4.20 pm in person at the Royal College of Art in London
- Tuesday 24th March from 2.30 pm to 4.20 pm in person at the Royal College of Art in London
- Wednesday 1st April l from 1.30 pm to 3 pm online on Zoom
- Friday 10th April from 10 am to 11.50 am online on Zoom
Please find the link to register for the study.
For more information, please contact Chiara [email protected]
👏 Huge congratulations to Professor Sharon Baurley, Director of the Materials Science Research Centre, who was recently made a Fellow of the @royalcollegeofart at the 2025 Convocation Ceremony led by the Pro-Chancellor, Sir Peter Bazalgette.
Fellowships are conferred on members of staff whose contributions have greatly benefitted the College:
“Sharon has built the RCA’s Materials Science Research Centre into a world-leading hub for design-led research on materials, with a focus on sustainability, health and wellbeing. Today we recognise her vision, her leadership and her enduring contribution with a Fellowship of the Royal College of Art.”
✨ Our Student Surgery Sessions are back for the new term!
These are one-hour small group sessions for current @royalcollegeofart students to meet informally with our researchers and discuss your work relating to our key research areas:
🌱 Biomaterials
👤 Human experience of materials
Sessions have an informal, round-table format, with discussion encouraged between students as well as researchers offering their expertise.
More information, including dates and how to sign up, is available on the RCA Intranet - search for 'Student Surgery Sessions at the Materials Science Research Centre'.
📣 Calling all Royal College of Art students and recent graduates - do you have an interest or experience with mycelium? Applications are now open for two new Bio Lab Residency positions in the Materials Science Research Centre, focusing on mycelium cultivation.
Research in the Centre focuses on the invention and the experience of materials to address real world challenges, specifically environmental sustainability, and human health and wellbeing. One of our key research areas - biomaterials - is investigated in our dedicated research space, the Bio Lab.
🥼🔬 We are looking for two individuals, who are either current RCA students or recent RCA graduates, to work with the Bio Lab Manager Dr Kailash Ramlaul, and Senior Research Fellow Dr Miriam Ribul, to establish laboratory processes and workflows for the Bio Lab.
These are hourly paid positions. We require that the successful applicants are able to commit 2 or 3 afternoons per week for a total time commitment of 7 hours per week, for a total of 4 weeks. The Lab Residencies will start on Tuesday 4 November and end on Thursday 27 November 2025.
Please note: there will not be any scope to explore any personal practices relating to biomaterials research during the residency.
🧪 To apply - fill out the Google form at the link in our bio by Sunday 12 October. Please apply with your RCA student or alumni email address.
♻️ The Materials Library helps designers understand and use circular materials and advanced manufacturing technologies to transform their business and practice. The library consists of cards that show the range of materials and manufacturing processes developed during the Textiles Circularity Centre.
The Materials Library and other tools feature in the Textiles Circularity Centre Toolbox, developed to enable brands and designers to easily transition to a circular economy.
🔗 Learn more about all of the tools at the link in our bio.
📱 Developed as part of the Textiles Circularity Centre, the Biofibre Explorer is an Augmented Reality tool that makes learning about bio-based textiles an engaging and playful experience.
🧶 It offers an interactive, step-by-step demonstration of the wet spinning process used to create cellulose-based textiles.
Through Augmented Reality, consumers can have a multisensory immersion in the materials’ origins and potential fashion applications.
It facilitates learning and invites users to envision their future-selves participating in more informed and healthy consumption behaviour. Features like phone vibrations enhances physical involvement and immersion. By demonstrating the effort and innovation behind biobased materials, the tool deepens the emotional connection to these materials.
🔗 Find out more about the Biofibre Explorer and all our tools at the link in our bio
🔎 We have recently released a report summarising the key research insights and impact of the Textiles Circularity Centre over the course of its 4-year programme.
✏️ Filled with publications, policy contributions, and quotes from research participants and attendees of our Regenerative Fashion Hub stakeholder engagements, the report highlights the range of impact that the TCC has had across academia, civil society, government and the textiles industry.
🔗 Download the Research Insights and Impact Summary at the link in our bio.
Last month, our AiLoupe project held an interactive immersive experience in the @royalcollegeofart SNAP Visualisation Lab. The projection display mimicked the real fabric swatches of the Sensory Materials Library, allowing visitors to discover the materials both physically and virtually.
🔗 Learn more about AiLoupe at the link in our bio.
As part of its research programme, the @weareukri Interdisciplinary Textiles Circularity Centre established a partnership with @wandsworth_council to work on a project funded by Research England's Regional Innovation Fund.
The project aimed to explore how a hyper-localised circular economy can be achieved in Wandsworth through collaboration amongst all stakeholders in reuse, repair, remanufacture and recycling of clothing - i.e. in a ‘Social Production Network’, and explore key drivers and barriers to its adoption.
🔗 We are delighted to publish our short report - ‘Exploring the implementation of regenerative fashion in Wandsworth’ - available to download at the link in our bio.
✏️ Illustrations by @amberamberson
