Prof. Mónica Lira-Cantú is Group Leader of the Nanostructured Materials for Photovoltaic Energy Group at the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (www.icn.cat located in Barcelona (Spain). She obtained a Bachelor in Chemistry at the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education, ITESM Mexico (1992), obtained a Master and PhD in Materials Science at the Materials Science Institute of Barcelona (ICMAB) & Autonoma University of Barcelona (1995/1997) and completed a postdoctoral work under a contract with the company Schneider Electric/ICMAB (1998). From 1999 to 2001 she worked as Senior Staff Chemist at ExxonMobil Research & Engineering (formerly Mobil Technology Co) in New Jersey (USA) initiating a laboratory on energy related applications (fuel cells and membranes). She moved back to ICMAB in Barcelona, Spain in 2002. She received different awards/fellowships as a visiting scientist to the following laboratories: University of Oslo, Norway (2003), Riso National Laboratory, Denmark (2004/2005) and the Center for Advanced Science and Innovation, Japan (2006). In parallel to her duties as Group Leader at ICN2 (Spain), she is currently visiting scientist at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL, CH). Her research interests are the synthesis and application of nanostructured materials for Next-generation solar cells: Dye sensitized, hybrid, organic, all-oxide and perovskite solar cells. Monica Lira-Cantu has more than 85 published papers, 8 patents and 10 book chapters and 1 edited book (in preparation).

Lorenzo obtained his PhD in Chemistry in 2003 and since 2008 is Assistant Professor at the Chemistry Department of the University of Pavia. In 2021 he was appointed Full Professor in the same department. He was the recipient of the Young Scientist Award for outstanding work in the field of perovskites at the International Conference on Perovskites held in late 2005 in Zürich, of the “Alfredo di Braccio” Prize for Chemistry 2008 of Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei awarded to distinguished under 35-year-old chemists and contributed the Journal Materials Chemistry and Chemical Communications“Emerging Investigator” issues in 2010 and 2011. He is working in several areas of solid state chemistry with particular interest in the investigation of structure–properties correlation in different kinds of functional materials, in particular electrolyte materials for clean energy, hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites and catalysis materials.  He is author of more than 200 papers on international peer-reviewed journals. Since 2018 he is member of Academic Senate and Vice-Director of the Chemistry Department. He is Director of the INSTM Reference Center “PREMIO” devoted to the synthesis of innovative materials and member of the Directive Board of INSTM. Since 2014 he is member of the Academic Board of the PhD in Chemistry of Pavia University. He is Editor of Journal of Physics and Chemistry of Solids.

Bio Professional Preparation M.S. in Chemistry, with Honours, University of Bari, Italy, 1996 Ph.D. in Chemistry, University of Bari, Italy, 2001 Research interests Prof. L. Manna is an expert of synthesis and assembly of colloidal nanocrystals. His research interests span the advanced synthesis, structural characterization and assembly of inorganic nanostructures for applications in energy-related areas, in photonics, electronics and biology.

Iván Mora-Seró (1974, M. Sc. Physics 1997, Ph. D. Physics 2004) is researcher at Universitat Jaume I de Castelló (Spain). His research during the Ph.D. at Universitat de València (Spain) was centered in the crystal growth of semiconductors II-VI with narrow gap. On February 2002 he joined the University Jaume I. From this date until nowadays his research work has been developed in: electronic transport in nanostructured devices, photovoltaics, photocatalysis, making both experimental and theoretical work. Currently he is associate professor at University Jaume I and he is Principal Researcher (Research Division F4) of the Institute of Advanced Materials (INAM). Recent research activity was focused on new concepts for photovoltaic conversion and light emission based on nanoscaled devices and semiconductor materials following two mean lines: quantum dot solar cells with especial attention to sensitized devices and lead halide perovskite solar cells and LEDs, been this last line probably the current hottest topic in the development of new solar cells.

Last update: 31/07/2022

Born on January 7, 1988.

During my undergraduate studies I had the chance to carry out two short-term research projects on nanomaterials at Tohoku University (Japan; 2010) and Université de Sherbrooke (Canada; 2011). I then obtained my Master of Science in Nanoscale Engineering and my PhD on Materials Science from Ecole Centrale de Lyon (France; 2011 and 2014). From 2015 until December 2017 I was a post-doctoral researcher in the Nanochemistry Department of the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia of Genova (Italy). In 2017 I was awarded a "Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions" fellowship to develop my project PerovSAMs in the Instituto de Ciencia Molecular (ICMol) at the Universidad de Valencia, where I continued working with a "Juan de la Cierva incorporación" fellowship until 2021. In 2022 I joined Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena (UPCT) as a "Ramón y Cajal" fellow.

Throughout my career I have worked in the fields of materials' chemistry, colloidal inorganic nanocrystals, surface analysis and halide perovskites' optoelectronic devices among others. My publications and bibliometric indicators can be found elsewhere (e.g. Google Scholar or Scopus).

Aside from research I have also maintained a teaching activity throughout my career with lectures and practical courses in chemistry and chemical engineering at undergraduate level (Ecole Centrale de Lyon, 2011-2014 and 2020-2021; Universidad de Valencia and Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, 2018-2019; Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena, 2022-present) as well as specific courses in surface analysis techniques for PhD students (Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia; 2015-2017). I have supervised one Master of Science thesis, one PhD thesis and I currently supervise two other PhD theses.

Eventually, I am also involved in the "Federación de Jóvenes Investigadores" where we strive for a better spanish scientific and academic system, especially fighting against the precarity of young or junior researchers.

Anja Wecker studied chemistry at Saarland University in Saarbrücken where she completed her diploma as well as well as her PhD thesis in the field of physical chemistry. She joined Wiley in 2012 and is currently the Editor in Chief of Advanced Optical Materials.

Gustavo de Miguel graduated in Chemistry in 2002 by the University of Cordoba, Spain. He completed his PhD Thesis in the Physical Chemistry Department of the same University in 2007 studying the molecular organization of thin films prepared at the air-water interface. After several post-doc positions in the Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, University of Castilla-La Mancha and the Italian Institute of Technology, he moved back to the University of Cordoba with a Ramón y Cajal five-year tenure track position, becoming Associate Professor in 2020.   

Dr. de Miguel is a physical chemist with an expertise in absorption and photoluminescence spectroscopy (steady-state and time-resolved) applied to elucidate the photophysics and photochemistry of organic compounds with application in photovoltaics. In the last years, he has added a good knowledge of structural characterization of hybrid materials (perovskites) through different X-ray diffraction techniques.

He participates in National and European projects focusing on how to enhance the stability of metal halide perovskite materials for photovoltaics (SUNREY, Ref:101084422). He has contributed with about 100 publications in international peer-reviewed journals.  

Petra Cameron is an associate professor in Chemistry at the University of Bath.

Jacky Even was born in Rennes, France, in 1964. He received the Ph.D. degree from the University of Paris VI, Paris, France, in 1992. He was a Research and Teaching Assistant with the University of Rennes I, Rennes, from 1992 to 1999. He has been a Full Professor of optoelectronics with the Institut National des Sciences Appliquées, Rennes,since 1999. He was the head of the Materials and Nanotechnology from 2006 to 2009, and Director of Education of Insa Rennes from 2010 to 2012. He created the FOTON Laboratory Simulation Group in 1999. His main field of activity is the theoretical study of the electronic, optical, and nonlinear properties of semiconductor QW and QD structures, hybrid perovskite materials, and the simulation of optoelectronic and photovoltaic devices. He is a senior member of Institut Universitaire de France (IUF).

