Materials Innovation Hub: Connecting Materials Culture to Materials Science

50年前硅芯片的发展是材料科学的创新，引发了信息技术革命。这些新材料不仅改变了技术，还改变了行为，塑造了城市景观，从我们的城市，到我们的医院，到我们的家园，到我们的艺术。因此，材料是社会的一个决定性特征：它的历史、文化和经济福利。因此，物质性是每一所大学研究的中心主题之一。然而，在当代大学中，从事制造新材料的科学家（物理学家、化学家、材料科学家）很少与研究材料的文化意义和影响的人（人文和社会科学家）接触，而且往往与那些用材料制造东西的人（医生、工程师、建筑师、设计师、艺术家）距离更远。这对大学的研究和教学文化以及它们与更广泛世界接触的能力产生了严重的不利影响，因为当代社会的许多重要问题，如健康、安全、气候变化和经济可持续性，都需要采取多学科的办法。该研究项目的目的是在伦敦国王学院内建立材料创新中心，其指导原则是所有材料创新都受益于涉及艺术、人文、社会科学、物理科学和健康科学的全系统多学科方法。该中心将成为发展我们对材料、物质性和物质文化如何影响人类领域的理解的焦点，无论是以新型假肢的形式，还是以人类表达的新形式。这将是一个充满奇迹、娱乐和雄心勃勃的想法的地方——一个在大学和英国内部发起创新和文化变革的地方。

The development of the silicon chip fifty years ago was the materials science innovation that sparked the information technology revolution. Such new materials do more than transform technology, they change behaviour and shape the urban landscape, from our cities, to our hospitals, to our homes, to our art. Thus, materials are a defining characteristic of society: its history, culture and economic welfare. As a result materiality is one of the central themes of study in every university. However in contemporary universities the scientists involved in making new materials (physicists, chemists, materials scientists) very rarely get involved with those who study the cultural significance and impact of materials (humanities and social scientists), and are often further distanced from those who make things with materials (medics, engineers, architects, designers, artists). This has a serious detrimental effect on the research and teaching culture of universities, and their capacity to engage with the wider world, since many of the important issues of contemporary society, such as health, security, climate change and economic sustainability, require a multi-disciplinary approach. The aim of this research project is to build the Materials Innovation Hub within King's College London whose guiding principle will be that all materials innovation benefits from a system-wide multidisciplinary approach involving the arts, humanities, social sciences, physical sciences and health sciences. The Hub will be a focal point for developing our understanding of how materials, materiality and material culture affect the human realm, be it in the form of a new type of artificial limb, or a new form of human expression. It will be a place of wonder, play and ambitious ideas - a place to initiate innovation and culture change within the university and the UK.