Institute for Materials Discovery

At the forefront of a field that underpins our world - from smart phones to satellites, solar cells to dialysis. We can help prepare you to realise your ambitions in this exciting area.

Studying at the Institute for Materials Discovery

The Institute for Materials Discovery (IMD) is at the forefront of the design and development of new, sustainable materials to tackle pressing global challenges. It brings together leading experts from several disciplines, and links materials research at UCL which is scattered across departments including Chemistry, Engineering, Biology, Medicine, and Physics.

MediaCentral Widget Placeholderhttps://mediacentral.ucl.ac.uk/Player/C7452JcH

Material science underpins the modern world, from smart phones to satellites, solar cells to dialysis, and is at the cutting edge of innovation in areas such as transport, health care, electric vehicles and renewable energy. The Institute for Materials Discovery (IMD), led by its founder and director Professor Kwang-Leong Choy is at the forefront of the design and development of new, sustainable materials to tackle pressing global challenges. It brings together leading experts from several disciplines, and links materials research at UCL which is scattered across departments including Chemistry, Engineering, Biology, Medicine, and Physics.

Advanced Materials MSc at the IMD

MediaCentral Widget Placeholderhttps://mediacentral.ucl.ac.uk/Player/gJ4HhC2F

Interested in studying Material Science? The MSc in Advanced Materials run by the IMD will train you in cutting edge materials discovery, manufacturing and characterisation. Delivered by world leading researchers, you will gain practical experience in working with materials for applications across healthcare, manufacturing, renewable energy, transport, optoelectronics and consumer products. The course is an ideal fit for students from a wide range of backgrounds, including Material Science, Chemistry, Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering and Biology.

The programme delivers fundamental and practical knowledge in processing, manufacturability, life cycle design and certification, giving students the skills they need to design the next generation of materials.

Advanced Material Science MSc

Research at the IMD

MediaCentral Widget Placeholderhttps://mediacentral.ucl.ac.uk/Player/fibBiJc3

The Institute conducts research into materials for a wide range of applications, chief among which is developing low cost, sustainable renewable energy solutions. The institute has developed world leading non-vacuum Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD) manufacturing processes for Copper-Indium-Gallium-Selinide and Copper-Zinc-Tin-Sulphur solar cells, achieving near record efficiency while dramatically lowering the cost of these devices.

Healthcare is another priority. Across the UK around 2 million people will undergo dialysis in their lifetime, yet this procedure has not fundamentally changed in 50 years, and outcomes for long term recipients remain bleak. The IMD, working with Japanese collaborators, the Royal Free Hospital and the UCL Centre for Nephrology is in the process of revolutionising this procedure. Conventional dialysis machines us hollow fibres to remove urea and excess liquid from the blood, however cannot remove protein bound toxins. Our aim is to use our patented coating technology to coat the hollow fibres with a toxin absorber, boosting waste removal rates, capturing key toxins and making dialysis cheaper and quicker.

Read more about this and much, much more on our research page.

Academic profiles

Professor Kwang - Leong Choy (Director of UCL Centre for Materials)

Dr. Mengyan Nie (Teaching Fellow)

Student profiles

Find out more about what our students have to say here.