KEYNOTE LECTURERS

Professor Silvia Vicini

Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry 

University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy

Title: "Biopolymer Membranes and Gels for Advanced Applications" 

Bio: Silvia Vicini is a Full Professor of Industrial Chemistry at the University of Genoa. The main topics of her research are the science and technology of polymeric materials and chemistry for the conservation of Cultural Heritage. She is teaching: “Chemistry of Material for Restauration” and “Pollution with Environmental Impact” at Bachelor Courses, “Laboratory of Industrial Chemistry” at Master’s Degree Course, and “Chemistry” at the post-graduate School for Restoration of Architecture at University of Genoa. She is Vice-Director of the Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry, Orientation Delegate for the School of MFN Sciences. She published 144 papers, among them 106 on international journals (Scopus: h-Index 35). She is co-inventor of 6 patents. She wrote chapters in 5 books. She has participated in several national and international conferences, giving talks and showing posters. She contributed to the organization of schools, conferences and workshops. 

Professor Patricia Luis Alconero

Materials & Process Engineering 

Catholic University of Louvain Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

Title: "An overview of different membranes for application in pervaporation and reactive pervaporation"

Professor Anna Szymczyk

Faculty of Mechnical Engineering and Mechatronics

West Pomeranian University of Technology, Szczecin, Poland

Title: “Novel furan based polyesters with outstanding barrier properties for green and sustainable packaging applications”

Bio: Anna Szymczyk is an Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Mechatronics of the West Pomeranian University of Technology in Szczecin (Poland). She was awarded M.Sc. and Ph.D. degree in Chemical Technology from the Faculty of Chemical Technology and Engineering at Szczecin University of Technology in 1994 and 1999, respectively. In 2003-2005 she was a Postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Organic Chemistry at the University of Barcelona. In 2013 she received habilitation degree in Materials Engineering from Warsaw University of Technology. Her main research interests include multiphase polymer systems, thermoplastic elastomers, polymer systems based on renewable resources and polymer nanocomposites. Up until now, she is the author/co-author of 89 articles ( https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9670-6395 ) in ISI-indexed journals, and 2 book chapters.

Prof. Dr. Mathias Ulbricht

University Duisburg-Essen

Essen, Germany

Title: "Polymer-enabled pathways to carbon-containing or -based materials for catalysis"

Bio: Mathias Ulbricht is since 2001 Full Professor for Chemical Technology in the Department of Chemistry at University Duisburg-Essen, Germany. He had studied Chemistry at Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany, and received his doctoral degree in 1987. He had worked at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York, USA, from 1992 to 1993. He had received his Habilitation from Humboldt University in 1997. From 1997 to 1999 he had worked at GKSS Research Centre in Teltow, Germany. In 1999 he had founded ELIPSA Inc. in Berlin and was CEO of this private company until 2003. More than 80 doctoral and over 130 master students have successfully graduated under his supervision. He has published more than 370 peer-reviewed papers and 16 book chapters, and he has 20 granted patents. His research is in the field of functional polymeric and nanohybrid materials and is focused on synthetic membranes and membrane-based technologies for water purification, bioseparation and energy conversion.

Dr. Takeharu Yoshii

Tohoku University

Sendai, Japan

Title: "Synthesis, Analysis and Catalytic Applications of 3D Graphene Materials"

Bio: Takeharu Yoshii (b. 1992) earned his Ph.D. in Engineering from Osaka University in 2020, under the supervision of Professor Hiromi Yamashita. That same year, he joined the Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for Advanced Materials (IMRAM) at Tohoku University as an Assistant Professor, working with Professor Hirotomo Nishihara. In 2023, he was honored with the title of Prominent Research Fellow of Tohoku University. Since 2023, he has been actively participating in the JST PREST program, “Future Materials”. His research has primarily focused on the design and synthesis of nanostructured heterogeneous catalysts. More recently, his interests have expanded to encompass the synthesis, analysis and catalytic applications of three-dimensional graphene materials. 

Dr. Athanasios Chatzitakis

Department of Chemistry, Centre of Materials Science and Nanotechnology

University of Oslo, Norway

Title: "Advanced catalysts for electrochemical energy conversion"

Bio: Athanasios Chatzitakis received his doctoral degree in 2013 from the Department of Chemistry at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTh), Greece. In 2015, he joined as a post-doctoral researcher the Group for Electrochemistry at the Department of Chemistry, Center for Materials Science and Nanotechnology (SMN), University of Oslo (UiO), Norway. He is now Senior Researcher in the Group for Electrochemistry at UiO and his activities include the development of catalysts for electrocatalytic energy conversion applications. These include photo-electrochemical systems, bio-inorganic interfaces, supercapacitors, plasmonic photocatalysis, surface protonic conduction and photocatalytic air and water remediation.