Mark is a materials engineer and Professor of Materials and Society at UCL where he teaches and runs a research group.

Mark received his Ph.D. in turbine jet engine alloys from Oxford University, and has worked as a materials scientist in the USA, Ireland and the UK. For more than ten years he has championed materials research that links the arts and humanities to medicine, engineering and materials science. This culminated in the establishment of the UCL Institute of Making where he is Director and runs the research programme. His current research interests are animate materials, innovative manufacturing, and sensoaesthetic materials.

Mark is a broadcaster and writer on science and engineering issues, and believes passionately that to engineer is human. He has written for The Observer, The Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Guardian. He regularly gives popular talks on engineering and materials science to tv, radio, festival, and school audiences. He gave the 2010 Royal Institution Christmas Lectures, and is a regular presenter of science and engineering BBC TV programmes. He wrote the New York Times best-selling book Stuff Matters.