We are a multidisciplinary research group based in the School of Physics and Astronomy and motivated to understand the physics of life. We are developing tools to explore multiscale scale mechanics, single molecule manipulation techniques and neutron scattering to explore the physics of living systems. These powerful techniques are used to study hierarchical biomechanics, self-assembly and the structure and dynamics of molecules in aqueous solutions, in both simple and complex systems. We are members of the Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology and the Bragg Centre for Materials Research. We gratefully acknowledge funding from the EPSRC, BBSRC and ERC.