Plenary speakers
Institute for Organic and Analytical Chemistry, University of Bremen, Germany
Anne Staubitz holds a post as a professor at the University of Bremen. Her interests are the development of nucleophile selective cross-coupling reactions and, using this tool, the synthesis of new semiconducting polymers. A second research thrust has developed within the collaborative network CRC 677 “Function by Switching”, which is concerned with switchable polymeric systems and their application in materials science. This research is still conducted at Kiel University where Anne Staubitz has a part-time associate professorship.
Anne Staubitz studied biochemistry at the University of Tübingen. After working in Paul Knochel’s group at the University of Munich (LMU) on novel Grignard reagents, she obtained her Ph. D. with Varinder Aggarwal at the University of Bristol, UK, working on a natural product. For her post-doctoral work she joined the group of Ian Manners, also at the University of Bristol, where she worked on main group inorganic polymers, in particular catalytic dehydrocoupling reactions of group 13 group 15 adducts. She started her independent academic career as an assistant professor at Kiel University in 2010, and continues to contribute to the CRC 677.
Technische Universität Berlin, Germany
Zeynep Altintas is a full professor and the Chair of Bioinspired Materials and Biosensor Technologies at the University of Kiel, Germany. She has been the Head of Biosensors and Receptor Development Group at the Technical University of Berlin since 2016. She completed her Ph.D. on biomedical sensors at the age of 25 with the outstanding Ph.D. student award. Her Ph.D. period brought her several other research prizes and fellowships. Following a one-year postdoc position at the Cranfield Biotechnology Centre, she continued her academic career as a faculty member of Biomedical Engineering at Cranfield University (the UK) until 2016. She leads an interdisciplinary research group in the domains of biosensor technologies, computational chemistry, receptor design, functional polymers and their applications in (bio)chemical sciences, nanomaterials applications, and design, synthesis, and characterization of biomimetic materials. She has >170 publications in these fields, including books, journal articles, book chapters, patent applications, and conference papers. She has supervised more than 35 Ph.D. and M.Sc. students and mentored seven post-doctoral fellows.
Institut Laue-Langevin, France
Dr. Jiri Kulda is leading scientist emeritus at the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL), Grenoble. Since 1991 until his retirement at the end of 2017 he has been successively instrument scientist and group leader of the Tripple Axis Spectrometers. Before joinin the ILL he has spent some years as scientist and senior scientist at smaller neutron sources at the Nuclear Physics Institute at Rez near Prague (CR) and at the Laboratory of Neutron Physics, JINR, Dubna (USSR). All his degrees are in experimental solid state physics and come from the Czech Technical University in Prague (CR). His major scientific interests are on one hand scattering theory, neutron optics, design and construction of neutron instruments and on the other hand the use of neutron and Xray scattering to study both static and dynamic correlations in disordered crystalline systems.
University of Southern Denmark, Mads Clausen Institute, NanoSYD, Denmark
Professor at University of Southern Denmark, the Mads Clausen Institute and head of SDU Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics and Energy (SDU CAPE). My field of expertise is thin-film growth, integration and devices for energy conversion and storage applications. In 2010-2011, I worked with high performance transistors from III-V nanoscale membranes at the Javey research lab, UC Berkeley, California. In 2011, I established the OPV group at SDU NanoSYD, where we work on improving the performance and stability of organic and hybrid solar cells, including thin film synthesis, metal oxide interlayers and interfaces, organic and hybrid active layers as well as film and device degradation. Since 2016, we also have a focus on device up-scaling through Roll-to-Roll (R2R) printing technology at the SDU R2R facility.
I have been supervisor of 11 PhD projects, 3 currently running, and 12 postdocs, of which 5 are currently running.
In total 83 publications: 63 peer-reviewed journal articles, 11 peer-reviewed conference proceedings, 2 books (editor), 4 book chapters, and 3 others. Includes publications in Nature, Nature Energy.
Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Sweden
Muhammet S. Toprak received his B.Sc. in Chemistry Education and M.Sc. in Inorganic Chemistry from the Middle East Technical University (METU, Ankara-Turkey). During the PhD studies at METU he moved to Sweden and completed his PhD in Materials Chemistry at KTH - Royal Institute of Technology (Stockholm-Sweden), specializing in Inorganic Materials Chemistry and Nanotechnology. He worked as a Post-doctoral fellow at the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB, USA) on the biomimetic assembly routes for the fabrication of nanomaterials. He then returned to KTH and received the title of Docent in 2009, thereafter was appointed full Professor in Materials Chemistry in 2015. He is currently a staff member at the Department of Applied Physics, KTH, leading a research group with a strong Nanochemistry profile.
