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5th Ed. Smart Materials and Surfaces - SMS Conference

Conference Speakers

Keynote Speakers

Prof. Michael Sinapius

Technische Universität Braunschweig, Germany

After his training as a machinist, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Michael Sinapius has studied mechanical engineering at the University of Kassel. Since 1989, he is a rese-archer of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and completed his PhD at the RWTH Aachen University in 1993. His first research areas at the DLR were Structural Dynamics. In 2013, he was appointed a professorship for Adaptive Lightweight Structures at the Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, and in parallel, became deputy director of the DLR-institute for Composite Structures and Adaptive Systems in Braunschweig. In 2011, he was offered a position as a professor for Adaptronic Systems at the Braunschweig University of Techno-logy. For the past four years, he established the Institute for Adaptronics and Function Integration with 28 members already. Prof. Sinapius is the speaker of the German Research Foundation (DFG) research group 2021 of Acting Princip-les of Nano-Scaled Matrix Additives for Composite Structures. He is author and co-author of more than 200 publications.

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Prof. Seiki Chiba

CEO, Chiba Science Institute, Japan

He is a CEO, Professor, Chiba Science Institute. He was an Executive Director for Advanced R&D Project Development, Stanford Research Institute (SRI International) till Jan. 2011.  He served on SRI for 20 years. Dr. Chiba was supervising advanced R&D programs including Japanese Government projects. Before joining SRI, he worked at Media Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute Technology, as visiting scientist for three years.

He is the author or coauthor of more than 406 publications in the various areas including artificial muscle actuators & generators, hydrogen safety, and high temperature membranes for hydrogen production. He also wrote 41 books, as the author and co-authors, for computer simulation, nano/micromachines, catalysis, fuel cells, conductive materials, R&D Management, artificial muscles, high temperature membranes for hydrogen production, hydrogen safety, renewable energy, wave power generation, etc.

He has a Ph.D. in Metallurgy & Material Science from the University of Wales (Britain). He jumped to the Ph.D. course without doing M.Sc.

He received lots of prizes including “IAAM medal for outstanding contribution in the field of Advanced Material Science and Technology in 2016”, and “the best paper award from the 5th International Symposium on Environmental Conscious Design in 2007”.

He is acting as editors in several international journals including “Advanced Materials Letters”, “Journal of Materials Engineering and Applications”, “Journal of Steel Structure and Construction”,” Industrial Engineering & Management”, “Journal of Material Sciences”, “Scholar Journal of Applied Science and Research”, “Madridge Journal of Molecular Biology”,” International Journal of Hematology and Blood Research (IJHBR)”, and “Journal of Biomedical and Life Science

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Prof. Mário Ferreira

University of Aveiro (UA), Portugal

Mario Ferreira has made contributions in a number of areas of surfaces and corrosion, such as electronic structure of passive films, corrosion in concrete, galvanized steel, aluminum and magnesium alloys, paints, anodizing, biomaterials, atmospheric corrosion, hybrid sol-gel films, inhibitors, self-healing and nanostructured coatings, smart surfaces, localized electrochemical techniques.

He is Full Professor at University of Aveiro. He is a member of an Associate Laboratory, Aveiro Institute of Materials (CICECO), University of Aveiro. He was Head of the Department of Materials and Ceramic Engineering of the University of Aveiro (Portugal) in the period 2011-2017.

Mario Ferreira has been active in the field of surfaces/corrosion for 40 years and has made major contributions in corrosion through teaching and research.

Mario Ferreira’s publications are in top journals that publish on his subjects; his work is uniformly of the highest quality. The Scopus database reports an h-index=71 (April 2019), which is an extremely high number for his area and reflects the impact of his work. He is also co-author of 18 book chapters and 5 patents. In his career, he has trained a considerable number of M.Sc. and Ph.D. students and post-docs, many of whom are now making major contributions on their own.  He has been frequently invited for keynote and plenary talks.

He has been extremely active in scientific societies, representing Portugal in the International Corrosion Council, participating in different working parties of the European Federation of Corrosion, and for 2 years a member of its Board of Administrators. He was also Member of the “Steel Advisory Group” of the “Research Steel and Coal Fund” of European Union (2010-2019). He was Deputy Director-General for Higher Education (Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Portugal) (2003-2007) and Member of the Scientific Council for Exact Sciences and Engineering of “The Foundation for Science and Technology” (FCT), Portugal (2013-2016).

Mario Ferreira received the “H.H. Uhlig Award” of Corrosion Division  of The Electrochemical Society (2013), CAVALLARO Gold Medal, Univ. Ferrara / EFC (2014), Fellow of ISE (2017), Fellow of The Electrochemical Society (2017),  European Corrosion Medal, EFC (2017), Engineers Association Award, Senior Adviser Member, (2015).

