About Chemical Atlas
Introduction
Chemical Atlas is an ongoing, collaborative project that explores how chemicals shape life across bodies, environments, and regulatory systems. Initiated by a team of researchers at UCL working across science, geography, design, and anthropology, the project is developed in dialogue with a wider community of practitioners — including artists, activists, educators, journalists, and affected communities.
Together, we are developing a digital platform that brings together case studies, visual experiments, and critical mapping practices. Our aim is to prototype a new way of representing chemical exposure and circulation — one that reflects complexity and uncertainty rather than simplifying it. We treat chemicals not only as molecular or technical objects, but as social and political agents: present in landscapes, institutions, and daily life.
The atlas is being designed to work across multiple spatial and temporal scales, linking global infrastructures to specific sites of extraction, harm, or activism. It draws on counter-mapping, participatory methods, and design research to support more inclusive and situated forms of knowledge. Current work focuses on combining scientific data, personal testimony, and experimental visual formats into an adaptable, open-ended prototype.
The Chemical Atlas is not a finished product, but a space for collaborative inquiry: a tool for testing methods, sharing perspectives, and reflecting on how we understand and navigate chemical conditions across spatiotemporal scales.
Contribute
Chemical Atlas is a work-in-progress and we welcome expressions of interest. See Information for Contributors.
Documentation
Chemical Atlas is an open source and collective project that incorporates design research and co-design.
This report summarizes ideas generated during an in-person workshop at University College London on June 6, 2025, led by Andrew Barry, Olwenn Martin and Lucy Sabin. The workshop, attended by 20 experts from the UK and internationally, facilitated knowledge exchange and ideation across disciplines, generating a community of practice and insights to inform the prototype you are currently exploring. Click here to open the GitHub repo.
Project Team
Andrew Barry
Professor of Geography
Olwenn Martin
Associate Professor of Health and Environment
Lucy Sabin
Design research and development
Funding
UCL Grand Challenges Small Grant 2024-5