Eva Herzig’s research interest focuses on the possibilities and limitations in the characterization of nanostructures in functional materials as well as how such nanostructures form and change as functions of external parameters. The examined materials range from organic molecules to nanostructured hybrid and inorganic systems. We examine processing-property relationships and the influence of external fields to investigate how the fundamental self-assembly processes influence the final material performance. To this end we exploit various scattering techniques to observe and control structure and function relationships in the examined materials in-situ. Using grazing incidence x-ray scattering we are particularly sensitive to nanostructures on flat surfaces and within thin films.

Saiful Islam is Professor of Materials Science at the University of Oxford. He grew up in London and obtained his Chemistry degree and PhD from University College London. He then worked at the Eastman Kodak Labs, New York, and the Universities of Surrey and Bath.

His current research focuses on understanding atomistic and nano-scale processes in perovskite halides for solar cells, and in new materials for lithium batteries. Saiful has received several awards including the 2022 Royal Society Hughes Medal and 2020 American Chemical Society Award in Energy Chemistry. He presented the 2016 BBC Royal Institution Christmas Lectures on the theme of energy and is a Patron of Humanists UK.

Sandheep Ravishankar is currently a postdoctoral researcher in Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany. He investigates the physics of operation of perovskite solar cells and photoanodes for water splitting. His work involves the development of analysis methods for improved device characterisation and parameter estimation. His areas of expertise include time domain (transient photovoltage and photocurrent measurements (TPV and TPC)) and frequency domain small-perturbation methods (impedance spectroscopy (IS), intensity-modulated photocurrent and photovoltage spectroscopy (IMPS and IMVS), transient photoluminescence (tr-PL) measurements and drift-diffusion simulations.

Philip Schulz holds a position as Research Director for Physical Chemistry and New Concepts for Photovoltaics at CNRS. In this capacity he leads the “Interfaces and Hybrid Materials for Photovoltaics” group at IPVF via the “Make Our Planet Great Again” program, which was initiated by the French President Emmanuel Macron. Before that, Philip Schulz has been a postdoctoral researcher at NREL from 2014 to 2017, and in the Department of Electrical Engineering of Princeton University from 2012 to 2014. He received his Ph.D. in physics from RWTH Aachen University in Germany in 2012.

Guy Brammertz graduated in 1999 from the University of Liège (Belgium) in Applied Physics. In 2003 he obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Twente (The Netherlands) defending a thesis about his work on superconducting Josephson junction photon detectors carried out for the European Space Agency. He then joined imec in 2004, where he first was involved in the LogicDram program aiming at the fabrication of Ge and III-V 35 nm gate length MOS transistors for CMOS applications. His work focused on electrical and optical characterization as well as passivation of electrical defects at Ge and III-V/oxide interfaces. In 2011 he joined the imec photovoltaic program, where he is now working on the fabrication and characterization of thin film solar cells based on Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)2 (CIGS), Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4 (CZTS) and Cu2ZnGe(S,Se)4 (CZGS) absorbers.

Andrea Crovetto is an associate professor at DTU Nanolab, Technical University of Denmark. He obtained his PhD degree from DTU (advisor: Ole Hansen) with an external stay at UNSW (Australia) in Xiaojing Hao's group. He was then a postdoctoral researcher at DTU Physics with Ib Chorkendorff and a Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellow at NREL (USA) with Andriy Zakutayev, and at HZB (Germany) with Thomas Unold. The focus of Andrea's research is the discovery and development of new thin-film materials from unusual nooks of the periodic table. His key application area is optoelectronics, including solar cells, electrochemical cells, and transparent conductors.

Prof. Anna Fontcuberta i Morral is a Full Professor in Materials Science and Engineering and in Physics at EPFL. Since January 2021 she is associate Vicepresident for Centers and Platforms. She is member of the EPFL-WISH foundation and former president, foundation whose goal is to support female students on accomplishing their professional dreams. She is also part of the Swiss National Quantum Commission of the Swiss Academy of Sciences. She has served as Research Councillor of Division IV of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) from 2015 to 2024. From August 2020 to April 2024 she has been the President of the Specialised Committee for International Cooperation at SNSF. From January 2025 she is going to serve as the EPFL President.

Anna studied physics at the University of Barcelona. She then moved to Paris where she obtained a PhD in Materials Science from Ecole Polytehcnique (France). She performed a postdoc at CalTech with Prof. Harry Atwater, with whom she also co-founded the start-up company Aonex Technologies. After a brief period as CNRS researcher at Ecole Polytechnique, she moved to TU Munich as a group leader. She has been professor at EPFL since 2008. Among the awards she has received are the Marie Curie Excellence Grant, ERC Starting Grant, the SNSF-backup schemes Consolidator Grant and the EPS Emy Noether prize.

Alejandro Pérez-Rodríguez is Full Professor of Electronics at the University of Barcelona (UB). Since October 2009 he is ascribed to IREC as Head of the Solar Energy Materials and Systems (SEMS) Group. His research activities are centred in the development and advanced characterisation of cost-efficient thin film emerging inorganic technologies, using processes compatible with their industrial sustainable upscaling with very low environmental impact. Special emphasis in these activities is given to the exploitation of the technological flexibility of these technologies for advanced PV integration applications, including the development of flexible solar cells and innovative efficient transparent contacts for next generation semi-transparent devices specially suited for Building Integration and Agrivoltaics. He is co-author of 413 scientific publications, including 329 papers in SCI high IF journals, with an h-factor of 58 and 11322  citations (with a consolidated average of 802 citations/year during the last 6 years) (Scopus January 2025). He is co-author of 6 patents, including a patent that was under exploitation by the former company Smalle Technologies SL (spin-off of the UB) and 3 patents shared with NEXCIS (former spin-off of EDF in France).

Dr. Edgardo Saucedo obtained his PhD in Materials Physic at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain. In 2007, he joined IRDEP (Paris, France), and he has more than three year postdoctoral experience in France. Currently, he is the responsible of the Solar Energy Materials and Systems laboratory at IREC (Barcelona, Spain) with a “Ramon y Cajal” researcher fellow. He holds three patents and has authored more than 135 papers in high impact factor journals. He has an h-index of 25 and more than 2200 citations, and 3 patents. He has been involved in more than 15 European and Spanish Projects and is the coordinator of the ITN Marie Curie network Kestcell (www.kestcells.eu) and he has supervised 6 PhD Thesis (7 under supervision) in the thin film photovoltaic field. He has more than 10 years of experience working in the development of thin film photovoltaic technologies and he is now focused on new advanced material and processes as well as in chemical physical vapor synthesis routes for solar energy materials.

Professor Uri Banin is the incumbent of the Larisch Memorial Chair at the Institute of Chemistry and the Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU). Dr. Banin was the founding director of the Harvey M. Kreuger Family Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (2001-2010) and led the program of the Israel National Nanotechnology Initiative at HU (2007-2010). He served on the University’s Executive Committee and on its board of managers and was a member of the board of Yissum. He served on the scientific advisory board of Nanosys. In 2009 Banin was the scientific founder of Qlight Nanotech, a start-up company based on his inventions, developing the use of nanocrystals in display and lighting applications. Since 2013, Banin is an Associate Editor of the journal Nano Letters. His distinctions include the Rothschild and Fulbright postdoctoral fellowships (1994-1995), the Alon fellowship for young faculty (1997-2000), the Yoram Ben-Porat prize (2000), the Israel Chemical Society young scientist award (2001), the Michael Bruno Memorial Award (2007-2010), and the Tenne Family prize for nanoscale science (2012). He received two European Research Council (ERC) advanced investigator grant, project DCENSY (2010-2015), and project CoupledNC (2017-2022). Banin’s research focuses on nanoscience and nanotechnology of nanocrystals and he authored over 180 scientific publications in this field that have been extensively cited.