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Prof. Jinsong Shen

De Montfort University, Leicester, UK

Jinsong Shen is Professor of Textile Chemistry and Biotechnology at the School of Design, and Director of Textile Engineering And Materials (TEAM) Research Group at De Montfort University in the UK. He holds BSc and MSc degrees in textile chemistry from Donghua University, China and a PhD in protein chemistry from the University of Leeds, UK. While at the University of Leeds, Jinsong conducted the fundamental research to understand the protein structure of wool fibre. Since joining TEAM research group in 1994, Professor Shen has extensively involved in the research of wool protein fibres, development of biotechnology for the textile wet processes and functional finishing to enhance fibre properties and fabric performance. Professor Shen has been involved in a number of European Framework collaborative projects and UK research councils funded projects. Professor Shen has also contributed book chapters to the books: “Advanced in Wool Technology”, “Advances in Textile Biotechnology” and the recent “Sustainable Apparel” published by Woodhead publishing. His current interests lie in the areas of textile biotechnology, sol-gel technology, nanotechnology, antimicrobial finishing and flame retardant technology, and their applications leading to the development of protective garments, multifunctional materials and healthcare textiles.

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Prof. Jean-François Gérard

Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Lyon, France

Prof. Jean-François GERARD got his PhD diploma in Polymer Science in 1985 from researches dedicated to syntheses of zwitterionic polyurethanes from sulfobetainic diols for self-emulsifying systems. He joined in 1986 CNRS as permanent scientist and his expertise deals with interfaces in polymer-based materials and nanostructured polymers. He is author of about 240 papers in international journals and 110 invited lectures in international conferences. He acts also as vice-president of the European Center for Nanostructured Polymers) and President of the European Polymer Federation.

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Dr. Lena Berglin

University of Borås, Sweden

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Dr. Salvador Eslava

University of Bath, UK

Dr. Salvador Eslava is a Lecturer (Asst. Prof.) in Chemical Engineering at University of Bath, UK. He did his MEng in Chemical Engineering at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain, and a taught master in Materials Science at Università degli Studi di Pavia, Italy. He completed his PhD in Leuven, Belgium, at the Centre for Surface Chemistry and Catalysis (COK) at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and the international microelectronics center IMEC, in Prof. Johan Martens’s group. He then held postdoctoral positions in the Department of Chemistry at The University of Cambridge working with Professors Dominic Wright and Richard Lambert and the Department of Materials at Imperial College London working with Prof. Eduardo Saiz. He has published 47 articles on materials for sustainable chemical technologies, including graphene composites, metal oxide semiconductors and porous dielectric materials. Eslava’s lab currently focuses on finding greener routes for the production and optimization of semiconductor devices for solar energy conversion, with especial emphasis on solar fuels.

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Prof. Laurent Cognet

University of Bordeaux, France

After a PhD in atom optics at Institut d’Optique supervised by A. Aspect  (Paris Sud University, Orsay) L. Cognet performed among the first experiments about the detection and tracking of single fluorescent molecules in living cells as a postdoc in Th. Schmidt's group at Leiden University (NL).
In 2000, he was tenured by CNRS as junior researcher at University of Bordeaux and he was promoted Research Director in 2009. 
In 2011, he participated in the creation of the "Laboratoire Photonique Numérique et Nanosciences" (LP2N-Institut d'Optique-CNRS at University of Bordeaux) where is deputy director and coordinates the ​Optics and Biology Research Initiative.

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Prof. Isabel Amaral

University NOVA of Lisbon, Portugal

Degree in Biochemistry and a PhD in History and Philosophy of Science (New University of Lisbon). Assistant Professor at the Department for Social Sciences, Faculty of Sciences and Tecnology, New University of Lisbon, which has guided several masters and doctoral thesis. Member of the international group STEP (Science and Technology in the European peripheries), researcher at the Interuniversity Centre for History and Philosophy of Sciences and Technology (CIUHCT) and co- curator of the Museum of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Institute in Lisbon. Vice-president of the Section of History of Medicine (SGL) and member of other scientific societies including the Chemical Society, the Biochemical Society and the Brazilian Society of History of Medicine. Scientific interests in the history of science and medicine in Portugal (XIX and XXth centuries) with scientific publications and research projects, mainly in the history of portuguese tropical medicine.

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Dr. Peter Fischer

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA

Dr. Peter Fischer received his PhD in Physics (Dr.rer.nat.) from the Technical University in Munich, Germany in 1993 on pioneering work with X-ray magnetic circular dichroism in rare earth systems and his Habilitation from the University in Würzburg, Germany in 2000 based on his pioneering work on Magnetic Soft X-ray microscopy. Since 2004 he is with the Materials Sciences Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley CA. He is Senior Staff Scientist and Principal Investigator in the Non-Equilibrium Magnetic Materials Program and currently also Acting Division Director at MSD. His research program is focused on the use of polarized synchrotron radiation for the study of fundamental problems in magnetism. Since 2014 he is also Adjunct Professor for Physics at the University of California in Santa Cruz. Dr. Fischer has published more than 190 peer reviewed papers and has given over 280 invited presentations at national and international conferences. He was nominated as Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE Magnetics Society in 2011. For his achievements of “hitting the 10nm resolution milestone with soft X-ray microscopy” he received the Klaus Halbach Award at the Advanced Light Source in 2010.