Material design on the nanoscale is Toprak’s main research domain. The focus is on developing sustainable methods (green chemistry) for synthesizing nanomaterials with controlled size, morphology and surface chemistry (nanotectonics), precisely engineered for the intended applications. Toprak’s research activities have a strong sustainability focus, with a special emphasis on applications in energy and biomedicine. Thermoelectric materials are one area where his group has a strong track-record, reporting several materials displaying state-of-the-art performance. The aim is scalable hybrid materials for thermal energy harvesting. For biomedicine, the group developed nanoparticles with biocidal and bio-active surfaces. A pioneering area is the development of a library of novel nanoparticle-based contrast agents, and demonstration of the usability of the new contrast agents for in-vivo x-ray fluorescence bio-imaging. Development of targeted nanoparticle delivery in-vivo is the objective of on-going research.
He has published more than 250 articles in internationally renowned journals and have an h-index of 61. His research has been supported by the major funding agencies such as the Swedish Research Council, Swedish Energy Agency, the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, Vinnova, and the European Commision through FP7-H2020 programs.
EUROfusion, Germany
Tony Donné is since June 2014 Programme Manager (CEO) of EUROfusion; a consortium of 30 national research institutes and about 150 universities in 28 European countries. From 2009 – 2014 he coordinated the Dutch research activities in the field of fusion research. He was founding director of the Dutch-Russian Centre of Excellence for Fusion Physics and Technology and he was Programme Director of the ITER-NL consortium. Almost his complete scientific career he has worked in the field of plasma diagnostics at a great range of fusion devices. He was closely involved in the design and developments of diagnostics for ITER. In 2010 he was appointed Professor in Diagnostics and Heating of Fusion Plasmas at Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands. He is presently chair of the Coordinating Committee of the International Tokamak Physics Activity; a worldwide organisation that coordinates research in support of the ITER project.
Invited speakers
University of Tartu Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, Estonia
Angela Ivask is Professor at the University of Tartu Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology. She has graduated from Tallinn University of Technology as molecular biologist. Since 2007 she has been involved in nanomaterial-related research, mainly from the point of view of biological effects of such materials. During her post-doctoral training at the Center of Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology of UCLA and at the Future Industries Institute of the University of South Australia , A. Ivask studied the mechanisms of action of nanomaterials on bacteria and human cells. Since 2015 the focus of her research has been innovative applications of nanomaterials and with collaboration of the Institute of Physics of the University of Tartu, she has developed nanomaterial-based coatings for antimicrobial use. Currently she is leading a research group on microbe-material interactions and her studies focus on one side, on the development of industrially feasible rapidly acting antimicrobial coatings and on the other hand, on microbial stress responses induced upon antimicrobial treatments.
Department of Materials and Environmental Chemistry, Stockholm University, Sweden
Anja-Verena Mudring studied chemistry at the Rheinische-Friedrich-Wilhelms Universität zu Bonn (D, 1990-1995) and carried out her Dr. rer. nat. thesis work at Max-Planck Institute for Solid State Research (D, 2001). Postdoctoral research took her to as a Feodor Lynen Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt foundation to Iowa State University and the U.S. DOE Ames Laboratory (USA, 2001-2003). In 2003 she started her independent academic career at the Universität zu Köln supported by a Liebig fellowship. After completing her Habilitation (2006), she become professor for inorganic chemistry at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum (D). In 2014 she moved back to Iowa State University as the Glenn Murphy professor and became a faculty scientist at the newly founded Critical Materials Institute at the U.S. DOE Ames Laboratory (USA). In 2017 she moved to the Department of Materials and Environmental Chemistry at Stockholm University (SWE) where she established a program on Green Chemistry and, most recently, became founding director of the Stockholm University Center for Circular and Sustainable Systems (SUCeCSS). Her newest academic adventure is taking her as a Villum Investigator and iMAT professor to Aarhus University (DK) where she was also elected as an Associate Fellow of the AU Institute of Advanced Studies in 2021. Moreover, she is currently an Honorary Professor at the College of Engineering, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Prof. Mudring is currently acting as editor-in-chief for the journals Green Chemistry Reviews & Letters and Polyhedron.