Alexander Bessonov is the Director of Engineering at Quantum Solutions, where he leads device engineering initiatives and drives advancements in quantum dot semiconductor research. His extensive expertise lies in optoelectronic device architectures and manufacturing process development, with a focus on nanomaterial sensors, flexible displays, and printed electronics systems. Alexander earned his first degree and Ph.D. in Chemistry from the Novosibirsk Science Centre in Russia. His professional journey includes significant roles at industry giants Samsung Electronics and Nokia Technologies between 2008 and 2016. From 2016 to 2022, he served as the Chief Engineer at Emberion. Alexander has made notable contributions to the field, co-authoring over 60 patent applications and academic papers.

Maria Ibáñez was born in La Sénia (Spain). She graduated in physics at the University of Barcelona, where she also obtained her PhD in 2013, under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Cabot and Prof. Dr. Morante. Her PhD thesis was qualified Excellent Cum Laude and awarded with the Honors Doctorate by the University of Barcelona. Her PhD research was funded by a Spanish competitive grant (FPU) which supported her to conduct short-term research stays in cutting-edge laboratories. In particular she worked at CEA Grenoble (2009), the University of Chicago (2010), the California Institute of Technology (2011), the Cornell University (2012) and the Northwestern University (2013). In 2014, she joined the group of Prof. Dr. Kovalenko at ETH Zürich and EMPA as a research fellow where in 2017 she received the Ružička Prize. In September 2018 she became an Assistant Professor (tenure-track) at IST Austria and started the Functional Nanomaterials group.

Prashant K. Jain earned his PhD in physical chemistry working with M. A. El-Sayed at Georgia Tech, following which he was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University. After a Miller Fellowship at UC Berkeley, he joined the faculty of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where he is the G. L. Clark Professor of Physical Chemistry, a Professor in the Department of Chemistry, and a Professor in the Materials Research Laboratory. He is also a University Scholar and an Affiliate Faculty Member of Physics and the Illinois Quantum Information Science and Technology (IQUIST).

Prof Jain’s lab studies nanoscale light–matter interactions and energy conversion. His noteworthy contributions are discoveries of plasmon resonances in quantum dots and plasmonic redox catalysis. His collective work has been published in over 115 papers and cited over 32,000 times. He has been listed among Highly Cited Researchers by Clarivate Analytics and Elsevier Scopus.

Prashant is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and a Kavli Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences. He serves on the editorial advisory boards of the Journal of the American Chemical Society and the Journal of Chemical Physics and has previously been an advisory board member of the Journal of Physical Chemistry and a member of Defense Science Study group (DSSG).

His work has been recognized, among other awards, by a Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Leo Hendrik Baekeland award, the ACS Kavli Emerging Leader in Chemistry award, the ACS Akron Award, the ACS Unilever Award the Beilby medal, a Sloan Fellowship, an NSF CAREER award, and selection as MIT TR35 inventor and a Beckman Young Investigator.

Peter Reiss is researcher at the Interdisciplinary Research Institute of Grenoble (IRIG), France, and Head of the Laboratory Synthesis, Structure and Properties of Functional Materials (STEP). He graduated from University of Karlsruhe (Germany), and earned his PhD in Inorganic Chemistry under the supervision of Prof. Dieter Fenske (2000). His research activities focus on the synthesis and properties of colloidal semiconductor quantum dots and metal halide perovskites (nanoparticles and thin films). The studied applications range from biological imaging / detection over LEDs and displays to new strategies for energy conversion (photovoltaics, thermoelectrics, photocatalysis) and storage. Dr. Reiss acts as Associate Editor for Nanoscale Research Letters and Frontiers in Materials - Energy Materials, and is Editorial Board Member of Scientific Reports. He co-organizes the biennial conference NaNaX – Nanoscience with Nanocrystals (cf. http://nanax.org).

The Nanotechnology  Research Group at the Bernal Institute is led by Professor Kevin M. Ryan who holds a Personal Chair in Chemical Nanotechnology and is Course Director of the Pharmaceutical and Industrial Chemistry  Degree at the Department of Chemical and Environmental Sciences (CES), University of Limerick.  Previous affiliations included Marie Curie Fellowship positions at the University of California, Berkeley, USA and Merck Chemicals Southampton, UK following  BSc and PhD degrees at University College Cork. The group research Interests are in Semiconductor Nanocrystals and Nanowires with emphasis on Synthesis, Assembly and Device Applications in Energy Storage and Energy Conversion Applications. The group also studies nucleation and growth in both hard (metal, semiconductor) and soft (pharmaceutical) nanocrystal materials with emphasis on size, shape and crystal phase control.

James Utterback’s research focuses on ultrafast optical spectroscopy and microscopy of energy relaxation and transport in materials for optoelectronic applications.

CNRS Researcher | Researcher; Institute of Nanosciences of Paris; Sorbonne University | 2023 – present
Postdoctoral Fellow | Beckman Postdoctoral Fellow; University of California, Berkeley | 2019 – 2022
PhD in Chemistry | NSF Graduate Research Fellow; University of Colorado, Boulder | 2013 – 2018
B.S. in Physics | Goldwater Scholar & Undergraduate Research Fellow; University of Oregon | 2007 – 2011

Javier Vela is a University Professor of Chemistry at Iowa State University. He is a Fellow of the American Chemical Society (ACS) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). He serves on the editorial advisory boards of ACS Energy Letters, Chemistry of Materials, Chemistry–An Asian Journal, and ChemNanoMat. Along with former and current coworkers, Dr. Vela is the author of over one hundred peer-reviewed scientific publications and patents on nanostructured materials, inorganic compounds, and their application to energy conversion, chemical catalysis, and fluorescence imaging. He has directed nineteen doctoral and four master’s theses and successfully mentored numerous undergraduate researchers, among them three NSF graduate research fellowship awardees.

Dr. Vela has been a faculty scientist with the Ames National Laboratory since 2010. An active member of the American Chemical Society, he has served as Councilor for the Ames local section, Program Chair for the Midwest Regional Meeting in Ames in 2018, Treasurer of the Division of Inorganic Chemistry, and member of the Committee on Committees (ConC). He also worked as Equity Advisor for the ISU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences from 2015 to 2021. Dr. Vela holds a BS (Lic.) in Chemistry from UNAM and a PhD degree in Chemistry from the University of Rochester. After postdoctoral stints at the University of Chicago and Los Alamos National Laboratory, he joined Iowa State University in 2009. He was granted tenure in 2015, rose to the rank of full professor in 2019, and was named University Professor in 2020. He also held the rotating John D. Corbett Endowed Professorship from 2020 to 2023.

Javier Vela is a University Professor of Chemistry at Iowa State University. He is a Fellow of the American Chemical Society (ACS) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). He serves on the editorial advisory boards of ACS Energy Letters, Chemistry of Materials, Chemistry–An Asian Journal, and ChemNanoMat. Along with former and current coworkers, Dr. Vela is the author of over one hundred peer-reviewed scientific publications and patents on nanostructured materials, inorganic compounds, and their application to energy conversion, chemical catalysis, and fluorescence imaging. He has directed nineteen doctoral and four master’s theses and successfully mentored numerous undergraduate researchers, among them three NSF graduate research fellowship awardees.