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Dr. Yarjan Abdul Samad

Cambridge Graphene Centre, United Kingdom

Dr. Yarjan Abdul Samad, PhD is a Research Associate at Cambridge Graphene Centre, The Department of Engineering at The University of Cambridge. His research work is based on 2d & layered materials Space based technologies. He was among the team of scientists on European Space Agency (ESA)’s Zero Gravity flight who were the first to test Graphene, a modern day marvel material, in Zero Gravity. Besides doing scientific experiments in Zero Gravity flights he also performs experiments in Sounding Rockets. His invention on cooling devices in Space has been covered by international media including but not limited to Reuters, Techradar, CNET, InnovaSpace etc. He has won several awards for his research work such as The Innovator Of The Year by the technology development company, The Outstanding Research Reviewer of the year 2017 by the Royal Society of Chemistry UK, Nano Today Best Scientific Presentation and many other Best Scientific Talks awards at international scientific conferences.

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Prof. Paula M. Vilarinho

University of Aveiro, Portugal

Paula Vilarinho graduated in Ceramics and Glass Engineering from the University of Aveiro, Portugal in 1983 and got her PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Aveiro, Portugal in 1994, in the field of Relaxor Ferroelectric Materials. Paula Vilarinho is Associate Professor at the University of Aveiro since 2000 and member of the Associate Laboratory, Centre for Research in Ceramics and Composite Materials (CICECO).

She was Visiting Professor at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering of North Carolina State University, USA, in 2001 and Visiting Professor at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom in 2008. Her teaching activities include topics on the synthesis, processing and characterization of materials, such as Microsctructure and Interfaces, Advanced Processing Techniques, Materials Processing Technologies, 2D 3D Structures, Functional Materials, Properties of Materials, among others, for under graduate, master and doctoral studies.

She is a member of the Editorial Board of Scientific Reports (from Nature Publishing Group), Practical Metallography and International Scholarly Research Network - ISRN Ceramics. She is a member of the Portuguese, European and American Materials Research Societies and Microscopy Societies. She has been acting as referee in the selection of Portuguese and European R&D projects (European Research Council and various European States Research Agencies) as well as a frequent referee of SCI journals. She was the former President of the Portuguese Society of Microscopy (2010-2011).

Paula Vilarinho published over 260 papers, 4 book chapters, with ca. 3239 citations (h-index 31), 9 patent applications and edited 4 books. She has given over one hundred scientific and technical talks at international conferences and 86 invited talks. She has(is) supervised(ing) 18 post-docs, 21 PhD students and 32 Master students. She has been involved and coordinating more than 20 R&D projects and in more than 20 European R&D actions, networks and projects on the development and characterization of dielectric, piezoelectric and ferroelectric materials. She has been collaborating with more than 10 Portuguese R&D groups and 10 foreigner groups, within Europe and USA. She organized 6 International Scientific Meetings and 4 National and International workshops on Materials Science topics. She was distinguished with the prize “Estímulo à Excelência” (Stimulus to Excellence) in February 2007 awarded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT).

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Dr. Kerri Akiwowo

Loughborough University, UK

Dr Kerri Akiwowo is a Textile Practitioner-Researcher and Lecturer in Textiles at the School of the Arts, English and Drama. Her PhD is in Digital laser-dyeing: coloration and patterning techniques for polyester textiles, attained at Loughborough University in 2015. More broadly, her creative practice, research and pedagogical approach encompasses:  Textile Design; Textile Patterning and Coloration Processes; Textiles for Apparel; Dress History; Digital Design Technologies; and Research Informed Teaching within Design Education.  Kerri has formerly held both technical and academic posts including: Research Associate at the Textile Futures Research Group (now Centre/TFRC), University of the Arts London; Dye Technician in the School of Fashion and Textiles at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design; Print Technician at London College of Fashion; and Senior Lecturer in Printed Textile Design at De Montfort University. Kerri currently contributes to the undergraduate programme at Loughborough University - BA (Hons) Textiles: Innovation and Design through: studio teaching, lectures, seminars, workshops, tutorials, assessment, enterprise activity, collaboration, project supervision; and as Module Leader, Academic Advisor and Personal Tutor. Kerri also delivers lectures to the postgraduate taught programme - MA Art & Design (Studio Practice) and has co-supervised postgraduate research studies. External facing activities include: student recruitment, university wide open days, student competitions, collaboration, Première Vision Designs, Paris and New Designers, London. Kerri is a member of the Textile Design Research Group  at Loughborough University.

