Materials library collections as tools for interdisciplinary research

This paper examines how materials libraries are used as tools for interdisciplinary collaboration in 3 research projects that inhabit a disciplinary triangle between materials research, design and user needs: PhysFeel, which explores how materials collections can be used in psychological therapies; Light.Touch.Matters, a design-led project to develop new smart materials; and Hands of X, which uses materials collections to develop a bespoke prosthetics service. The paper analyses and contrasts these case studies to better understand the affordances and limitations of materials collections when used as research, translational and design tools. We conclude that in collaborations between materials researchers, designers and end users, tensions arise as a result of the primacy that each partner gives to creativity, the development of new knowledge and to solving societal problems. The use of a materials library addresses many of these issues but is not a panacea for all the problems associated with interdisciplinary working.