Defence Materials 2050: Materials Discovery & Design
As part of the IOM3 Defence Materials 2050 seminar series, the Henry Royce Institute is hosting the inaugural seminar and workshop on 'Materials Discovery and Design'. The meeting is to be held on 24 March 2026 at the Royce Institute hub building in Manchester.
The Defence Materials Discovery & Design 2050 event will convene leading scientists, innovators, defence stakeholders and industry partners to shape a strategic vision for the next generation of extreme‑performance materials.
Alongside exploring breakthrough pathways such as AI‑driven discovery, high‑throughput robotics, quantum simulation, bio‑inspired design, extreme‑environment testing platforms, and open innovation ecosystems, the workshop tackles a central national challenge: enabling the UK to rapidly translate emerging defence threats into clear materials performance requirements, and then discover, design, and validate solutions at pace. Insights from the event will feed directly into a forward‑looking white paper that defines the research priorities, infrastructure, and collaborative frameworks needed to secure UK leadership in defence materials innovation on the 2050 time horizon.
Click the image below to go to the IOM3 Defence, Safety & Security Group page:
This event is generously supported by Henry Royce Institute who is the venue host.
Agenda
| 09:30 | Registration |
10:00 |
Welcome Address - Alan Partridge, DMEx/ Henry Royce Institute |
10:15 |
AI-accelerated computational discovery of high-entropy ceramics for extreme environments Viktor Zólyomi, STFC Hartree Centre |
10:35 |
Computational + experimental workflows for nuclear/defence materials Aidan Cole-Baker, Amentum |
10:55 |
Changing materials development for defence: Application of digital manufacturing and low-cost representative environmental testing to accelerate understanding and deployment of next generation materials David Crudden, Alloyed |
| 11:15 | Coffee Break |
11:30 |
A Perspective of Quantum Computing for Materials Design Nicole Holzmann, Psiquantum |
11:50 |
Metabiogel systems for energy absorption and vibration damping: current state and future perspectives Fabrizio Scarpa, University of Bristol |
12:10 |
Materials Intelligence for Advanced Materials Discovery & Design Sak Arumugam, Ansys |
| 12:30 | Lunch |
13:30 |
Framing Plenary - Dean Fletcher, Dstl |
13:40 |
Breakout Session A - Future Capabilities & Practical Impacts |
14:15 |
Breakout Session B - Defence Opportunities |
| 14:50 | Coffee Break |
15:10 |
Breakout Session C - Roadmap to 2050 |
| 15:45 | Final Synthesis & Voting |
| 16:00 | Close of Event |
Upcoming events in the series
Defence Materials 2050: Materials Manufacture & Processing
Join us for the 2nd in-person seminar on Defence Materials 2050, focussing on materials manufacturing and processing.
NCC, Bristol
Defence Materials 2050: Critical Materials, Security of Supply, Decommissioning, Reuse and Recycling
Join us for the 3rd in-person seminar on Defence Materials 2050, focussing on critical materials, security of supply, decommissioning, reuse & recycling.
Lucideon, Staffordshire