In her research, Kerri primarily focuses on new design processes and materials, existing and emerging digital technologies, smart fabrics, performance sportswear and technical textiles, experimental approaches in printed textiles, patterning and surface design and functional aesthetics.  Current areas of investigation include: integrated digital practice for textile design research and development; digital laser-dye coloration and patterning approaches for textiles and garments; hybrid garment identities explored through novel fibres and textile design interpretations; and thermo-chromic and liquid crystal temperature sensitive screen-printing technologies for textiles, wearable displays and sports apparel. Kerri has disseminated her practice and research nationally and internationally via conferences, seminars, symposia, journal papers, book contributions and exhibitions. Exhibited works include showing at: The Roundhouse; the Institute of Contemporary Arts; the Science Museum (all London); Loughborough University; and the Design and Architecture Gallery in Tallin, Estonia.

As a practitioner, Kerri has worked as a freelance and studio textile designer specialising in screen and digitally printed textiles, hand painted textiles, novel surface techniques and textile finishes for denim; and engineered placement design for lace and embroidered fashion. In this capacity, she sold designs to fashion and apparel labels such as Miu Miu, Victoria Secret and Next. Former enterprise activity includes designing and creating textile products for the home and body, selling items directly to the public and through retail channels. Kerri set up a Limited ‘Ltd.’ Company (now dissolved) and has previously owned a UK registered trademark under class 24 – Textiles, bedding, cushions; and class 25 – Clothing, footwear, head gear. Kerri currently claims unregistered trademark, Digital Laser Dyed Textiles™. Her textile designs and conceptual explorations have attracted attention from organisations such as global trend forecaster WGSN; The Future Laboratory; The Design and Technology Association; the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IMO3); as well as international apparel brands such as Triumph and Speedo. She has worked with fellow textile designers, fashion designers, textile consultants, materials specialists, engineers, scientists, historians and a professional chartered society in both discipline specific and interdisciplinary contexts.

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Prof. Jordi Arbiol

ICREA and Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2), CSIC and BIST, Catalonia, Spain

Prof. Jordi Arbiol graduated in Physics from the Universitat de Barcelona (UB) in 1997, he went on to obtain his PhD (European Doctorate and PhD Extraordinary Award) in 2001 from this same institution in the field of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) applied to nanostructured materials. He was assistant professor at the UB. From 2009 to 2015 he was ICREA Professor and group leader at the Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC). He was President of the Spanish Microscopy Society (SME) (2017-2021) and held the position of vice-president from 2013 to 2017, having been a member of its Executive Board (2009-2021). In 2018 he was elected as Member of the Executive Board of the International Federation of Societies for Microscopy (IFSM) (2019-2026).
Since 2015 he has been ICREA Professor and leader of the Advanced Electron Nanoscopy Group at the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2), CSIC and BIST. He is Scientific Supervisor of the Electron Microscopy Area at ICN2 and BIST, and also at the Electron Microscopy Center at the ALBA Synchrotron (EMCA). He has been one of the founding members of e-DREAM. He received the FWO Commemorative Medal (Flanders Research Foundation) in 2021, the BIST Ignite Award in 2018, the 2014 EU40 Materials Prize by the E-MRS, the 2014 EMS Outstanding Paper Award and was listed in the Top 40 under 40 Power List (2014) by The Analytical Scientist. As of May 2022 he has more than 415 peer-reviewed publications and more than 24700 citations (GoS) with h-index: 88 GoS (76 WoS).

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Prof. Peng Feng

Tsinghua University, China

Dr. Feng’s research field is the high-performance structures with emerging materials and advanced construction technics for civil engineering, including the following interests:

  • ALL FRP (FIBER REINFORCED POLYMER) STRUCTURES AND FRP HYBRID STRUCTURES, including FRP-concrete-steel hybrid columns, FRP bridges and FRP-concrete hybrid bridges, FRP woven web structures, FRP transmission towers, FRP-aluminum hybrid structures, and FRP tendons/cables.
  • FRP STRENGTHENING EXISTING STRUCTURES, including FRP strengthening steel to resist buckling or to resist fatigue failure, steel pipeline strengthening, and anti-collapse strengthening for reinforced concrete structures.
  • ADVANCED CONCRETE STRUCTURES, including durable concrete structures, 3D-printed cementitious structures, cold-formed thin-walled steel reinforced concrete structures, industrialized precast concrete structures, and bionic engineering design.
  • INTEGRATION OF STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, including corrosion resistant structures in server environments, sandwich panels integrated solar cell, life-cycle behavior of desulfurization system in power stations, FRP gas flues and chimneys, and maintenance-free offshore structures.

 

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Prof. Elvira Fortunato

New University of Lisbon, Portugal

Elvira Fortunato is full professor in Materials Science Department of Faculty of Science and Technology of New University of Lisbon, a Fellow of the Portuguese Engineering Academy since 2009 and decorated with the grade of Grand Officer of the Order of Prince Henry the Navigator by the President of the Republic in 2010, due to her scientific achievements worldwide. In 2015 she was appointed by the Portuguese President Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the Celebrations of the National Day of Portugal, Camões and the Portuguese Communities.

She was also a member of the Portuguese National Scientific and Technological Council between 2012-2015 and a member of the advisory board of DG CONNECT (2014-2015).