Dr. Vela has been a faculty scientist with the Ames National Laboratory since 2010. An active member of the American Chemical Society, he has served as Councilor for the Ames local section, Program Chair for the Midwest Regional Meeting in Ames in 2018, Treasurer of the Division of Inorganic Chemistry, and member of the Committee on Committees (ConC). He also worked as Equity Advisor for the ISU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences from 2015 to 2021. Dr. Vela holds a BS (Lic.) in Chemistry from UNAM and a PhD degree in Chemistry from the University of Rochester. After postdoctoral stints at the University of Chicago and Los Alamos National Laboratory, he joined Iowa State University in 2009. He was granted tenure in 2015, rose to the rank of full professor in 2019, and was named University Professor in 2020. He also held the rotating John D. Corbett Endowed Professorship from 2020 to 2023. Dr. Vela grew up in Xalapa (Veracruz), Mexico and became a Naturalized US Citizen in 2013.

 

Jaco Geuchies uses advanced (nonlinear) spectroscopic techniques to study the flow of energy, electrons and heat through various kinds of materials, ranging from colloidal nanocrystals (also known as quantum dots) to metal-halide perovskites and electrochemical systems. By creating ultrafast snapshots of the fundamental processes that govern the flow of energy, he aims to rationally manipulate materials to enhance their functionality in energy-related applications.

Mark W.B. Wilson (he/him) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Toronto, where his team strives to understand the synthesis, structure, and photophysics of colloidal quantum dots (and functionalized, hybrid architectures) to advance their use in photonic & optoelectronic applications. A present focus is advancing nanocrystal-sensitized triplet-fusion upconversion. His first degrees were in Engineering Physics and History at Queen’s University (Kingston). He next received a PhD in Physics (2012) from the University of Cambridge under the supervision of Prof. Sir Richard Friend. Then, as a member of the Centre for Excitonics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he pursued postdoctoral studies (2012-2016) with Prof. Moungi Bawendi (Chemistry), before starting his independent career.

Joel W. Ager III is a Senior Staff Scientist in the Materials and Chemical Sciences Divisions of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) and an Adjunct Professor in the Materials Science and Engineering Department, UC Berkeley. He is a Principal Investigator in the Electronic Materials Program and the Program Lead for the Liquid Sunshine Alliance (LiSA) at LBNL. He graduated from Harvard College in 1982 with an A.B in Chemistry and from the University of Colorado in 1986 with a PhD in Chemical Physics. After a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Heidelberg, he joined Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in 1989. His research interests include the discovery of new photoelectrochemical and electrochemical catalysts for solar to chemical energy conversion, fundamental electronic and transport properties of semiconducting materials, and the development of new types of transparent conductors. Professor Ager is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and is a frequent invited speaker at international conferences and has published over 400 papers in refereed journals. His work is highly cited, with over 46,000 citations and an h-index of 111 (Google Scholar).

Doing my BSc/MSc in Physics and PhD in an interdisciplinary program crossing the disciplines like Chemical Engineering, Nanotechnology, and Electrochemistry made me who I am today – a scientist who enjoys the challenge of multifaceted research.

I enjoy doing basic research in order to solve applied tasks. This explains my research interest in fundamental physical chemistry, e.g. oxidation and dissolution of metals and semiconductors, electrocatalysis, and electrochemistry at modified interfaces but also electrochemical engineering, e.g. development and optimization of catalyst layers in fuel cells and water electrolyzes.

Progress in basic research is often a direct outcome of previous achievements in experimental instrumentation. Hence, a significant part of my interest is in the development of new tools, e.g. electrochemical on-line mass spectrometry, gas diffusion electrode approaches, and high-throughput screening methods.

Dr. Deutsch has been studying photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting since interning in Dr. John A. Turner’s lab at NREL in 1999 and 2000. He performed his graduate studies on III-V semiconductor water-splitting systems under the joint guidance of Dr. Turner and Prof. Carl A. Koval in the Chemistry Department at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Todd officially joined NREL as a postdoctoral scholar in Dr. Turner’s group in August 2006 and became a staff scientist two years later. He works on identifying and characterizing appropriate materials for generating hydrogen fuel from water using sunlight as the only energy input. Recently, his work has focused on inverted metamorphic multijunction III-V semiconductors and corrosion remediation strategies for high-efficiency water-splitting photoelectrodes. Todd has been honored as an Outstanding Mentor by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science nine times in recognition of his work as an advisor to more than 30 students in the Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship (SULI) program at NREL.

Patrik Schmuki studied physical chemistry at the University of Basel (MSc, 1988), and carried out his graduate studies in Materials Science at ETH-Zurich (PhD in 1992). He was a research associate at ETHZ (1992-1994), then worked at Brookhaven National Laboratory, NY, U.S., (1994-95) using synchrotron techniques for thin film studies. From 1995-1997 he was at the Institute for Microstructural Sciences of the National Research Council of Canada, where his research focused on surface phenomena on Si and III-V semiconductors. In 1997 he was elected an associate professor for microstructuring of materials in the Department of Materials Science of EPFL Lausanne. In the fall of 2000 he joined the materials science faculty at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (Germany) as a full professor and head of the Institute for Surface Science and Corrosion. Professor Schmuki has published more than 360 research papers, edited six books, and he holds six patents. His h-index is 53, and the total number of citations exceeds 10,000. Professor Schmuki is active in various professional societies, among them ECS and the International Society of Electrochemistry (ISE). With ECS, he started as a member of the executive committee (2000-2005) of the Corrosion Division, then became Vice- Chair (2005-2006), and Chair (2007-2008). He also served as a Chair of the ECS European Section from 2002-2004. Since 2010, he is the Chair of Division 4 of ISE. From 1999-2009, he was a member of the Executive Committee of the International Corrosion Council. Professor Schmuki a member of the Editorial Board of Electrochemistry Communications, Electrochimica Acta, Acta Biomaterialia, and Corrosion Reviews. Moreover, he has organized more than 15 international symposia and workshops. In the last years, research activities have focused on selforganizing electrochemistry, particularly on the formation, properties, and applications of self-aligned TiO2 nanotubes. Among several honors he has received are the H. H. Uhlig Award of NACE International (2005). In 2008 he was named Fellow of The Electrochemical Society, and in the same year he was awarded with the Alessando Volta Award of the ECS.

Verena Streibel studied Materials Science at the Technical University of Darmstadt (2007-2013). She completed her doctoral studies at the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society, focusing on in situ X-ray spectroscopy during electrochemical water splitting (2016). For her postdoctoral studies, she joined the SUNCAT Center for Interface Science and Catalysis at Stanford University (2018-2020), specializing in density functional theory-based microkinetic modeling of heterogeneous catalysis. In 2021, she joined the Walter Schottky Institute of the technical University of Munich, where she has been leading a BMBF Junior Research Group on artificial photosynthesis since 2024.

Verena's research focuses on surface and interface investigations to elucidate dynamic material changes during (photo)electrochemical processes for energy conversion. To this end, she combines (X-ray) spectroscopy methods under reaction conditions with theoretical modeling. With her research group, she develops thin-film photoelectrode materials and couples them to catalyst systems for solar fuels synthesis.

Maytal Caspary Toroker received her BA degree in molecular biochemistry (2004) and a direct-track PhD degree in theoretical chemistry (2009) at the Technion. After a postdoctoral period at Princeton University funded by the Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowship from the European Union FP7 (2010-2013) program, she joined the Department of Materials Science and Engineering as an Assistant Professor in 2013. She received several awards for excellence, including L'Oréal-Unesco-Israel Award (2010), New England Fund (2009), Sara Lee Schupf Post-Doctoral Award (2008/9), and the Levi Eshcol Scholarship (2007-9).

