Lecturer: Sriram Ramaswamy (Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore)

Abstract:
 Materials whose individual constituents consume free energy and move autonomously as a result are known as Active Matter, for which living systems are both inspiration and prime example. I will introduce the subject, summarise early results, and present recent and ongoing work with my students and colleagues, on organising principles, phase transitions, and surprises in the statistics and dynamics of active systems.