Her research motto is ¨Theory with Practice¨ and research in the Mudring group is driven by understanding fundamental structure-property relationships with the aim to design new materials for energy related applications for a sustainable society. Applications in focus are energy efficient lighting, (photo-)catalysis, magnetic refrigeration and thermoelectric energy conversion. All of which help, in a direct or indirect way, to meet the Sustainable Development Goals as being put forward in the United Nations Development Programme. In her materials development approach AVM takes a holistic approach: The materials should be benign by design, green in application and their manufacturing also should be environmentally benign. In this, she is using the principles of Green Chemistry & Engineering.
Her research has been supported by the major funding agencies such as the German Science Foundation, the US Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, Vetenskapsrådet, the Knut and Alice Wallenberg, Villum, Novonordisk and Carlsberg Foundations.
Institute of Materials Science, Kaunas University of Technology, Lithuania
Dr Asta Tamulevičienė is currently a senior researcher and part time associate professor at the Kaunas University of Technology (KTU). Her research through all the carrier was related to the light phenomena, either via the analysis of optical properties of the materials or application of light-based analytical methods to determine the structure of the materials. She is a member of the KTU research group Applied Optics and Photonics. She has experience in vacuum film deposition and characterization of diamond like carbon nanocomposite films (PhD thesis defended in 2012). Currently her interests are the synthesis of noble metal nanoparticles and application of nanoparticles for the sensors based on Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS).
Institute of Chemical Physics, University of Latvia, Latvia
Dr Gunta Kunakova is senior researcher at the University of Latvia, Institute of Chemical Physics. Her research currently focuses on exploring exotic phases of matter in 2D hybrid materials and nanostructured topological insulators.
She defended her PhD thesis in Chemistry, at University of Latvia in 2015 and thereafter joined as a postdoc prof. F. Lombardi’s group at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden (SI scholarship and PostDoc Latvia grant).
Institute of Solid State Physics University of Latvia, Latvia
Anatoli Popov is a senior research fellow at the Institute of Solid State Physics of the University of Latvia. In 1984 he graduated from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, and in 1990 he defended his Ph.D. thesis at the Institute of Physics of the Latvian Academy of Sciences. According to SCOPUS, he is the co-author of over 230 articles with over 3400 citations and an H=35 index. He has been the Principal Investigator in several projects funded by the Latvian & European Research Program (EUROfusion) totaling around 1.5 million euros. He has worked as a visiting scientist at the Kernforschungzentrum Juelich GmbH (Germany) and the French National Research Center for Nuclear Physics (GANIL). He then was a visiting professor at the Carlos III University of Madrid (Spain) and a staff scientist at RIKEN, Japan. From 2000 to 2010 he was in Grenoble as a researcher at the European Molecular Laboratory and the Laue-Langevin Institute. His main research interests include the experimental and theoretical study of electronic and optical properties of solids, radiation effects and defects in solids, radiation detection, applications of neutron, swift-heavy ion and synchrotron radiation in solid state research. He is a member of Fusion Science Department Project Board and also member of the Board on Materials in EUROfusion enabling research programme. He is also a board member of Crystal Clear Collaboration at CERN and visiting professor of Eurasian National University in Kazakhstan.
European XFEL GmbH
Dr. Andreas Scherz is leading scientist and group leader of the Spectroscopy and Coherent Scattering (SCS) Instrument at the European XFEL since 2012. Before, he joined the SLAC National Accelerator Center as a Postdoc in 2004 and became later a staff scientist at the Stanford Institute for Material and Energy Science (SIMES). His major research interest are ultrafast magnetism and laser-driven phase transitions in quantum materials on nanometer length scales and advancing X-ray methodologies such as time-resolved spectroscopies and holographic imaging in the soft X-ray region.
Vilnius University, Lithuania
Prof. Habil. Dr. Arunas Ramanavicius is a professor at Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania. He is also leading the laboratory of NanoBioTechnology at Research Center of Physical Sciences and Technologies. Prof. Arunas Ramanavicius is a member of Lithuanian Academy of sciences. In 1998 he received PhD degree and in 2002 doctor habilitus degree from Vilnius University. He has research interests in various aspects of nanotechnology, bionanotechnology, nanomaterials, biosensorics, bioelectronics, biofuel cells and MEMS based analytical devices. He was a national coordinator of several nanotechnology related COST actions. Editorial board member of Materials; Sensors; Chemija and several other journals.