Giancarlo Cicero received a M.S. degree in Chemistry from the University of Torino in 1997 and obtained a Ph.D. in Physics from the Politecnico di Torino in 2003. In 2004, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, where he studied the properties of water in confined media. Since October 2008, he has been working at the Politecnico di Torino, where he is now a full professor in the Structure of Matter. His research activity is devoted to ab initio simulations of surfaces, interfaces, and nanostructured materials with applications in renewable energy systems and sustainable processes.
 

Jan Rossmeisl is Professor of theoretical chemistry at Department of Chemistry and the Nano-Science center at Copenhagen University. Before joining University of Copenhagen in April 2015, Jan was an Associate Professor and group leader for the theoretical catalysis group at Department of Physics at the Technical University of Denmark Jan holds master’s (2000) and Ph.D (2004) degrees in physics from the Technical University of Denmark. Since 2007 supervisor of more than 20 Ph.D and Post docs. Coauthor of more than 110 publications in peer reviewed journals, co-inventor of 4 patents and co-founder of two startup Companies. Research interests includes: electrocatalysis, energy conversion, atomic scale simulations, rational interface design for catalysis.

Dr. Samira Siahrostami is an Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in the Department of Chemistry at Simon Fraser University in Canada. Prior to that, she was an associate professor (2022-2023) and assistant professor (2018-2022) in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Calgary.  Prior to that, she was a research engineer (2016–2018) and postdoctoral researcher (2014–2016) at Stanford University's Department of Chemical Engineering. She also worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Technical University of Denmark from 2011 to 2013. Her work uses computational techniques such as density functional theory to model reactions at (electro)catalyst surfaces. Her goal is to develop more efficient catalysts for fuel cells, electrolyzers, and batteries by comprehending the kinetics and thermodynamics of reactions occurring at the surface of (electro)catalysts. Dr. Siahrostami has written more than 100 peer-reviewed articles with an h-index of 47 and over 13,000 citations. She has received numerous invitations to give talks at universities, conferences, and workshops around the world on various topics related to catalysis science and technology. Dr. Siahrostami is the recipient of the Environmental, Sustainability, and Energy Division Horizon Prize: John Jeyes Award from the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) in 2021. She received the Tom Zeigler Award and the Waterloo Institute in Nanotechnology Rising Star award in 2023. She has been named as an emerging investigator by the RSC in 2020, 2021 and 2022. Dr. Siahrostami's contribution to energy research was recognized in the most recent Virtual Issue of ACS Energy Letters as one of the Women at the forefront of energy research in 2023. She is currently the board member of the Canadian Catalysis Foundation and editor of Chemical Engineering Journal (CEJ) and APL Energy journal (AIP Publishing).

Guillermo Díaz-Sainz received his Degree in Chemical Engineering (2015) from the University of Cantabria and his MSc. in Chemical Engineering (2017) delivered from the University of Cantabria (UC) and the University of the Basque Country. In 2021, he completed his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering, Energy and Processes focused on the development of processes for CO2 electrocatalytic reduction to formate. He is currently integrated into the Research Group DePRO (Development of Chemical Processes and Pollution Control), and at present, he is Assistant Professor in the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department. Currently, the research activity and mid/long term interests of Dr. Diaz-Sainz are mainly focused on the development of an innovative process for the CO2 capture and photo/electrochemical conversion in products of interest, and at the same time, the production of green hydrogen by electrolyzers.

Sophia Haussener is a Professor heading the Laboratory of Renewable Energy Science and Engineering at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL). Her current research is focused on providing design guidelines for thermal, thermochemical, and photoelectrochemical energy conversion reactors through multi-physics modelling and experimentation. Her research interests include: thermal sciences, fluid dynamics, charge transfer, electro-magnetism, and thermo/electro/photochemistry in complex multi-phase media on multiple scales. She received her MSc (2007) and PhD (2010) in Mechanical Engineering from ETH Zurich. She was a postdoctoral researcher at the Joint Center of Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP) and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) between 2011 and 2012. She has published over 70 articles in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings, and 2 books. She has been awarded the ETH medal (2011), the Dimitris N. Chorafas Foundation award (2011), the ABB Forschungspreis (2012), the Prix Zonta (2015), the Global Change Award (2017), and the Raymond Viskanta Award (2019), and is a recipient of a Starting Grant of the Swiss National Science Foundation (2014).

Director of Strategic Projects at APRIA Systems SL & Part time Assistant Professor at the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department from the University of Cantabria (UC), Spain. After concluding her doctoral thesis, E. Santos spent a period of two years at the UC as postdoctoral researcher until she joins the private company APRIA Systems SL with a Torres Quevedo Grant in 2016. She has worked  as project manager on different projects including the valorization of CO₂ streams, obtaining green H₂ as an energy vector applied to the sustainable mobility sector or the recovery of fluorinated gases from the refrigeration industry, among others. In 2023 she is promoted to Director of Strategic Projects.

As a result of her scientific activity, E. Santos has reported a total of 22 publications, of which 9 are in high-impact international journals indexed in JCR and 13 contributions to conference books with ISBN. Her work has received a total of 615 citations, with an h index of 9 (Scopus) in a short period of time and taking into account the work dedication to the world of private business where the dissemination of knowledge through the publication of scientific papers is not usual practice. The results have been disseminated in 30 international conferences (2 keynote and 15 oral communications defended by E. Santos). E. Santos has worked on 30 research projects (11 European projects, 12 national and 7 regional. E. Santos has supervised 2 Doctoral thesis (Industrial Doctorate) and 1 Master's thesis in the field of chemical engineering.

Damien VOIRY is a graduate of the École nationale supérieure de chimie et de physique de Bordeaux (ENSCPB) and obtained his PhD at the Centre de recherche Paul Pascal (CRPP) of the University of Bordeaux in 2010. From 2011 to 2016, Damien was a postdoctoral associate in Professor Manish Chhowalla's group at Rutgers University in the USA. His postdoctoral work focused on modifying the crystal structures of metal chalcogenide nanosheets for electrocatalysis and electronics. Since February 2016, he has been a CNRS researcher at the Institut Européen des Membranes in Montpellier. His current research aims to explore the use of low-dimensional materials to fabricate multifunctional membranes for separation and energy applications. After joining the CNRS, he focused his research on 2D materials for energy conversion and nanofluidics. In 2018, he was awarded an ERC Starting Grant to study the photo-electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 using 2D materials. He has received several awards including the CNRS Bronze Medal (2020), the Young Researcher Award from the French Chemical Society (2022) and the Innovation Award from the University of Montpellier (2024). He is a member of the Jeune Académie d'Europe since 2020.

 

Corina Andronescu received her B.Sc. and M.Sc. from the University Politehnica of Bucharest (Romania) in 2009 and 2011, respectively. Her Ph.D. title she received from the same university in 2014. In 2016 she joined the group of Prof. W. Schuhmann (Ruhr University Bochum, Germany) first as postdoctoral researcher and later as group leader. December 2018, she was appointed Junior Professor at the University of Duisburg-Essen, where she is currently leading the group of Electrochemical Catalysis in the Faculty of Chemistry. Her research interests include development of hybrid electrocatalysts for the CO2 electroreduction reaction, alcohol electrooxidation as well as investigation of electrocatalysts at nanoscale using Scanning Electrochemical Cell Microscopy.