Currently she is the director of the Institute of Nanomaterials, Nanofabrication and Nanomodeling and of CENIMAT. She is member of the board of trustees of Luso-American Foundation (Portugal/USA, 2013-2020), Vice-Rector of NOVA and Scientific Council for Exact Sciences and Engineering, Coordinator at FCT-MCTES.

Fortunato pioneered European research on transparent electronics, namely thin-film transistors based on oxide semiconductors, demonstrating that oxide materials can be used as true semiconductors. In 2008, she earns in the 1st ERC edition an AdG for the project “Invisible”, considered a success story. In the same year she demonstrated with her colleagues the possibility to make the first paper transistor, starting a new field in the area of paper electronics.

Fortunato published over 500 papers and during the last 10 years got more than 18 International prizes and distinctions for her work (e.g: Elvira Fortunato was awarded with the Blaise Pascal Medal from the European Academy of Sciences (2016); IDTechEx USA 2009 (paper transistor); European Woman Innovation prize, Finland 2011).

In 2017 (September 20) Elvira Fortunato will receive the Czochralski award from E-MRS in recognition of her achievements in the field of the Advanced Materials Science.

Since November 2016 she integrates the High Level Group for the Scientifc Advise Mechanism of the European Commission.

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Prof. José María De Teresa

INMA, CSIC-University of Zaragoza, Spain

José María De Teresa PhD thesis in University of Zaragoza (Spain) focused on the study of the magnetic and transport properties in magnetic oxides with colossal magnetoresistance. He carried out two postdoctoral stays, at IFW (Dresde, Germany) and Thomson-CNRS (Orsay, France, work under the supervision of Nobel Prize winner Prof. Fert). In 2001, he joined the CSIC, where he was promoted to Research Professor in 2010. He has made relevant contributions (more than 10,000 citations) in magnetism and magnetotransport of ferromagnetic oxides (colossal magnetoresistance, spin glass behavior, spin-orbit coupling, anomalous Hall effect), in spintronics (in magnetic tunnel junctions and in conversion of spin current into electric current), nanosuperconductivity (vortices, superconductivity reentrance, electric-field effect, nanoSQUIDs), nanodevices (magnetic biosensors, magnetic force microscopies), and new developments in nanolithography (Cryo-FIBID, irradiation of metal-organic films, ferromagnets by FEBID). He is the current President of the Steering Committee “Condensed Matter Division” of the European Physical Society (EPS), the director of the Dual Beam area of ​​the Advanced Microscopy Laboratory and the director of the Department of Physics of Materials and Nanosystems at the Instituto de Nanociencia y Materiales de Aragón (INMA). In 2021 he was distinguished as a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS) and in 2023 as a Fellow of the EPS.

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Dr. Louis Tredoux

AAT Composites (Pty) Ltd, South Africa

Louis has an M.Eng (Mech) degree (cum laude) from the University of Stellenbosch, as well as a D.Eng (Mech) degree from the Tokyo Institute of Technology. He began his career in 1994 as a short-term contract researcher at the CSIR. This was followed by a 4 year research period in Tokyo, Japan.  In 1999, he joined Aerodyne Aviation Technology (the forerunner of AAT Composites) as engineer, and later was promoted to Engineering Manager, and subsequently Snr Manager: Engineering.  Currently he holds the position Snr Expert: Composites Innovation and Portfolio.

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Prof. Galina Mihaleva

School of Art, Design and Media, Singapore

Galina Mihaleva is an Assistant Professor at the school of Art, Design and Media at Nanyang Technological University, where she teaches Technology, Art and Fashion. Her work and research deal primarily with the dialogue between body and dress, driven by the idea of having both a physical and a psychological relationship with a garment as a responsive clothing - wearable technology. Prior to joining NTU, Galina thought at Arizona State University for more than 15 years costume design and designed for world renown choreographers in USA, ASIA and Europe. She is the founder of Galina Couture in Scottsdale Arizona, where her team develops exclusive collections of one of kind designs. Her art and design work has been shown in festivals, galleries and museums across United States, Asia, Central and South America and Europe. In 2007 she was nominated for the best design award at Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum. Galina received the Rumi award in USA and the first place at the Tiffany’s Paris fashionweek in 2016. Beyond in-depth analysis of cultural values she combines traditional tailoring methods while developing and using new materials and innovative construction proses. Unbounded by the old rules, Galina now offers her work as a testimony to the power of beauty and expression, and to the transcendent human spirit.

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Mr. Paulo Cadeia

Centro Tecnológico das Indústrias Têxtil e do Vestuário (CITEVE), Portugal (to be confirmed)

With a degree on Systems Engineering and Informatics by University of Minho, Paulo has background experience in large companies such as SONAE or TMG (Textile Manuel Gonçalves). At the present, he’s in charge of Innovation Management Department of CITEVE, accumulating to this function the responsibility of IT Department and the secretariat of european platform TEXTRANET.

With his large experience in Project Management where he manages several european consortiums with different types of companies from different nationalities, according the PMBOK methodology, he's also responsable for all IPR and entrepreneurship issues of CITEVE.