Prof. A. Ramanavicius is serving as expert-evaluator in Horizon 2020 program coordinated by European Commission and he is technical advisor of many foundations located in European and non-European countries.
Lithuanian Energy Institute, Lithuania
Egidijus Urbonavičius graduated Vytautas Magnus University as Master of Science in Physics in 1998. In 1995 during bachelor studies in university he started professional career at Lithuanian Energy Institute (LEI) in Ignalina Safety Analysis Group, which later became Laboratory of Nuclear Installations Safety. In 1998 he started PhD studies at LEI and in 2003 he successfully defended Doctor theses in the field of thermal engineering and continued professional career at LEI. At LEI he grew from assistant in laboratory to chief researcher.
The main topics of interest in science are processes in containments on nuclear power plants in case of severe accidents covering entire spectrum from thermal-hydraulics to transport of the radioactive fission products and definition of source term to environment. In 2006 he also became involved in research linked with the fusion facilities and was a leader of first fusion project liked with safety assessment of ITER facility in the frames of EURATOM in Framework Program (FP-6). After LEI joined implementation of European Fusion Development Agreement (EFDA) in 2007 he became the main contact point with European Commission for project implementation. In 2015 he was a deputy project leader for the first H2020 project coordinated by LEI. In 2019 he became a Head of Research Unit of LEI for implementation of EUROfusion project.
He is an author of more than 50 scientific publications, including 1 monograph on Severe accident management for Ignalina NPP.
NanoBioMedical Centre, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poland
Emerson Coy is an associate professor at the NanoBioMedical Centre of Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland. He received his Habilitation degree in material sciences from the AGH University of Science and Technology, Poland, in 2019. He received his PhD degree in nanoscience from the University of Barcelona, Spain, in 2016, his master’s degree in applied and computational physics from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Spain, in 2009, and his master’s degree in nanotechnology from the University of Barcelona in 2008. Additionally, Coy holds an engineering degree from Manuela Beltran University, Colombia, obtained in 2006. His research interests include thin films/coatings, multiferroics, carbides, nanoindentation, composite materials, photoelectrocatalysis and energy harvesting.
Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia, Latvia
Dr. habil. phys., PhD, Eugene Kotomin (Jevgenijs Kotomins) is senior scientist in the Laboratory of Self-organizing Systems, Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia, Riga.
Full member of Latvian Academy of Sciences, Citation H-index: 51 (WoS), total citations 10.000+, 520+ papers in refereed journals, 17 books and book chapters, 12 review articles. Main research interests include: Theoretical materials science based on first principles calculations. Theory of radiation-induced effects and defects in solids, kinetics of reactions with a focus on self-organization phenomena in diffusion-controlled reactions, Quantum chemistry of defective solids, nanomaterials and surfaces/interfaces.
Fondazione Bruno Kessler, Center for Materials and Microsystems, Italy
Dr. Georg Pucker is the head of the Advanced Materials and Photonic Structures research unit within the Center of Materials and Microsystems, Fondazione Bruno Kessler, Trento. He obtained his Doctoral degree in Technical Chemistry from the Technical University in Graz in 1996. Since 2001, he is researcher at the Center for Materials and Microsystems of FBK. His research in FBK ranges from silicon radiation detectors, solar cells, heterointegration of materials to silicon platforms and to integrated silicon photonics. The research in silicon photonic foccuses on the realisation of optical circuits and on the study of non-linear optical properties of silicon and silicon compatible materials. He has contributed to several projects of the European community, namely Esprit Project 28741 – SMILE (Silicon Modules for Integrated Light Engineering); Nemo (Nano based capsuleEndoscopy with molecular imaging and optical biopsy) FP6-37362 STREP; FP6-37026 Anna (European Integrated Activity of Excellence and Networking for Nano and Micro- Electronics Analysis FP6-37026, and FP7-Symphony (Integrated SYsteM based on PHOtonic Microresonators and Microfluidic Components) and was the principal investigator of FBK for the project LIMA (Improve Photovoltaic efficiency by applying novel effects at the limits of light to matter interaction, FP7-248909). Currently, he is the principal investigator of FBK of the project Siquro (On silicon chip quantum optics for quantum computing and secure communications) financed by the Autonomous Province of Trento. He is author or co-author of more than 80 peer reviewed publications, author of a book chapter and inventor of 3 patents.
