Scientist in Residence

A petri dish with an amorphous red form inside — Image credit: Making Waves: trans-frequencies (Scientist in Residence Programme 2022) Image by Lok Yee Li, Peter Nasielski, Pati Starzykowski, Du Xinyang.

The Scientist in Residence (SiR) programme offers CSM postgraduate students the opportunity to collaborate with leading scientists from Tokyo Institute of Technology and London universities, interrogate their cutting-edge research and experiment with transdisciplinarity in action through hacking practices.

Hosted in the Grow Lab at Central Saint Martins, the collaboration also involves UAL faculty and visiting social scientists.

Mattering Life

Scientist in Residence Programme 2023/24

18-22 March 2024

Mattering Life is a reimagining of contemporary scientific research centred on the origins of life and the liveliness of matter. Since establishing the Grow Lab at Central Saint Martins in 2019, we have invited cutting edge scientists to share their research with postgraduate art and design students, opening it up to be reimagined and re-presented through a process of transdisciplinary ‘hacking’, bringing new questions, methods, and mindsets to the research.

This year we have invited Professor Masahiko Hara (Tokyo Institute of Technology) and Professor Nick Lane (University College London) to share their research on the origins and evolution of life, exploring the energies and flows in matter, particles, and cells. Twenty-four postgraduate students from across Central Saint Martins have been selected to work with the scientists, responding critically and creatively to the research presented. Through a week of experimentation knowledge, concepts, and processes will be exchanged between disciplines, with new perspectives and interpretations presented back to the scientists.

More about the scientific research and transdisciplinary enquiry:

From simple beginnings billions of years ago, life on earth has evolved into vastly complex and diverse kingdoms supporting an estimated 8.7 million species. But what were those beginnings and how can we study them now?

Through transdisciplinary experimentation, Mattering Life engages practically and conceptually with a range of questions exploring our definitions of life and living matter, the forces that drive the flow of energy and information, and the origins of intelligence. We will also explore how laboratory experimentation attempts to re-create the conditions and examine the role of storytelling and imagination in trying to understand events that happened 4 billion years ago.

The Mattering Life Team

Professor Masahiko Hara (Scientist in Residence) School of Materials and Chemical Technology, Tokyo Institute of Technology
Professor Nick Lane (Scientist in Residence) Department of Genetics, Evolution & Environment, University College London
Professor Kayoko Nohara (Social Scientist in Residence), School of Environment and Society, Tokyo Institute of Technology
Dr Heather Barnett (Academic Lead) Pathway Leader MA Art & Science and Co-director Living Systems Lab, Central Saint Martins
Dr Alice Taylor, Lecturer MA Biodesign
Dr Shem Johnson and Dr Barbara Paes (specialist technicians of the Grow Lab).

Making Waves: Rhythms, Patterns, Forces

Scientist in Residence Programme 2021/22

Students from across UAL came together for a week in February 2022 to explore the dynamics of living systems at different scales. With live online links to laboratories at Tokyo Institute of Technology and Queen Mary University of London students were exposed to specialist scientific research and state of the art imaging technologies and conducted remote experiments to observe cellular activity at nano scale.

Defining questions of interest prompted by the research presented by the scientists in residence, students developed their own creative investigations in the Grow Lab at Central Saint Martins, devised participatory behavioural experiments and examined local field sites. Collectively they explored the dynamics of living systems, the processes of synchronisation and the mechanics of patterning across scales… from macro to micro and beyond.

The Making Waves team:

Professor Masahiko Hara (Scientist in Residence) School of Materials and Chemical Technology, Tokyo Institute of Technology
Professor Kayoko Nohara (Social Scientist in Residence), School of Environment and Society, Tokyo Institute of Technology
Dr Thomas Iskratsch (Scientist in Residence) School of Engineering and Material Sciences, Queen Mary University of London.
Heather Barnett (Academic Lead) Pathway Leader, MA Art & Science, Central Saint Martins. WRHI Specially Appointed Professor
Dr Betti Marenko (Academic Lead) Reader in Design and Techno-Digital Futures, Central Saint Martins. WRHI Specially Appointed Professor
Dr Jo Wheeler, Head of International Partnerships, Central Saint Martins

Making Waves: Scientist in Residence 2022

This film documents the experimental process as students responded to the scientific research and bought their own knowledge, practices and questions into play.

