Ward Groutars is a PhD. candidate and biodesigner, working with living organisms to design materials and artefacts that have the ability to interact with both humans and their ecological surroundings.

Being fascinated with the diversity and emergence of ecosystems, he approaches his living collaborators not as isolated monocultures but rather as multispecies assemblages, entangled in the same webs as us, human beings are.

As a member of the EU funded Nextskins project, he collaborates with experts from various disciplines on developing a new class of engineered living materials based on bacterial cellulose, a grown material with interesting mechanical properties, versatility and excellent biocompatibility.

Using this material, he intends to create living artefacts that enhance the visibility of non-human organisms in anthropogenic landscapes, creating room for human interpretation and ultimately actionability, enabling citizens to regenerate degraded urban ecosystems.