In terms of IT management, Paulo is responsible for the management of the infrastructure (hardware and software level), analysis of contracts, licensing negotiation and proposals to purchase equipments.

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Prof. Aurelio Araujo

University of Lisbon, Portugal

Superior Técnico (IST), Universidade de Lisboa and Researcher of Instituto de Engenharia Mecânica - IDMEC/IST. He has a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Universidade Técnica de Lisboa. His research activities have been related to modelling, optimisation and testing of composite and adaptive structures, inverse characterisation of composite and piezoelectric materials, sandwich structures, structural damping and active control of multifunctional structures for noise and vibration attenuation. He is also a member of the Editorial Board of International Journal of Automotive Composites.

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Dr. Christos Riziotis

National Hellenic Research Foundation, Greece

Dr. Christos RIZIOTIS is a faculty Researcher at the Theoretical and Physical Chemistry Institute of the National Hellenic Research Foundation -NHRF, Athens, Greece where he is leading the activity "Applied Photonics-Materials and Devices". He holds a Ph.D. in Photonics from Optoelectronics Research Centre, University of Southampton, UK (2001), an M.Sc. in Electronics and Telecommunications and a Degree in Physics both from National University of Athens. His research interests and work cover the areas of photonic materials, integrated optics, direct laser writing & micromachining, fibre sensors, optical communications, nanophotonics, plasmonics, with successfully demonstrated applications in defence industry, Structural Health Monitoring, industrial process monitoring,  chemical sensors and biomedical / healthcare applications. He has participated or developed a number of collaborations and R&D projects with industry (Pirelli Cavi, Southampton Photonics, Stratophase, MBDA Missile Systems, Kleemann Lifts S.A., Bayern Chemie Propellants GmbH etc) and has authored a wide thematic range of research publications, holding also three (3) international patents. He is reviewer in over 30 technical Journals, Member of Editorial Board in several Journals in sensors, materials and instrumentation, and organizer of four Journals' special issues in optical materials and sensing. He was the Chair of the 6th IC-MAST "International Conference on Materials and Applications for Sensors and Transducers" and serves as committee member in a number of international conferences. He serves also as Management Committee Member for a number of research academic networks like COST Actions in the areas of sensing, novel materials, manufacturing, and healthcare, while served also as expert in the IEC Standardization Committee for Fibre Optic Sensors.

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Prof. Jannick Rumeau

University of Lyon, France

Prof. Jannick Duchet-Rumeau got a PhD diploma of University of Lyon in 1996 focused on modelling of the interface in a polyethylene/glass system tuned by the grafting connecting chains to improve the adhesion properties. She had a post PhD position in Louvain La Neuve (Belgium) where she worked on polymer nanotubes. In 1998, she got a full professor position in 2010 in the laboratory ‘Ingénierie des Matériaux Polymères’ UMR CNRS #5223. Her research topics are related to nanocomposites materials, mesoporous materials, nanomaterials from Ionic Liquids (Head of GDR LIPS http://www.gdr-lips.fr) and tailoring of interfaces/interphases in the heterogeneous materials.

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Prof. Teresa Vieira

University of Coimbra, Portugal

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Prof José Miguel López-Higuera

University of Cantabria, Spain

José Miguel López-Higuera, (1954), Fellow SPIE 2012; Fellow OSA 2014; Senior IEEE 1998. Member of the Royal Academy of Medicine of Cantabria, 2015. Member of CIBER-BBN of Instituto de Salud Carlos III, 2016 and also member of instituto de Investigación Valdecilla, IDIVAL, 2017.

Founder and Head of the Photonics Engineering Group, at the University of Cantabria. Founder and Director of the International School of Light Sciences and Technologies, ISLIST at UIMP, 2016. Member of international Committees of Conferences of more than 32 (+32) R&D Institutions and Companies in the field of Photonics (mainly in sensing): International Steering’s (ISC), Technical Programs (TPC), Scientific SC). Director of 17 PhD theses (8 with extraordinary PhD award) framed inside the Photonics/Fiber Sensing field.

His R&D work focuses on Optical Fibre Sensor Systems and Instrumentations for Civil Engineering, Construction, Electrical Power Generation, Aero-space, Siderurgy, Automotive, Environmental, Medical and Biomedical, Smart Structure applications. 112 R&D&i projects (58 with public and competitive funding) acting on 93 of they as manager, coordinator or main researcher).

More than 740 research publications (including 71 invited talks) and 20 patents closely related to optical and fiber techniques for sensors and instrumentations

He has received numerous awards and recognitions being the most recent: admission to the Royal Academy of Medicine of Cantabria 2014; 2014 Awards for their R&D results by the Board of Trustees of the University of Cantabria Research Award; the Lifetime Achievements Award by the EWOFS, Limerick, Ireland, May 2016.