Division of Solid State Physics, The Ångström Laboratory, Uppsala University, Sweden
José Montero Amenedo holds a BSc + MSc in Physics from Salamanca University (Spain) and a MSc + PhD in Physics from CIEMAT/Complutense University of Madrid (Spain). Since 2018, J.M. is a Researcher within Prof. Lars Österlund’s Group at the Division of Solid State Physics, The Ångström Laboratory, Uppsala University.
Faculty of Physics, Vilnius University, Lithuania
Prof. Jūras Banys is Doctor habilis (Physical Sciences), professor, academician at the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences.
From 1989 to 1990 he worked at the University of Oxford (UK) with a grant from Georges Soros Foundation.
Having received Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Scholarship, from 1993 to 1995 Banys worked at the University of Leipzig, Germany.
In 2000, he was awarded the Povilas Brazdžiūnas Prize of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences.
In 2002, Banys was awarded the Lithuanian Science Prize.
In 2011, Jūras Banys was elected full member of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences.
Main research areas:
Lattice dynamics, ferroelectricity, structural phase transitions, dipolar glasses, relaxors, dielectric spectroscopy, multiferroics, composites, EPR
Membership in organisations:
Foreign member, Latvian Academy of Sciences
Corresponding member, Saxon Academy of Sciences, Germany
Member of the Board, Lithuanian Physical Society
Member of the Editorial Board, Lithuanian Journal of Physics
European Conference on Applications of Polar Dielectrics, member of the International Advisory Board
European Committee on Ferroelectricity
International Committee of Electroceramics, member
Ferroelectrics Standing Committee of the IEEE Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control Society, member
AMPERE Society Committee
Honorary Degree of Uzhhorod National University
Riga Technical University, Latvia
Kaspars Traskovskis is an associate professor at Riga Technical University (RTU), Faculty of Materials Science and Applied Chemistry. In 2014 he received his PhD degree in organic chemistry at RTU. His thesis was devoted to the development of organic molecular glass-forming materials with optoelectronic functionality. His current work is focused on synthesis and investigation of novel light-emitting organometallic compounds for use in cost-efficient organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs).
Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, Spain; Vilnius University, Lithuania
K. Staliunas is ICREA (Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats) professor in Department of Physics of Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya (UPC), Barcelona, head of research group on lasers, micro-lasers, photonic and sonic systems, non-Hermitian systems, nonlinear optical patterns. He is author of more than 200 articles with more than 7000 citations (h-factor 48), more than 500 presentations in conferences. His research interests are: pattern formation in lasers, microlasers, metamaterials and metamirrors, in non-Hermitian spatially extended systems. Since 2020 he is also State Professor in Vilnius University (VU). Up to now directed (or currently directed) 20 PhD projects.
University of Tartu, Estonia
Marco Kirm, born in 27.12.1965, is a professor of experimental physics at the University of Tartu. He graduated cum laude as a physicist from University of Tartu in 1991 and obtained his PhD „ Spectroscopy of highly charged ions, small molecules and solids under VUV excitation”, supervised by Prof. Indrek Martinson, at Lund University in 1995. During 1997-2004 he worked at Hamburg University in the group of Prof. Georg Zimmerer as a post-doctoral researcher. Being in duties of a beam-line scientist he was responsible for operation of the famous SUPERLUMI station (HASYLAB, DESY), which served luminescence community at highest level for many years. Since 2004 after return to Estonia, he has been in duties of a research director and director of the Institute of Physics of the University of Tartu. During 2012-2017 he was appointed as a Vice Rector for Research of the University of Tartu. In 2012 Marco Kirm was elected to the Latvian Academy of Sciences as a foreign member and in 2018 as a member of Estonian Academy of Sciences. He is also a member of the International Advisory Board of Institute of Solid State Physics at Latvian University in Riga. Internationally he serves as an Estonian member of the Euratom Scientific and Technical Committee. Nationally he acts as a chairman of the councils in of the Estonian roadmap objects of research infrastructures: NAMUR+ (Centre of Nanomaterials Technologies and Research) and FINESTBEAMS (Estonian Beamline at MAX-IV Synchrotron Radiation Source). He is also active in coordinating Estonian research activities within Crystal Clear Collaboration at CERN.
Max-Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Germany
Maximilian Hoedl is a post-doctoral researcher at the Max-Planck Institute for Solid State Research in the group of Prof. Joachim Maier. His research focuses on mixed electronic-ionic conducting materials that are particularly useful for fuel-and electrolyzer cells. In 2021 he received his PhD in the same group where he studied the interactions between electronic and ionic charge carriers in iron-containing perovskite oxides. Currently, he is continuing his research on these materials by studying the mobility of ionic defects.
