Sohini Kar-Narayan

Sohini Kar-Narayan is Professor of Device Materials in the Department of Materials Science at the University of Cambridge, where she leads an interdisciplinary research group focused on functional nanomaterials and devices. She is also a Professorial Fellow of Clare Hall College in Cambridge and serves as Associate Editor of the journal Applied Materials Today.

Her research centers on functional materials, particularly piezoelectric/triboelectric nanomaterials and thermoelectric nanocomposites for mechanical and thermal energy harvesting applications. She investigates structure-property relationships in polymer-based piezoelectric, ferroelectric and thermoelectric nanostructures, with emphasis on how phase, crystallinity and morphology affect energy harvesting performance. Her work extends to integrating these nanomaterials into functional sensing devices using advanced microscale additive manufacturing techniques.

• Develops flexible and stretchable sensors for biomedical and clinical applications
• Creates bio-piezoelectric interfaces for cell sensing and stimulation
• Designs conformable microfluidic force sensors for precision joint replacement surgery

Her research demonstrates how nanoscale property control through processing enables functional device integration via additive manufacturing. Kar-Narayan's work bridges fundamental materials science with practical applications in energy, healthcare, and advanced manufacturing.

Scientific Awards:

• Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship (2012)
• World Economic Forum Young Scientist Award
• ERC Starting Grant (2015) and ERC Consolidator Grant (2023)
• Royal Society of Chemistry Peter Day Prize (2023)
• Top 50 Women in Engineering (2021)
• Fellow of IoM3 (2022)
• Armourers & Braisiers' Venture Prize Award (2022)
• Institute of Physics Lee Lucas Award (2023)

Professor Kar-Narayan co-founded ArtioSense Ltd., a Cambridge University spin-out commercializing microfluidic force sensors for precision orthopaedic surgery. She received her PhD in Physics from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, in 2009. Her research group (Kar-Narayan Lab) includes postdoctoral researchers, graduate students, and undergraduate/master students working across energy, devices, biomedical sensors, additive manufacturing, and advanced scanning probe microscopy.