Sixto Giménez (M. Sc. Physics 1996, Ph. D. Physics 2002) is Associate Professor at Universitat Jaume I de Castelló (Spain). His professional career has been focused on the study of micro and nanostructured materials for different applications spanning from structural components to optoelectronic devices. During his PhD thesis at the University of Navarra, he studied the relationship between processing of metallic and ceramic powders, their sintering behavior and mechanical properties. He took a Post-Doc position at the Katholiek Universiteit Leuven where he focused on the development of non-destructive and in-situ characterization techniques of the sintering behavior of metallic porous materials.  In January 2008, he joined the Group of Photovoltaic and Optoelectronic Devices of University Jaume I where he is involved in the development of new concepts for photovoltaic and photoelectrochemical devices based on nanoscaled materials, particularly studying the optoelectronic and electrochemical responses of the devices by electrical impedance spectroscopy. He has co-authored more than 80 scientific papers in international journals and has received more than 5000 citations. His current h-index is 31. 

Professor Erwin Reisner received his education and professional training at the University of Vienna (PhD in 2005), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (postdoc from 2005-2007) and the University of Oxford (postdoc from 2008-2009). He joined the University of Cambridge as a University Lecturer in the Department of Chemistry in 2010, became a Fellow of St. John’s College in 2011, was appointed to Reader in 2015 and to his current position of Professor of Energy and Sustainability in 2017. He started his independent research programme on artificial photosynthesis (solar fuels) with the support of an EPSRC Career Acceleration Fellowship (2009-2015), which also received substantial early support by the Christian Doppler Laboratory for Sustainable SynGas Chemistry (2012-2019). In 2016, he received a European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant to develop the field of semi-artificial photosynthesis (biohybrid systems for solar fuel synthesis) and has recently been awarded an ERC Advanced Grant (now funded by the UKRI underwrite scheme) on semi-biological domino catalysis for solar chemical production. He is the academic lead (PI) of the Cambridge Circular Plastics Centre (CirPlas; since 2019), where his team develops solar-powered valorisation technologies for the conversion of solid waste streams (biomass and plastics) to fuels and chemicals. He has acted as the academic lead of the UK Solar Fuels Network, which coordinates the national activities in artificial photosynthesis (2017-2021) and is currently a co-director of the Centre for Doctoral Training in Integrated Functional Nano (nanoCDT) in Cambridge as well as a member of the European research consortia ‘Sofia’ and ‘solar2chem'.

Pablo S. Fernández received his B.Sc (2006) and Ph.D. (2011) in the Research Institute of Theoretical and Applied Physical Chemistry (INIFTA) at the University of La Plata, La Plata, Argentina under the supervision of Profa. Maria E. Martins. During 2012-2014 he was a postdoctoral fellow at the same institution. In 2014 he joined the Electrochemistry Group at the Chemistry Institute of São Carlos, USP, where he worked as a Postdoc with Prof. Germano Tremiliosi-Filho until August of the same year when he was appointed Assistant Professor at the Chemistry Institute of the University of Campinas (UNICAMP). Between 2010 and 2013 he visited the group of Prof. Giuseppe Câmara (UFMS-MS) where he worked intensively with FTIR in situ. From 07/2015 to 03/2016 he joined the Catalysis and Surface Chemistry Group, at the University of Leiden (The Netherlands) working under the supervision of Prof. M.T.M. Koper. He is currently an Associate Professor at Unicamp, head of the Campinas Electrochemistry Group (CampEG) and an active member at the Center for Innovation on New Energies (CINE). He was the Director of the Physical Chemistry Division of SBQ (Brazilian Chemical Society, 2020-2022). Since 2020 is the Brazilian representative of the SIBAE (Ibero-American Society of Electrochemistry). His research focuses on fundamental aspects of electrochemistry and electrocatalysis with an emphasis on the use and development of in situ characterization tools.

Kevin Sivula obtained a PhD in chemical engineering from UC Berkeley in 2007. In 2011, after leading a research group in the Laboratory of Photonics and Interfaces at EPFL, he was appointed tenure track assistant professor. He now heads the Laboratory for Molecular Engineering of Optoelectronic Nanomaterials (http://limno.epfl.ch) at EPFL.

Emiliano is Professor in Experimental Physics and Energy Conversion at the Faculty of Physics, University of Munich (LMU), Germany and he is the academic lead of the Nanomaterials for Energy group. He is also a visiting researcher at the Materials Departments of both Tianjin University, China and Imperial College London, UK. Since 2024, Emiliano has been also elected as Associate Researcher at the TUM Catalysis Research Center (CRC) in Munich. Emiliano is also co-editor of the first book in Plasmonic Catalysis (Wiley, June 2021). He is also a member of the Editorial Board in several journals, including ACS Nano, ACS Energy Letters, Advanced Photonics Nexus and eScience.

Prashant K. Jain earned his PhD in physical chemistry working with M. A. El-Sayed at Georgia Tech, following which he was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University. After a Miller Fellowship at UC Berkeley, he joined the faculty of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where he is the G. L. Clark Professor of Physical Chemistry, a Professor in the Department of Chemistry, and a Professor in the Materials Research Laboratory. He is also a University Scholar and an Affiliate Faculty Member of Physics and the Illinois Quantum Information Science and Technology (IQUIST).

Prof Jain’s lab studies nanoscale light–matter interactions and energy conversion. His noteworthy contributions are discoveries of plasmon resonances in quantum dots and plasmonic redox catalysis. His collective work has been published in over 115 papers and cited over 32,000 times. He has been listed among Highly Cited Researchers by Clarivate Analytics and Elsevier Scopus.

Prashant is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and a Kavli Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences. He serves on the editorial advisory boards of the Journal of the American Chemical Society and the Journal of Chemical Physics and has previously been an advisory board member of the Journal of Physical Chemistry and a member of Defense Science Study group (DSSG).

His work has been recognized, among other awards, by a Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Leo Hendrik Baekeland award, the ACS Kavli Emerging Leader in Chemistry award, the ACS Akron Award, the ACS Unilever Award the Beilby medal, a Sloan Fellowship, an NSF CAREER award, and selection as MIT TR35 inventor and a Beckman Young Investigator.

Reiko Oda studied up to her undergraduate degree in Tokyo, then obtained her PhD in Physics from MIT. She was a postdoctoral fellow at Strasbourg University, then moved to Bordeaux University to start her own group and got the CNRS researcher position in 2000. Since 2023, she also works in AIMR, Tohoku University as a University Research Lead.

Her research focuses on multiscale design, synthesis, and application through molecular self-organization, particularly interested in the hierarchical chirality amplification mechanisms between molecular, supramolecular and mesoscopic chiral structures. Oda has been working on rare microstructures controlled by chiral nano-assemblies used as templates to create hybrid organic-inorganic nanostructures. This research involves the development of chiral nanomaterials with controllable morphology, considering their optical, mechanical, and biological applications.

Professor Erwin Reisner received his education and professional training at the University of Vienna (PhD in 2005), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (postdoc from 2005-2007) and the University of Oxford (postdoc from 2008-2009). He joined the University of Cambridge as a University Lecturer in the Department of Chemistry in 2010, became a Fellow of St. John’s College in 2011, was appointed to Reader in 2015 and to his current position of Professor of Energy and Sustainability in 2017. He started his independent research programme on artificial photosynthesis (solar fuels) with the support of an EPSRC Career Acceleration Fellowship (2009-2015), which also received substantial early support by the Christian Doppler Laboratory for Sustainable SynGas Chemistry (2012-2019). In 2016, he received a European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant to develop the field of semi-artificial photosynthesis (biohybrid systems for solar fuel synthesis) and has recently been awarded an ERC Advanced Grant (now funded by the UKRI underwrite scheme) on semi-biological domino catalysis for solar chemical production. He is the academic lead (PI) of the Cambridge Circular Plastics Centre (CirPlas; since 2019), where his team develops solar-powered valorisation technologies for the conversion of solid waste streams (biomass and plastics) to fuels and chemicals. He has acted as the academic lead of the UK Solar Fuels Network, which coordinates the national activities in artificial photosynthesis (2017-2021) and is currently a co-director of the Centre for Doctoral Training in Integrated Functional Nano (nanoCDT) in Cambridge as well as a member of the European research consortia ‘Sofia’ and ‘solar2chem'.