Institut Européen des Membranes, France
Mikhael Bechelany (born in March 1979) obtained his PhD in Materials Chemistry from the University of Lyon (France) in 2006. His PhD work was devoted to the synthesis and characterization of silicon and boron based 1D nanostructures (nanotubes, nanowires and nanocables). Then, he worked as a post-doc at EMPA (Switzerland). His research included the fabrication of nanomaterials (nanoparticles and nanowires), their organization and their nanomanipulation for applications in different field such as photovoltaic, robotic, chemical and bio-sensing. In 2010, he became a Scientist at CNRS. His current research interest in the European Institute of Membranes (UMR CNRS 5635) in Montpellier (France) focuses on novel synthesis methods for metals and ceramics nanomaterials like Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD), electrodeposition, electrospinning, 3D printing and/or on the nanostructuring using natural lithography (nanospheres and/or membranes). His research efforts include the design of nanostructured membranes for health, environment and renewable energy. Beginig of 2022, he is the author and co-author of more than 280 publications, 13 book chapters and 10 patents (h-index = 55). He is also the co-founder of 3 Startups.
Laboratory of sensor technologies, University of Tartu, Estonia
Dr Raivo Jaaniso is the head of the laboratory of sensor technologies at the University of Tartu. During his career, he has worked in various solid-state and applied physics areas. He obtained his PhD from the Institute of Physics at the Estonian Academy of Sciences and thereafter worked as a postdoc at the University of Geneva. His interests were in laser spectroscopy and spectral hole burning of the impurity solids. At the University of Tartu, he initiated a new applied research direction, concentrating on developing luminescent and semiconductor gas sensor materials and physical models of the processes involved. Currently, his interests are focused on designing novel sensing (hetero)structures based on graphene and related nanomaterials and new signal read-out and processing methods for applications involving multi-response sensors or sensor arrays.
Kaunas Science & Technology Park, Lithuania
Romanas Zontovičius is a Director of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Department at Kaunas Science and Technology Park. Before joining the Park Romanas worked for various IT companies in Silicon Valley (San Francisco Bay Area, USA). 7 years with GetJar, one the most successful Lithuanian startups. He did Sales and Sales Operations and was a primary contact for many key clients such as Facebook, Google, Amazon, Zynga, eBay, and many others. When at Spigot he was VP of Sales and managed major deals with foreign telecoms. When at Nextury Ventures he mentored portfolio startups, help them get into various acceleration programs, and was their agent in Silicon Valley. For the last 2 years Romanas worked with Waymo/Goggle, the creators of autonomous vehicles as a lecturer/senior instructor who taught classes for the current and future safety drivers as well as future safety instructors. Currently Romanas runs a Startup pre-accelerator called Evolut 4.0 at Kaunas STP.
Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden
"Graphene might be the only known material that remains an excellent conductor of electricity/heat even when having, effectively, no electrons. We have reached a near zero-electron scenario in graphene, also called Dirac point, by assembling electron-accepting molecules on its surface. Our results show that graphene is an exceptionally good material for THz heterodyne detection when doped to the Dirac point”, says Samuel Lara-Avila, assistant professor at the Quantum Device Physics Laboratory.
Institute of Physics, University of Tartu, Estonia
Sergei Vlassov is an associate professor and the leader of the nanomanipulation team at the Institute of Physics, University of Tartu. Sergei has a Ph.D. in Material Science (2011, University of Tartu) and a Master's Degree in Applied Physics (2007, University of Tartu). His research activities are focused mainly on experimental investigations of various nanostructures and nanostructured materials for functional applications and future technologies. At the moment Sergei is responsible for the nanotechnology-related field in EraChair "MATTER" project in Estonia.
