Prof. David J. JARVIS (51) is a British materials scientist, inventor and educator specialising in metallurgy, materials engineering, aerospace and sustainability. He earned his BEng and PhD from Swansea University, Wales, in the UK.
In an international research career spanning 25 years, he has worked with leading organisations including BMW (Germany), the
European Space Agency and the ISS Programme (The Netherlands),
Metallurgy Europe (Belgium), HIPtec and VSCA (Norway) and
UAX (Spain).
David is the author of 45 scientific papers and holds 32 patent families and 100 national patents. He is a lifelong International Fellow of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA) in Stockholm and an Elected Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3) in London. In 2011, David was made an Honorary Professor at Swansea University.
His work includes conceiving and leading €120M+ flagship research programmes, such as
AMAZE (metallic 3D printing),
IMPRESS (intermetallics), ExoMet (light alloys and nanocomposites), Accelerated Metallurgy (combinatorial alloy design) and ThermoMag (thermoelectric materials). These industrial projects have received awards — including for Best EC Project.
Most recently, he won the prestigious 'TMS Light Metals Award' in 2025 (USA), as well as the 'Best Researcher Prize' at UAX in 2026. David’s latest invention is now sparking an exciting new subfield of materials science, called GEO-ALLOYS, directly merging geochemistry with alloy design, casting and 3D printing. A bold idea triggered by the Atlas itself!
In summary, David’s passion is to push the boundaries of physical matter. For decades, he has been developing new high-performance metallic alloys and ceramics for both academic and industrial purposes, alongside a strong commitment to sharing knowledge beyond the specialist community.
Through the
Atlas of Human Imagination, he aims to inspire curiosity, creativity and a sense of wonder - particularly among children, students, young adults and their parents.