Saiful Islam is Professor of Materials Science at the University of Oxford. He grew up in London and obtained his Chemistry degree and PhD from University College London. He then worked at the Eastman Kodak Labs, New York, and the Universities of Surrey and Bath.

His current research focuses on understanding atomistic and nano-scale processes in perovskite halides for solar cells, and in new materials for lithium batteries. Saiful has received several awards including the 2022 Royal Society Hughes Medal and 2020 American Chemical Society Award in Energy Chemistry. He presented the 2016 BBC Royal Institution Christmas Lectures on the theme of energy and is a Patron of Humanists UK.

Wei Yu received his Ph.D. in material science and engineering from Tsinghua University in 2018 with Prof. Feiyu Kang. He then did his postdoctoral research for two years with Prof. Ce-Wen Nan, also at Tsinghua University. In November 2020, he joined Prof. Hirotomo Nishihara’s group at Tohoku University as a specially appointed assistant professor and was promoted to assistant professor in April 2023. His research interests include the development of high-performance electrodes/electrolytes and the design of in situ battery characterization systems for advanced batteries.

Juan Bisquert (pHD Universitat de València, 1991) is a Professor of applied physics at Universitat Jaume I de Castelló, Spain. He is the director of the Institute of Advanced Materials at UJI. He authored 360 peer reviewed papers, and a series of books including . Physics of Solar Cells: Perovskites, Organics, and Photovoltaics Fundamentals (CRC Press).  His h-index 95, and is currently a Senior Editor of the Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters. He conducts experimental and theoretical research on materials and devices for production and storage of clean energies. His main topics of interest are materials and processes in perovskite solar cells and solar fuel production. He has developed the application of measurement techniques and physical modeling of nanostructured energy devices, that relate the device operation with the elementary steps that take place at the nanoscale dimension: charge transfer, carrier transport, chemical reaction, etc., especially in the field of impedance spectroscopy, as well as general device models. He has been distinguished in the 2014-2019 list of ISI Highly Cited Researchers.

 

Bruno Ehrler is leading the Hybrid Solar Cells group at AMOLF in Amsterdam since 2014 and is also a honorary professor at the University of Groningen since 2020. His group focuses on perovskite materials science, both on the fundamental level, and for device applications. He is recipient of an ERC Starting Grant and an NWO Vidi grant, advisory board member of the Dutch Chemistry Council, recipient of the WIN Rising Star award, and senior conference editor for nanoGe.

Before moving to Amsterdam, he was a research fellow in the Optoelectronics Group at Cambridge University following post-doctoral work with Professor Sir Richard Friend. During this period, he worked on quantum dots, doped metal oxides and singlet fission photovoltaics. He obtained his PhD from the University of Cambridge under the supervision of Professor Neil Greenham, studying hybrid solar cells from organic semiconductors and inorganic quantum dots. He received his MSci from the University of London (Queen Mary) studying micro-mechanics in the group of Professor David Dunstan.

2022 Science Board member Netherlands Energy Research Alliance (NERA)
2021 Member steering committee National Growth fund application Duurzame MaterialenNL
2021 Member advisory board Dutch Chemistry Council
2020 Honorary professor Universty of Groningen for new hybrid material systems for solar-cell applications
2020 ERC starting Grant for work on aritifical synapses from halide perovskite
2019 Senior conference editor nanoGe
2018 WIN Rising Star award
2017 NWO Vidi Grant for work on metal halide perovskites
since 2014 Group Leader, Hybrid Solar Cell Group, Institute AMOLF, Amsterdam
2013 – 2014 Trevelyan Research Fellow, Selwyn College, University of Cambridge
2012-2013 Postdoctoral Work, University of Cambridge, Professor Sir Richard Friend
2009-2012 PhD in Physics, University of Cambridge, Professor Neil Greenham
2005 – 2009 Study of physics at RWTH Aachen and University of London, Queen Mary College, MSci University of London

Wolfgang Tress is currently working as a scientist at LPI, EPFL in Switzerland, with general interests in developing and studying novel photovoltaic concepts and technologies. His research focuses on the device physics of perovskite solar cells; most recently, investigating recombination and hysteresis phenomena in this emerging material system. Previously, he was analyzing and modeling performance limiting processes in organic solar cells.

Co-founder and CTO of the Swiss-American deep tech company Atinary Technologies that I launched in 2019, following a 2-year postdoctoral research fellowship at Harvard University, and then University of Toronto and the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence in Toronto.

I obtained my PhD in 2016 from Zurich and Tianjin Universities on theoretical and quantum chemistry, and on the design and optimization of high-performance computing centers, after obtaining both my Bachelor and Master at EPFL, Lausanne.

At Atinary Technologies, I started from scratch together with my co-founder. We invented and commercialized a no-code machine learning platform to optimize experiment planning and help our client across industries accelerate their R&D. As an executive and board member, I develop the business and product strategy, and build a multi-disciplinary team that shares a common passion to unleash creativity at its full potential. I lived and conducted research and business in Europe, USA, Canada, and China, which contributes to my global approach and vision.

As an entrepreneur, scientist and nature-lover, I believe in a world where science and technology contribute to accelerating the transition to a sustainable planet and a circular economy.

Loren G. Kaake is an Associate Professor of Chemistry at Simon Fraser University located in British Columbia, Canada. He obtained a B.A. in Chemistry from Saint John's University (MN) in 2003 and a Ph.D. in Chemical Physics from the University of Minnesota in 2009. He was a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Xiaoyang Zhu at the University of Texas in the department of Nanoscience and Engineering for 1.5 years before joining the lab of Alan J. Heeger at the University of California, Santa Barbara as a postdoctoral fellow. He began his independent career in 2014 at Simon Fraser University, and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2020. 

Dr. Nicolas Leclerc received his PhD from the Pierre and Marie Curie University (Paris, France) in 2003. After completing his post-doctoral research at Laval University in Mario Leclerc's team (Québec, Canada), he joined the Institute of Chemistry and Processes for Energy, Environment and Health (ICPEES) of the University of Strasbourg (France) as a CNRS researcher in 2005. He has been appointed research director in 2020. He is the Head of the organic electronic team at ICPEES. His research interests focus on the development of new molecular and macromolecular organic semiconductor materials and their applications in optoelectronics.

Wouter Maes got his PhD in Chemistry with Professor Wim Dehaen at the Katholieke Universiteit (KU) Leuven (Belgium) in 2005. After post-doctoral stays at the KU Leuven (postdoc of the Research Foundation – Flanders, FWO; with Professor Wim Dehaen), the Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris (with Professor Eric Rose) and Oxford University (with Professor Harry Anderson), he became Assistant Professor at Hasselt University in 2009, where he was promoted to Associate Professor in 2014, Professor (Hoogleraar) in 2018, and Full Professor (Gewoon Hoogleraar) in 2021. His research activities deal with the design and synthesis of organic semiconducting materials (with an emphasis on conjugated polymers) and their application in organic electronic devices (organic solar cells, photodetectors, transistors, light-emitting diodes) and advanced healthcare, pursuing rational structure-property relations (see https://www.uhasselt.be/DSOS). These activities are generally combined with more in-depth materials and device physics studies within the framework of the Institute for Materials Research (imo-imomec) of Hasselt University.