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Prof. Paula Teixeira Ferreira

Minho University, Portugal

Paula Margarida Vidigal Soares Teixeira Ferreira is associate professor at the Chemistry Department of Universidade do Minho and a senior researcher in Centro de Química from Universidade do Minho. She received her MSc in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the Universidade de Coimbra (1989) and her PhD in Chemistry from the Universidade do Minho (1996). Her current research is focused on the development of new methodologies for the synthesis of non-proteinogenic amino acid derivatives and their application as fluorescent markers, conformational probes and new materials for biomedical applications.

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Prof. Antonella Macagnano

Institute of Atmospheric Pollution Research-National Research Council, Italy

Antonella Macagnano received the Biological Science’s Degree in 1993 at Lecce University and the Professional’s Degree in 1994. Since 2001 she is Research Scientist at the National Research Council (CNR). She has been leader (2001–2013) of the job-order entitled “Bio-inspired Sensoristic Systems and Technologies for Space and Human Safety” at Institute for Microelectronics and Microsystems (IMM) of CNR. Since 2013, she is Researcher and Leader of the action called “High-Performance Sensors and Sensing Systems for Monitoring Air Quality and Environment” at Institute of Atmospheric Pollutant Research (IIA) of CNR. She has been cooperating with many International and National scientists for designing and studying novel sensors (gravimetric, conductive, capacitive) and bio-inspired sensing strategies, based on nanostructured and biofunctionalized materials for environmental and biomedical applications, within several projects (among them, various as a leader). At present, she is member of the Management Committee of a European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) Action MP1206 entitled “Electrospun Nano-fibres for Bio-inspired Composite Materials and Innovative Industrial Applications” (2013–2017) and the leader of the Working Group devoted to Industrial/Technical applications.

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Dr. Raul Arenal

University of Zaragoza, Spain

Dr. Raul Arenal received his Ph.D. in Solid State Physics from Univ. Paris-Sud (Orsay, France, 2005) and in 2013, he obtained his Habilitation (HDR) also at this University (now, Paris-Saclay University). He joined the Electron Microscopy Center in Argonne National Lab. (ANL, USA) as post doctoral fellow. In 2007, he became research scientist (Chargé de Recherches) at the CNRS (France; LEM, ONERA-CNRS). From 2010 to 2011, he was visiting scientist (sabbatical position) at the Laboratorio de Microscopias Avanzadas (LMA) at the Instituto de Nanociencia de Aragon (INA) of the Universidad de Zaragoza (Spain). Since 2012, Dr. Arenal is on leave from the CNRS, and he is currently ARAID senior research scientist at the LMA, INMA, CSIC-U. Zaragoza. Since 2018, he is the Director of the TEM area of the LMA-INA. Dr. Arenal has published more than 200 papers in refereed journals (http://www.raularenal.com) and edited one book (Springer).
Arenal’s broad area of research interest lies in electron microscopy focused on materials science and nanoscience: TEM (EELS, HR(S)TEM, electron diffraction, electron tomography). These studies are mainly focused on the growth mechanism, structural and physical properties of low dimensional materials based on carbon, boron and nitrogen as well as other nano-structures (in particular, metallic nano-objects for plasmonic/photonic interest). Among his scientific activities, Dr. Arenal is the chair of the HeteroNanoCarb conference series (http://heteronanocarb.org) focused on graphene, NT and related 1D-2D nanomaterials

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Dr. Laurence Noirez

Laboratoire Léon Brillouin- CEA/ CNRS, France

Dr. Laurence Noirez is CNRS Research Director at the Laboratoire Léon Brillouin (LLB), Université Paris-Saclay (France). Working in a Large Facility that welcomes around 500 experimentalists per year, Dr. Noirez has a 25 years expertise in neutron scattering, diffraction and instrumentation. Her main developments concern a multiscale structural and dynamic study of simple and complex fluids (microfluidics) taking into account in particular the liquid/surface boundary conditions. Dr. L. Noirez established that liquids are long range elastically correlated and measured their low frequency shear elasticity. She also evidenced the impact of the interfacial forces on the liquid flow showing in particular that liquids can produce cold. She has published over SCI 130 articles.

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Prof. Kaspar Jansen

Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands

Prof Kaspar Jansen received his MSc degree at Twente University. In January 1988 he started his PhD on injection molding at the Delft University of Technology. Part of his PhD research he performed at Philips Research Laboratories (1991). He received his PhD in March 1993 and worked for two years at the university of Salerno (Italy). After two more Postdocs he started working as an associate professor at the Delft University of Technology. First at the faculty of Mechanical Engineering and since April 2012 the IDE department. In October 2015 he started as the head of the new Emerging Materials research group. His research interests are: wearables, smart and interactive materials and their integration in design.

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Dr. Xiaoyi Bao

University of Ottawa, Canada

Dr. Xiaoyi Bao is a Professor of Physics at the University of Ottawa. Dr. Bao's research includes study of nonlinear effects in fibers for sensing, devices and communications, development of distributed fiber optics sensors for temperature, strain, vibration, acoustic wave, birefringence and refractive index for chemical and bio-sensing, static and dynamic monitoring of civil structures, nonlinear scattering and parametric amplifications, study of the dynamic polarization mode dispersion effects in field fibers, Rayleigh, Brillouin and Raman scattering based distributed sensors and their applications; micro- and nano -fibers based sensors and devices, and highly coherent fiber laser design and development.

