Materials scientists urged to be adventurous

Materials scientists in the UK need to be more creative and adventurous to maintain their position in the field, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council has said.

The EPSRC published a prospectus for materials science, Materially Better Physical Sciences, on 3 November. The document identifies a number of issues for materials researchers. In particular, it argues that a "lack of adventure" in materials science research proposals compared with those in physics and chemistry needs to be overcome in order to boost innovation in the field.

The council says the reason behind the lack of adventure could be that the field is very close to market, which makes more speculative work less likely. It highlights a “light touch peer review” stream of about £100,000 for exploring such work as possible solution.