James Busfield is a Professor of Materials at QMUL, leading the Soft Matter Group since 1994. Specializing in polymers and soft matter, he examines properties like abrasion and viscoelastic behavior. He was made a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2020 and a National Teaching Fellow in 2009. He has been recognised for his research by the award of the George Stafford Whitby Award (by the ACS, 2021) the Colwyn Medal (by the IOM3, 2009) and the Sparks-Thomas Award (by the ACS, 2010). He chairs the IOM3 Elastomer Group, organized over 80 rubber industry events and served as the UK’s International Rubber Conference Organization representative. As an Associate Editor for key journals in the field, his researches have profound impact in materials science and engineering.