Professor Marcela Bilek holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge, UK, a BSc from the University of Sydney and an MBA from the Rochester Institute of Technology, USA. Prior to her present appointment as Professor of Applied Physics at the University of Sydney (since 2000), she worked as a visiting Scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, USA, held a visiting Professorship at the Technische Universitat Hamburg-Harburg in Germany and a Research Fellowship at Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge, UK.
Professor Bilek heads the Applied and Plasma Physics Research Group. Research projects in these areas are a stimulating mix of fundamental physics and practical applications, in areas which include materials physics, plasma deposition and processing, thin film materials, vacuum glazing, renewable and sustainable energy and cross-disciplinary research in the areas of biointerfaces and medicine.
Marcela has received a number of honours for her work including the Malcolm McIntosh Prize for Physical Scientist of the Year in 2002, an ARC Federation Fellowship and an MIT TR100 Young Innovator award in 2003, the Australian Academy of Science Pawsey Medal in 2004 an Australian Innovation Challenge Award in 2011 and an ARC Future Fellowship in 2012. In 2013 she was elected to the Fellowship of the American Physical Society (APS) "for outstanding contributions to the physics of plasma processing, resulting in plasma sources, processes and materials with applications to industries ranging from information technology to biomedicine". In 2015 she was elected to the Fellowship of the Institute of Electronic and Electrical Engineers (IEEE) "for contributions to the science and application of plasma processes for materials modification and synthesis".
Holger Kersten is a Professor at the Institute of Experimental and Applied Physics at University of Kiel, Germany since 2006. Prior Professor Kersten was the head of the plasma processes group at the Leibniz Institute for Plasma Science and Technology (INP Greifswald) in Greifswald, Germany. The focus of his research includes basic studies on the interaction of plasmas with surfaces, complex plasmas and their applications in plasma technology. In 1999, he received the Greifswald Plasma Physics Prize in recognition of his research. Professor Kersten was furthermore the president of the German Society for Plasma Technology from 2009 to 2013. He is currently an Editor-in-Chief of the European Physical Journal Techniques and Instrumentation (EPJTI) and Vice Dean of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at Kiel University.
Talk Title: Plasma cleaning and treatment of art objects
André Anders is Founder/CEO of Plasma Engineering LLC. He was the Director of the Leibniz Institute of Surface Engineering (IOM) in Leipzig, Germany, and Professor of Applied Physics at Leipzig University (2017-2025). He assumed these positions in September of 2017 after working as Staff Scientist and later Senior Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, CA, USA, since 1992. He studies physics in Wroclaw, Poland, Berlin, (East) Germany, and Moscow (Russia, then Soviet Union), to obtain his PhD degree (Dr. rer. nat.) from Humboldt University in Berlin. Dr. Anders has worked for over 30 years in basic and applied plasma physics and material science. Before assuming his current positions in Leipzig, he became experienced in managing projects as group leader and principal investigator in Berkeley, developing disruptive plasma and materials technologies, advising students, and teaching courses. He is engaged in the scientific and technical communities as officer of several conference committees and advisory boards. He is the author of three books and over 300 peer-reviewed journal papers in physics and material science (h-index 63, close to 15,000 citations, Google Scholar 2018). Decision maker as Associated Editor and since 2014 Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Applied Physics for the American Institute of Physics Publishing, Melville, NY. Internationally recognized by awards and election to Fellow of several professional societies.
Prof. Petr Vašina (born 23 February 1979 in Brno) is a Czech physicist and professor at the Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, where he also serves as the Director of the Institute of Physical Electronics. He earned his Master’s degree and Ph.D. at Masaryk University, as well as a Ph.D. from Université Paris-Sud in France. His research focuses on plasma physics, particularly on the study of elementary processes in pulsed-power excited discharges, diagnostics and modeling of reactive plasmas, and the development of advanced thin film and nanostructured coating technologies using hybrid deposition methods such as PVD-PECVD.
