Heather Barnett

Dr. Heather Barnett is a Reader and Pathway Leader for MA Art and Science at Central Saint Martins (University of the Arts London). She works at the intersection of art and biology, creating experimental works with living systems like slime mould (Physarum polycephalum), ants, and human participants. Her practice includes exhibitions at institutions such as the Science Museum (London), Pompidou Centre (Paris), and New Institute (Rotterdam), as well as collaborations with scientists and institutions like Swansea University and Tokyo Institute of Technology.

• PhD in Art and Science, University of Westminster (2023)
• Honorary Research Fellow at Swansea University (2018–present)
• Former Research Fellowships at University of Sussex and London School of Economics
• Co-founder of The Slime Mould Collective (slimoco)

Her research explores nonhuman intelligence, collective behavior, and distributed knowledge systems, translating biological principles into immersive experiences using VR and generative technologies. Recent projects include The Realm (2018–2019), funded by Innovate UK, and The Physarum Experiments, which interrogates slime mould’s problem-solving capabilities through participatory art. She also investigates embodied cognition and transdisciplinary pedagogies, publishing in journals like Antennae and handbooks on art-science collaboration.

Scientific awards include a Higher Education Academy National Teaching Fellowship (2012) and UAL Teaching Award (2016). She has supervised students on topics including moss-based resilience frameworks, cyanobacterial sculpture, and multispecies solidarity through slime mold collaboration. Her Scientist in Residence program at Central Saint Martins fosters cross-disciplinary experiments with researchers from Japan and the UK, including projects on cellular energy flows (Hacking Hearts, 2019) and life’s energetic origins (Mattering Life, 2024).