Eugenia Kumacheva's research focuses on the fundamental and applied science of soft matter: polymers, colloids, gels, and liquid crystals. One of the powerful approaches developed in her group is the self-organization of nanoparticles in hierarchical structures with highly controllable geometry and complexity. In another approach, by mimicking the behavior of plant tissues she discovered a new mechanism of shape transformations in soft materials and designed self-shaping stimulus-responsive polymers. Her other research interests include continuous microfluidic synthesis of polymer colloids with exquisite control over their compositions, dimensions, and shapes and the exploration of the behaviour of soft matter in constrained geometries.

Eugenia is Canada Research in Advanced Polymer Materials (Tier 1) and Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. She holds the distinction of the University Professor (given to <2% of the tenured Faculty at the University of Toronto). Her international awards include Chorafas Foundation Award in Physics and Engineering, Alexander von Humboldt Senior Research Award, Schlumberger Fellowship and the L'Oreal-UNESCO Award for Women in Science.