Alexandra Gruzdenko is a PhD candidate under the supervision of Assoc Prof Michael Debije in the Stimuli-responsive Functional Materials & Devices Group. Her project focuses on developing light-responsive swimming robots based on liquid crystal networks. The softness of these materials is expected to allow designing artificial swimmers with nature-inspired locomotion non-exploited in commercially available robots so far. The light-responsiveness of the materials will allow to control and at least partially power the devices remotely. Such qualities can be particularly useful for micro-robots for which the common motors and controllers are difficult to miniaturize.