About

What is Soft Matter? Soft matter is all around us, it is ubiquitous! We eat soft matter, the clothes we wear are soft matter, the cars we drive are largely made from soft matter, when we paint our houses we use soft matter, from the moment we wake up in the morning and clean our teeth (with soft matter) to the moment we go to bed - very possibly on a foam mattress (soft matter) - we are surrounded by soft matter. In fact we ARE soft matter.

Soft matter encompasses polymers, gels, surfactants, colloids and biomaterials such as proteins and membranes. Soft matter science transcends the traditional disciplinary boundaries of chemistry, physics, biology, mathematics and engineering and to understand soft matter requires an interdisciplinary approach to research.

As such the Durham Centre for Soft Matter brings together internationally recognised expertise from the Departments of Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Engineering with the aim of providing a focal point for soft matter and polymer research at Durham University. Existing within the Centre are academics with an impressive breadth and depth of research interests in soft matter and polymer science including expertise in materials synthesis, characterisation, design, simulation and theory. Principal objectives of the Durham Centre for Soft Matter are;

To train the next generation of industrial and academic leaders by exposing our post graduate cohort to an expansive PhD training program involving taught modules to develop advanced scientific and generic skills in addition to an original research project.
To foster world-leading collaborative and interdisciplinary research programs across Durham University science and engineering departments.
To promote knowledge transfer activities in their broadest sense with local, national and international partners in both industry and academia.