From 1994 to 2000 she was a Professor at the University of New Brunswick. In 2000 she joined the Department of Physics of the University of Ottawa as a professor. In 2003 she became a Canada Research Chair (Tier I) in Fibre Optics and Photonics. She received the University of Ottawa Inventor of the Year Award for 2003. She is fellow of Royal Society of Canada (RSC), Optical Society of America (OSA) and SPIE. She has published over 210 refereed journal papers in journals.

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Mr. Pablo M. Romero

AIMEN Technology Centre, Spain

Mr. Pablo Romero is the research strategy manager at AIMEN Spain. This Centre is the leading Research Centre on Materials and Process Engineering in Nort-Western Spain, and develop a wide activity in Research and Innovation at National and European levels. Among the research domains are robotics and automation, joining technologies, laser processing, ... extensive equipment and pilot plants (including a leading edge laser applications centre).

Pablo role  is to coordinate the research activity and project its development in accordance with the needs and demands of the National and European manufacturing industry.

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Dr. Maria Farsari

IESL-FORTH- Crete, Greece

Maria received her first degree in 1992 from the Physics, University of Crete and her PhD in 1997 from the Physics Department, University of Durham, UK. The subject of her PhD was organic nonlinear optics. After graduating, Maria worked as a postdoctoral research fellow at the Universities of Durham and Sussex and as a Senior Optical Scientist for the security company DeLaRue Holographics. She was a founding member of Xsil Ltd, a Dublin-based company specializing in the design and manufacture of laser micro-machining equipment for the semiconductor industry.

Now Maria is a Research Director at the Institute of the Electronic Structure and Laser, Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas, where she joined in 2003. Her main research interests are multi-photon lithography, laser-based nanofabrication, and materials processing using ultrafast lasers

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Dr. Patrice Baldeck

ENS Lyon, France

Dr. Patrice Baldeck graduated his PhD in Electrical Engineering and Photonics at City College of New York in 1989. Currently, he is a physicist CNRS research director at the chemistry laboratory of Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon (France). He has experience in ultrafast lasers, nonlinear optics, molecular spectroscopy, plasmonics, and biophotonics. His current research activity concerns the development of new laser applications with high spatial selectivity, based on the two-photon absorption properties of molecules at the focal point of lasers: micro/nano 3D printing, bioimaging and phototherapy. He has been the leader, or principal investigator of 36 funded research projects. He is the coauthor of 214 publications in international journals, and 93 invited lectures in international conferences.

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Dr. Lieven Penninck

PlanOpSim, Belgium

Lieven Penninck received a PhD on Photonics Engineering from Ghent University (Belgium) in 2013 on development of simulation methods for OLED and liquid crystal devices. Outside of academia he worked on LCD display R&D at TPVision/Philips TV and at Fluxim as a technical consultant on simulation and measurement tools for OLEDs and solar cells.

In 2019 he founded PlanOpSim to develop and offer numerical simulation software for the design of metasurfaces, metalenses and planar optics in general. Aside from software development, PlanOpSim also provides optical design services to the photonics and optics industry.

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Invited Speakers

Dr. Jordi Comelles

Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), Spain

I’m physicist by training (B.Sc in Physics in 2005 at the University of Barcelona), but early I shifted towards the interphase between physics, biology and engineering (M.Sc. in Biomedical Engineering in 2007 at the University of Barcelona and the Polytechnique University of Catalonia). Afterwards I joined the Nanobioengineering Group at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), where I performed my PhD in Bioengineering (2012, University of Barcelona), developing methods to combine topographical cues and surface gradients of proteins on stiff materials to study cell response to drugs and cell differentiation. During this period, I visited the Institut de Science et d’Ingénierie Supramoléculaires in Strasbourg (France) where I applied these methods to study cell migration. Then I joined the Institut de Génétique et de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire (IGBMC) in Strasbourg (France) as a post-doctoral researcher. During four years I was focused on the study of tissue elongation. I combined physics, biology and engineering to understand how tissues elongate and which is the role of external forces in such process. Finally, in march 2016 I joined the Biomimetic Systems for cell Engineering group from IBEC as a senior researcher were we are committed to the development of technologies that bring in vitro cell culture systems closer to the complexity of in vivo models, therefore having a real and meaningful impact in the biotechnological arena.

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Ms. Paula do Vale Pereira

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA

Paula is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT, where she works on alternative fuels for civil aviation. She was born and raised in Florianópolis, Brazil. She graduated summa cum laude with a B.S. and an M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina and a B.S. in Business from Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina. During her undergrads, she did internships in London, Germany and Brazil and was active in student leadership. Motivated to give opportunities to minority students, Paula has worked with many different NGOs and is now Outreach Director at the Women’s Graduate Association of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

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