Meet our world-leading academics in Materials Science
Find out more about our staff, their world-leading research and how they collaborate with industrial partners and institutions.
Programmes in the School of Engineering and Materials Science are developed by our academics, experts in their field and informed by our cutting-edge research and Industrial Advisory boards, facilitating the exchange of ideas between board members, academic staff and students.
Professor Andy Bushby is a Professor of Materials Science, Executive Vice-Dean of the Queen Mary Engineering School-NPU China and Director of Ultima Forma Ltd. Prof Bushby's research is centred on the micro- and nano-mechanics of materials and structures. He is a leading expert in the technique of nanoindentation for small-scale mechanical property measurement and contributes to ISO Standards working groups for instrumented indentation. Major research themes include the development of methods using spherical indenters, electromechanical properties of ferroelectric thin films, visco-elastic and composites materials, structure-properties relationships in calcified biological tissues and nano-structured crystalline materials.
Knighted in 2010, Professor Sir Colin Humphreys is a Professor of Materials Science, a Fellow of the Royal Society. He is also an Emeritus Professor at the University of Cambridge. His research is broad and covers three main areas: gallium nitride materials and devices; advanced electron microscopy; and high-temperature aerospace materials.
Professor Elizabeth Tanner is Bonfield Professor of Biomedical Materials and Head of Materials Engineering Division. She’s an Associate Editor of Proc IMechE Part H: Journal of Engineering in Medicine, a Fellow of numerous academies and societies, as well as a Trustee of the Royal Academy of Engineering. Her research interests are in the development, testing and use of biomaterials for bone and joint replacement, in particular, composites of bioactive ceramics and polymers that can encourage bone growth yet have sufficient mechanical properties to be used for load bearing applications.
Professor James Busfield is Professor of Materials and Director of Industrial Engagement. Professor Busfield has been the Head of the Soft Matter Group at Queen Mary since 1994. During his time here he has innovated extensively with his teaching, as was reflected by his award of a National Teaching Fellowship in 2009. He has also been recognised for his research excellence by the award of the Colwyn Medal (the premier medal for rubber research awarded by the IOM3) in 2009 and the Sparks-Thomas Award (also for rubber research by the ACS) in 2010. Before 1994, he designed suspension components for an automotive industry supply company, designing systems for companies such as Jaguar, Volvo and Mercedes.
Professor Karin Hing is a Biomedical Engineer whose pioneering research into synthetic bone 
grafts was honoured on a stamp commemorating great engineering progress of the past 50 years. She engineered materials that encourage bone growth in orthopaedic surgeries, improving outcomes for hundreds of thousands of patients worldwide.
Dr Caroline Roney is a reader in Computational Medicine and a world-leading researcher in Digital Twins. She uses AI technology to predict cardiovascular disease. Her work has recently been reported by the Guardian and featured in several science podcasts. She is also a campaigner for women and girls in STEM.
Dr Paul Balcolme is a programme director for Chemical Engineering. He specialises in developing unique technology-specific, probabilistic emissions/cost modelling of energy supply chains, particularly relating to methane emissions from natural gas, as well as hydrogen and ammonia supply chains.