Lviv Polytechnic National University, Ukraine
Sergii Ubizskii, Dr.Sc., Prof., Professor at the Department of the Semiconductor Electronics, Lviv Polytechnic National University. Has graduated (1983) from Physical Department of the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv (Ukraine), got degree of Cand.Sc. (1991) from the same university and degree of Dr.Sc. (2001) from Lviv Polytechnic National University. Worked in Scientific Research Company “Electron-Carat” (1983-1997) and since 1997 works in Lviv Polytechnic National University. Has got a title of Professor in 2005. Main research activity is related to investigation of mainly optical and magnetic properties of oxides and related materials in the form of single crystals, crystalline films, ceramics, nanoparticles and composites, their fabrication technology and after-synthesis modification by means of thermo-chemical treatment and irradiation, as well as their usage in devices of quantum- and optoelectronics, sensors of radiation, magnetic field etc., other transducers and convertor devices including biomedical applications. Has published more than 140 papers in peer reviewed journals, in particular more than 50 in the journals of quartiles Q1 and Q2, as well as 2 monographs, 2 textbooks, 11 patents. Since 2007 has organized 6 International Scientific Conferences on Oxide Materials for Electronic Engineering – Fabrication, Properties and Application (OMEE), the last of which held in 2021.
Centre for Nano Optics, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark
Shailesh Kumar is an assistant professor at the Centre for Nano Optics, University of Southern Denmark. He obtained his Ph.D. degree in Physics from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Denmark in 2012. His area of research includes light-matter interaction, quantum plasmonics, and integrated quantum optics. He has mainly worked on enhancing the emission properties of quantum emitters by coupling them to various nanostructures, such as nanocavities, plasmonic waveguides, and meta-surfaces.
Kaunas University of Technology, Institute of Materials Science, Lithuania
Simas Rackauskas is a Chief Researcher in Kaunas University of Technology (KTU). He defended his PhD in Physics at Aalto University, Finland in 2011. He was a Marie Curie Fellow in University of Turin (Italy). He had fellowships in Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL, Switzerland), Technical University of Denmark (DTU) and University of Nagoya (Japan). His research interests are mainly focused on non-catalytic growth mechanisms of metal oxide nanowires and application in sensing and multifunctional coatings. He is involved in commercialization in anti-reflection coatings in spin-off “Zinotech” (CEO).
University of Nottingham, United Kingdom
Simon Woodward is a Professor of Synthetic Organic Chemistry at the University of Nottingham (UK) since 2006. Prior to that he held a lectureship at the University of Hull (UK) and postdoctoral positions at the Universities of Oxford (UK) and Michigan (USA), the latter as a Fulbright Scholar. Simon Woodward’s background is in developing efficient, often catalytic, syntheses of small organic molecules and in attaining understanding the reaction mechanisms by which such products are formed. However, for more than the last decade he has been interested in the preparation of new and existing organic electronic molecular building blocks for application in thermoelectric (TE) devices. Our current work at the GSK Carbon Neutral Laboratory emphasises the attainment of these targets by methods that minimise waste and maximise safety/utility. My co-researchers and I have popularised the use of the air stable trimethylaluminium analogue DABAL-Me3, but have also commercialised other reagents and organic materials including some aromatics, an area we are presently seeking to expand into new areas.
Kiel University, Germany
Stefan Schröder pursued his Ph.D. studies on initiated chemical vapor deposition of new electronic and multifunctional polymer thin films at Kiel University, Germany under the supervision of Prof. Faupel including a research stay in Prof. Gleason's group.
After finishing his Ph.D. in 2021, he then continued as a subgroup leader for functional CVD Polymers at the Chair for Multicomponent Materials (Prof. Faupel) in Kiel.
His research interest include chemical vapor depostion, polymer thin films and theoretical approaches for electronic structure calculations.
Institute for Hydrogen Technology at Helmholtz-Centre, Hereon Institute of Materials Technology at Helmut Schmidt University, Germany
Thomas Klassen holds a shared professorship as director of the Institute for Hydrogen Technology at Helmholtz-Centre Hereon in Geesthacht, and as head of the Institute of Materials Technology at Helmut Schmidt University / University of the Federal Armed Forces Hamburg, Germany. His Ph.D. research and 2-year post-doc stay at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign related to basic mechanisms during production of nanocrystalline materials as well as their particular properties and potential applications. His current research focus at the Institute for Materials Technology at Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht lies on green hydrogen generation and storage technology. At Helmut-Schmidt-University, research concentrates on kinetic spraying of particles with sizes in the nano and micrometer range as novel coating technology, from powder design to tailored functional properties and applications. Thomas Klassen is one of the pioneers in the field of nanocrystalline materials for hydrogen technology, including reactive hydride composites. He published more than 250 papers (with over 10k citations, h-factor 45) and more than 20 patents, presented 80 invited and keynote presentations, and is co-founder of the company KSS-Kinetic Spray Solutions GmbH.