Martyn Dade-Robertson is Professor of Emerging Technology at Northumbria University, and Co-Lead of the Living Construction group where his research explores the theory and practice of biofabrication, engineered living materials, and new forms of scientific knowledge production. His work sits at the intersection of architecture, biotechnology, computation, and design research, combining experimental fabrication with conceptual frameworks for understanding agency, growth, and complexity in living systems.

A central focus of his practice-based research is biofabrication as a design methodology rather than a purely technical process. This work reframes fabrication as a dialogue with ‘agential matter’, where form emerges through the interaction of genetic rules, environmental gradients, and historical contingency. His research contributes to the theory of biofabrication by articulating concepts such as developmental time, phenotypic plasticity, and controllability, and by positioning design as an act of steering rather than direct control.

His broader interest in Bio Design has lead him to develop new research platforms including founding the Hub for Biotechnology in the Built Environment (HBBE) and the Cambridge University press journal: Biotechnology Design,

Alongside this material and biological work, Dade-Robertson has developed a parallel strand of research in metascience, data visualisation, and research intelligence. He is the founder of Semantic Space and the creator of Macroscope, a large-scale analytical platform for mapping, analysing, and interpreting academic research landscapes. Macroscope combines bibliometric data, full-text analysis, and large language models to visualise disciplinary structure, institutional performance, thematic clusters, and epistemic gaps across research fields. The platform has been used to interrogate questions of research quality, interdisciplinarity, evaluation bias, and the limits of peer review, including experimental applications to REF-style assessment and strategic research planning.