NMG Lunchtime Seminar Series: Focus on Sport Technologies

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Associate Professor in Materials Science and Design (Deputy Head of Architecture Department), University of Cambridge

Bamboo cricket bats: Championing inclusion in sport through material innovation

Cricket is booming worldwide, yet millions of players are held back by one stubborn barrier: the bat. Traditional English willow bats cost £100–£1,000, rely on an endangered craft, and depend on a fragile supply chain.
As prices rise due to material shortages (and increasing demand), cricket’s long-standing inequalities in class, race and gender deepen — especially across low- and middle-income communities where most of the world’s 200 million players live. Our CamBoom project offers a radical rethink.
Drawing on pioneering research over the past 5 years into bamboo cricket bats, this project blends engineering, design and cultural insight to challenge 150 years of material tradition. Our goal: affordable, digitally fabricated bamboo bats for under £50, built for recreational players and tailored through generative design to their unique playing cultures and preferences.
In this talk, I’ll share how natural-material innovation, CNC fabrication and user-centred design may help unlock genuine inclusion in sport. From design innovations and technical performance breakthroughs to building supply chain networks and securing endorsements, CamBoom is not just reimagining the cricket bat — it’s reimagining who gets to play.

Postdoctoral researcher in Materials Science; Université Bretagne Sud, Lorient, Brittany, France

Natural fibres in racing boat sails

Recent high-tech boat sails have been made with natural fibres. They have been used in extreme conditions during round the world yacht race and trans-atlantic race.
This talk explores how natural fibres are integrated into sail design, what problems are encountered, and what the benefits are.

CTO & Co-Founder, Arda Biomaterials

Beer into leather? Creating a new material landscape from waste plant proteins

Our material landscape is dominated by plastics and petrochemicals, this wasn’t always thecase. Humanity needs to use nature's building blocks to build a clean future.
Arda Biomaterials has created New Grain, an animal & plastic-free leather-like material derived from the proteins extracted from beer waste. Using a modern understanding of proteins, a whole breadth of new materials can be crafted, without compromising on the environment.
Learn about the history of natural materials, Arda’s New Grain, and how proteins hold the key to replacing petrochemical materials.