Tom van der Pol is a Marie Curie fellow at the Laboratory of Organic Electronics within the Linköping University in Sweden. His research interests revolve around characterization of novel semiconductors, currently focused on organic mixed ion-electron conductors. He conducted his PhD research at the group of René Janssen studying optical characterization of thin film organic and perovskite semiconductors for solar cell applications.

Academic Career

Since May 2020: W3 Associate Professor at the Department of Physics, TUM.

2014 - 2020: W2 Assistant Professor at the Department of Physics, TUM.

2010 - 2014: Group leader ("Adsorption and Electrocatalysis") at the Center for Electrochemical Sciences (CES) at Ruhr University Bochum, Germany.

2008 - 2010: Post-doc, Department of Physics, Technical University of Denmark.

2006 - 2008: Post-doc, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Twente, the Netherlands.

2002 - 2005: PhD in Physical and Solid State Chemistry, Belarusian State University, Minsk, Belarus.

Awards

• The German National Ernst Haage Award for the research in the field of chemical energy conversion (2016)

• Hans-Jürgen Engell Award of the International Society of Electrochemistry (ISE Prize for Electrochemical Materials Science) for the research on electrocatalysis and in situ characterisation of the electrode–electrolyte interface (2013)

Maksym Kovalenko has been a tenure-track Assistant Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at ETH Zurich since July 2011 and Associate professor from January 2017. His group is also partially hosted by EMPA (Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology) to support his highly interdisciplinary research program. He completed graduate studies at Johannes Kepler University Linz (Austria, 2004-2007, with Prof. Wolfgang Heiss), followed by postdoctoral training at the University of Chicago (USA, 2008-2011, with Prof. Dmitri Talapin). His present scientific focus is on the development of new synthesis methods for inorganic nanomaterials, their surface chemistry engineering, and assembly into macroscopically large solids. His ultimate, practical goal is to provide novel inorganic materials for optoelectronics, rechargeable Li-ion batteries, post-Li-battery materials, and catalysis. He is the recipient of an ERC Consolidator Grant 2018, ERC Starting Grant 2012, Ruzicka Preis 2013 and Werner Prize 2016. He is also a Highly Cited Researcher 2018 (by Clarivate Analytics).

Iván Mora-Seró (1974, M. Sc. Physics 1997, Ph. D. Physics 2004) is researcher at Universitat Jaume I de Castelló (Spain). His research during the Ph.D. at Universitat de València (Spain) was centered in the crystal growth of semiconductors II-VI with narrow gap. On February 2002 he joined the University Jaume I. From this date until nowadays his research work has been developed in: electronic transport in nanostructured devices, photovoltaics, photocatalysis, making both experimental and theoretical work. Currently he is associate professor at University Jaume I and he is Principal Researcher (Research Division F4) of the Institute of Advanced Materials (INAM). Recent research activity was focused on new concepts for photovoltaic conversion and light emission based on nanoscaled devices and semiconductor materials following two mean lines: quantum dot solar cells with especial attention to sensitized devices and lead halide perovskite solar cells and LEDs, been this last line probably the current hottest topic in the development of new solar cells.

Cesare Soci received Laurea and Ph.D. degrees in Physics from the University of Pavia, in 2000 and 2005. He was a postdoctoral researcher from 2005 to 2006 at the Center for Polymers and Organic Solids of the University of California, Santa Barbara, and from 2006 to 2009 at the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department of the University of California, San Diego. He joined the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in 2009, where he holds a joint appointment between the Schools of Physical and Mathematical Sciences (SPMS) and Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE). At NTU he leads the Optical Spectroscopy of Nanomaterials laboratory, co-directs the Centre for Disruptive Photonic Technologies, and currently serves as the Associate Dean (Research Programmes) of the Graduate College. He is a Fellow of the IPS, OPTICA, and the SPIE.

Since 2019, Yana Vaynzof holds the Chair for Emerging Electronic Technologies at the Technical University of Dresden. Prior to that (2014-2019), she was a juniorprofessor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, Heidelberg University (Germany). She received a B.Sc degree (summa cum laude) in electrical engineering from the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology (Israel) in 2006, and a M.Sc. degree in electrical engineering from Princeton University, (USA) in 2008. She pursued a Ph.D. degree in physics under the supervision of Prof. Sir. Richard Friend at the Optoelectronics Group, Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge (UK), and investigated the development of hybrid polymer solar cells and the improvement of their efficiency and stability. Upon completing her PhD in 2011, she joined the Microelectronics group at the University of Cambridge as a Postdoctoral Research Associate focusing on the research of surfaces and interfaces in organic and hybrid optoelectronics. Yana Vaynzof was the recipient of a number of fellowships and awards, including the ERC Starting Grant, Gordon Y. Wu Fellowship, Henry Kressel Fellowship, Fulbright-Cottrell Award and the Walter Kalkhof-Rose Memorial Prize.

Joel W. Ager III is a Senior Staff Scientist in the Materials and Chemical Sciences Divisions of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) and an Adjunct Professor in the Materials Science and Engineering Department, UC Berkeley. He is a Principal Investigator in the Electronic Materials Program and the Program Lead for the Liquid Sunshine Alliance (LiSA) at LBNL. He graduated from Harvard College in 1982 with an A.B in Chemistry and from the University of Colorado in 1986 with a PhD in Chemical Physics. After a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Heidelberg, he joined Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in 1989. His research interests include the discovery of new photoelectrochemical and electrochemical catalysts for solar to chemical energy conversion, fundamental electronic and transport properties of semiconducting materials, and the development of new types of transparent conductors. Professor Ager is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and is a frequent invited speaker at international conferences and has published over 400 papers in refereed journals. His work is highly cited, with over 46,000 citations and an h-index of 111 (Google Scholar).

Sixto Giménez (M. Sc. Physics 1996, Ph. D. Physics 2002) is Associate Professor at Universitat Jaume I de Castelló (Spain). His professional career has been focused on the study of micro and nanostructured materials for different applications spanning from structural components to optoelectronic devices. During his PhD thesis at the University of Navarra, he studied the relationship between processing of metallic and ceramic powders, their sintering behavior and mechanical properties. He took a Post-Doc position at the Katholiek Universiteit Leuven where he focused on the development of non-destructive and in-situ characterization techniques of the sintering behavior of metallic porous materials.  In January 2008, he joined the Group of Photovoltaic and Optoelectronic Devices of University Jaume I where he is involved in the development of new concepts for photovoltaic and photoelectrochemical devices based on nanoscaled materials, particularly studying the optoelectronic and electrochemical responses of the devices by electrical impedance spectroscopy. He has co-authored more than 80 scientific papers in international journals and has received more than 5000 citations. His current h-index is 31. 

Sophia Haussener is a Professor heading the Laboratory of Renewable Energy Science and Engineering at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL). Her current research is focused on providing design guidelines for thermal, thermochemical, and photoelectrochemical energy conversion reactors through multi-physics modelling and experimentation. Her research interests include: thermal sciences, fluid dynamics, charge transfer, electro-magnetism, and thermo/electro/photochemistry in complex multi-phase media on multiple scales. She received her MSc (2007) and PhD (2010) in Mechanical Engineering from ETH Zurich. She was a postdoctoral researcher at the Joint Center of Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP) and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) between 2011 and 2012. She has published over 70 articles in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings, and 2 books. She has been awarded the ETH medal (2011), the Dimitris N. Chorafas Foundation award (2011), the ABB Forschungspreis (2012), the Prix Zonta (2015), the Global Change Award (2017), and the Raymond Viskanta Award (2019), and is a recipient of a Starting Grant of the Swiss National Science Foundation (2014).