Designing for the biocentury

Professor Carole Collet explores the interface of biological sciences and design to challenge established paradigms and envision new sustainable materials and forms of production for the future. Collet will be discussing her research work, at the intersection of design and biology, and her investigation into new ways of making informed by bio-fabrication, botany, biomimicry and synthetic biology. How do we evolve design protocols from the hand-made and the man-made to the ‘grow-made’? What kind of design species do we become? The lecture will unravel the story behind selected research projects and discuss a new framework for ‘designing with the living’ which helps define how designers can engage with the emerging bio-circular economy.

As the University continues to maintain and develop its profile as a global leader in arts research, a series of Professorial Platform lectures was launched in 2008. The Platforms are an opportunity for University colleagues and associates, as well as invited members of the public, to learn more about the research undertaken in the University. The Platforms enable Professors to highlight their field of interest and the University, in turn, to recognise and commemorate their successes to date.