Prof. Vašina has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications in leading journals in plasma and surface science and has been the principal investigator or coordinator of several national and international research projects, including major EU- and Czech-funded initiatives such as the Central European Platform for Plasma-enabled Surface Engineering (COLOSSE, Horizon Europe), the Sensorics for the 21st Century project (NCK MATCA), and the R&D Centre for Plasma and Nanotechnology Surface Modifications (LM2023039). At Masaryk University, he also plays a key role in research at the CEPLANT centre, teaches courses on thin film deposition and plasma diagnostics, and has supervised many students in the fields of plasma physics, materials science, and nanotechnology.
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Thomas Mussenbrock has held the W3 Professorship and serves as Chair of Applied Electrodynamics and Plasma Technology at Ruhr University Bochum (RUB) since 2020, where he previously earned his Dipl.-Ing. degrees, doctorate, and habilitation. Before returning to Bochum, he was a Full Professor at Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus–Senftenberg. His research explores low-temperature plasmas, plasma-surface interactions, memristive systems, and computational plasma physics, bridging theory and application for materials processing, microelectronics, and neuromorphic devices. Prof. Mussenbrock has published more than 300 peer-reviewed papers, with an h-index of over 35, and his work is widely cited internationally. He plays a leading role in several major German Research Foundation (DFG) initiatives, including the Collaborative Research Centres CRC 1316 “Transient Atmospheric Plasmas,” CRC 1461 “Neurotronics,” and TRR 87 “Pulsed High-Power Plasmas,” as well as the DFG priority program “Nanosecurity” on memristive devices for secure hardware. He has also contributed to applied research projects such as MoPlas2Dekon-PRO and PKat4Chem, advancing plasma-based environmental and energy technologies. Throughout his career, Prof. Mussenbrock has combined analytical modeling, high-performance simulations, and experimental validation to deepen understanding of plasma behavior and enable sustainable technological innovation.
Dirk Hegemann heads the Plasma & Coating group at Empa, the Swiss federal research institute for materials science and technology. He studied physics and received his PhD in materials science from TU Darmstadt, Germany, in 1999. After a research stay at the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology in Stuttgart, Germany, he moved to Empa in St.Gallen, Switzerland, in 2003. Dirk Hegemann specialized in physical and chemical plasma deposition and etching processes as well as plasma-chemical gas phase processes. He published more than 140 peer-reviewed papers (H-index: 50) and is ranked among the Top Scientists in the field of Materials Science in Switzerland. His team focuses on the plasma functionalization of flexible polymeric materials and their implementation in industry as well as environmental aspects of plasma technology. Dirk Hegemann is a member of the board of the Swissvacuum Society and the International Plasma Chemistry Society (IPCS), and he serves as Editor-in-Chief for the journal Plasma Processes and Polymers,
Keynote Talk title: Environmental Aspects of Plasma-chemical Processes
Prof. Rony Snyders is a Full Professor at the University of Mons (UMONS), Belgium, where he leads the Plasma–Surface Interaction Chemistry (ChIPS) group. He obtained his PhD in Science from UMONS in 2004, followed by postdoctoral research at École Polytechnique de Montréal (Canada) and RWTH Aachen University (Germany). Since 2007, he has been head of ChIPS and also serves as Scientific Director at Materia Nova R&D, fostering collaboration between academia and industry. His research focuses on low-pressure plasmas and their applications in thin film growth, plasma polymerization, surface modification, and plasma-assisted catalysis. Prof. Snyders has published more than 250 peer-reviewed papers, accumulating over 8,000 citations with an h-index around 48, and has supervised over 20 doctoral theses. He has played key leadership roles, including serving as President of the Belgian Vacuum Society (2018–2021) and as a member of the Rectoral Board at UMONS for the European University initiative EUNICE. Recognized internationally, he has been a Guest Professor at Tianjin University (China) since 2017 and regularly contributes to European collaborative projects on plasma processing and advanced materials. His career bridges plasma science and surface engineering, advancing both fundamental understanding and technological innovation in plasma-based materials research.