Making Waves: Scientist in Residence

Student films

Short films produced by student groups exploring how we can tune into the frequencies of other organisms and systems, and questioning the possibilities of non-anthropocentric research.

Exploring self-less research

Exploring physical trans-frequencies

Exploring relational trans-frequencies

Exploring spiritual trans-frequencies

Students observing their nano-printed designs under the microscope in the Grow Lab, Central Saint Martins.
Adapting patterns in a petri dish for a slime mould navigational experiment, the Grow Lab, Central Saint Martins.
Students collecting ecology samples from Camley Street Nature Reserve, near Central Saint Martins.
Designing a topography for slime mould exploration in the Grow Lab, Central Saint Martins.
Observing the dynamics of slime mould growth under the microscope in the Grow Lab, Central Saint Martins.
Students working in the Grow Lab during the Making Waves Scientist in Residence programme 2022, Central Saint Martins.
Observing the fluid dynamics of ink in water in the Grow Lab, Central Saint Martins.
Students working in groups to design patterns for nano-scale printing for cellular experiments, the Grow Lab, Central Saint Martins.
Conducting a participatory experiment in collective decision making, Central Saint Martins.
Experimenting with the forces of sound frequencies on different organic matter in the Grow Lab, Central Saint Martins.

Hacking Hearts

Scientist in Residence Programme 2019/20

Hacking Hearts invited international research scientists working on heart disease, energy harvesting and cellular sensing to collaborate with postgraduate students from art, design and performance disciplines at Central Saint Martins. Through a process of interdisciplinary experimentation their research was reimagined and re-presented at a public symposium, opening up many social, cultural and philosophical dimensions.

Hacking Hearts

The opportunity to work with cutting edge research was incredible, as fuel for creation and to work with new tools and materials. We could make connections and observations that may not have been considered by the scientists. I was excited to meet like-minded students, it was a fantastic experience and definitely encouraged diverse thinking.

—

The Hacking Hearts team:

Professor Wataru Hijikata (Scientist in Residence) School of Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology
Professor Kayoko Nohara (Social Scientist in Residence), School of Environment and Society, Tokyo Institute of Technology
Dr Thomas Iskratsch (Scientist in Residence) School of Engineering and Material Sciences, Queen Mary University of London.
Heather Barnett (Academic Lead) Pathway Leader, MA Art & Science, Central Saint Martins. WRHI Specially Appointed Professor
Dr Ulrike Oberlack (Academic Lead) Course Co-ordinator, MA Design (Ceramics); MA Design (Furniture); MA Design (Jewellery). WRHI Specially Appointed Professor

Students investigating energy harvesting devices during the Hacking Hearts residency, November 2019. Photo © Hacking Hearts
Professor Wataru Hijikata introducing his research to the students at the start of the Hacking Hearts residency, November 2019. Photo © Hacking Hearts
A student observing beating cardiomyocyte (heart) cells through a microscope in the Grow Lab at Central Saint Martins, during the Hacking Hearts residency, November 2019. Photo © Hacking Hearts
The Scientists in Residence participating in creative material experimentation during the Hacking Hearts residency, November 2019. Photo © Hacking Hearts
Professor Wataru Hijikata in discussion with students during the Hacking Hearts residency, November 2019. Photo © Hacking Hearts
360 degree view of student experimentation during the Hacking Hearts residency, November 2019. Photo © Hacking Hearts
Professor Wataru Hijikata waiting to present his research to the public audience at the Hacking Hearts Symposium, November 2019. Photo by Shem Johnson
Audience questions for the scientists and artists at the Hacking Hearts Symposium, November 2019. Photo by Shem Johnson
A student presenting their speculative project, Beyond Human, at the Hacking Hearts Symposium, November 2019. Photo by Shem Johnson
Professor Wataru Hijikata and students answering audience questions in a panel discussion. Hacking Hearts Symposium, November 2019. Photo by Shem Johnson