Invited speakers
Plenary speakers
Keynote speakers
Plenary speakers
Ruth Cardinaels
Position: Associate Professor at KU Leuven (Belgium), Part-Time Full Professor at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU Eindhoven)
The research of Prof. Cardinaels is based on the idea that “Formulating multi-phasic materials and engineering their microstructure is essential to integrate various functionalities in the materials of the future”. Thereto, her group studies multiphasic polymer-based soft matter systems by means of rheological, rheo-optical and rheo-dielectric techniques thereby focusing on in-situ time-resolved characterizations during processing. Dedicated experimental setups such as flow cells, processing equipment and customized rheometers are designed and developed.
Prof. Cardinaels is co-author of around 120 international journal papers and 4 patents (>3400 citations, h-index 33). She was a visiting researcher at Princeton University (2013) and MIT (2024). Currently she is the president of the Belgian Group of Rheology, associate editor for the journal Physics of Fluids and holder of an ERC Starting grant on polymeric electromagnetic metamaterials created by flow-induced structure printing. She teaches courses on rheology, polymers and transport phenomena in the programmes of chemical and mechanical engineering.
Frank Caruso
Position: Melbourne Laureate Professor at the University of Melbourne, Australia
Professor Caruso’s research interests focus on developing advanced nano- and biomaterials for biotechnology and medicine. He received his PhD degree in 1994 from the University of Melbourne and thereafter conducted postdoctoral research at the CSIRO Division of Chemicals and Polymers in Melbourne from 1994–1997. He was an Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellow and group leader at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Germany from 1997–2002. He has held ARC Federation Fellowships (2003–2012), an ARC Laureate Fellowship (2012–2017), an NHMRC Senior Principal Research Fellowship (2018–2022), and an NHMRC Leadership Fellowship (2023–present) at the University of Melbourne. He is an Executive Editor of Chemistry of Materials and on the Editorial Advisory Board of several other scientific journals. He was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2009, the Royal Society of London in 2018, and the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences & Engineering in 2024. He has authored >590 publications in peer-refereed journals, 39 patents, 3 book, 12 book chapters (>69,000 citations, h-index 133, Web of Science). He is co-founder of Messenger Bio Pty Ltd (2021), a company that focuses on mRNA technologies.
Susana Fernandes
Position: Professor at University of Pau and Adour Countries, France
Prof. Susana Fernandes obtained her two PhDs simultaneously in 2010 from both University of Aveiro and University of Pau and Adour Countries (UPPA), which was followed by a PostDoc at the University of Aveiro. Meanwhile, she also secured a PostDoc position and later was appointed as Researcher at the University of the Basque Country. From 2014 to 2016, she was Researcher and Marie Curie Intra-European Fellow at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology. In 2017 she was awarded with the Future Research Leaders Grant from the Swedish Research Council, and she moved to the Uppsala University. She joined UPPA in 2018 as Associated Professor and Chair in Marine Bioresources and By-products Valorization and in Marine Inspired Materials (Chair E2S UPPA – MANTA: marine materials). Since September 2023 she is Professor in Natural Polymers at UPPA. She is a chemist with expertise in research areas pertaining to functional and bio-inspired (bio)materials and to marine biological materials. She has authored around 70 publications in international journals, 3 patents, 1 book, 6 book chapters (4000 citations, h-index 38).
Mikael Hedenqvist
Position: Professor at KTH Royal Institute of Technology
Professor Mikael Hedenqvist is the head of the Polymeric Materials division at KTH. Editor in Chief for Polymer Testing. Main research areas are physical properties of synthetic and renewable polymers, polymers from renewable resources (proteins and polyaccharides), mass transport and mechanical properties, modelling of polymers and polymer properties, packaging, ageing properties, electrical properties, blends, composites, foams, and processing of polymers. He has coauthored around 360 publications and two textbooks; Fundamental Polymer Science and Applied Polymer Science (Springer Nature). He holds 7 patents and 5 patents filed, and with an h-index of 67 and nearly 16000 citations.
Frederik R. Wurm
Position: Full Professor at the Universiteit Twente, Enschede (The Netherlands)
Frederik R. Wurm (Prof. Dr. habil.) is the chair of the group “Sustainable Polymer Chemistry” (SPC) at the Universiteit Twente. The group is located in the Faculty of Science and Technology (TNW) in the Department of Molecules and Materials (M&M). The SPC group designs polymeric materials with molecularly defined functions that lead to macroscopic properties. In recent years, especially biobased and biodegradable materials have been the focus of Frederik’s research and building the main line of the SPC group. The expertise of the SPC group covers the synthesis of (bio)degradable polymers and nanocarriers for agricultural or biomedical applications but also other potential applications are currently studied – always with a focus on the molecular control of the properties of the final materials. Frederik’s favorite biopolymer is lignin, which is also the core of several research projects, e.g. biodegradable nano- and microcarriers for agriculture. SPC also researches new synthetic strategies and applications of (bio)degradable polyphosphoesters (PPEs) or develops new protocols for well-defined polyamines by living polymerization of aziridines. Frederik has published over 250 peer-reviewed papers and more than 19,000 citations (h-index: 66, November 2025).
Keynote speakers
Nele Pien
Position: Postdoctoral researcher at Ghent University, Belgium
Dr. Nele Pien is a postdoctoral researcher at Ghent University working at the interface of polymer chemistry, biomaterials, and biofabrication. Her research focuses on photo-crosslinkable gelatin-based hydrogels and hybrid biomaterial systems for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Using light-based manufacturing approaches such as digital light processing (DLP) and volumetric additive manufacturing (VAM), she develops cell-compatible constructs with tunable mechanics and architecture. She has authored more than 30 peer-reviewed publications and has delivered multiple invited lectures at international conferences.
Koro de la Caba
Position: Full Professor at University of the Basque Country, Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain
Koro de la Caba received a BSc in Chemistry, Macromolecules specialty, and a PhD in New Materials and Processes Program (Extraordinary Doctorate Award) from the University of the Basque Country (EHU). She is Full Professor at the Chemical and Environmental Engineering Department in the School of Engineering of Gipuzkoa in Donostia-San Sebastián (Spain). She is head of BIOMAT group and her research focuses on various aspects of materials, especially proteins and polysaccharides, including biowaste valorization and biopolymer modification, manufacture and characterization, with the aim of contributing to the development of competitive and sustainable processes and products for applications in diverse sectors, such as environmental remediation, food, pharmaceutics, and tissue engineering. She is listed among the World’s Top 2% Scientists by the Stanford university ranking.
Vitaliy Khutoryanskiy
Position: Professor of Formulation Science and Royal Society Industry Fellow at University of Reading, United Kingdom
Vitaliy Khutoryanskiy FRSC FAPS FIMMM is a Professor of Formulation Science at the University of Reading His research focuses on polymers, biomaterials, nanomaterials, drug delivery, and pharmaceutical sciences. He also develops alternatives to animal testing, using invertebrates to support the global 3Rs principle of replacing, reducing, and refining animal use in science. Prof Khutoryanskiy has published over 300 original research articles, book chapters, and reviews. His publications have attracted > 15000 citations and his current h-index is 60 (Scopus). He received several prestigious awards in recognition for his research in polymers, colloids and drug delivery as well as for contributions to research peer-review and mentoring of early career researchers. He holds several honorary professorship titles from different universities.
Rheology of multi-phasic polymer systems as a tool in the development of functional materials
Ruth Cardinaels (KU Leuven, Belgium)