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Len Barbour
Len Barbour completed his PhD at the University of Cape Town under the guidance of Prof. Luigi Nassimbeni. He then undertook a postdoctoral fellowship with Prof. Jerry Atwood at the University of Missouri-Columbia, after which he was appointed as a Research Assistant Professor at the same institution. In 2003 he moved back to South Africa, where he was appointed as Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Polymer Science at the University of Stellenbosch. In 2005 he was promoted to Professor and in 2007 he was awarded one of the first research chairs under the newly instituted South African Research Chair Initiative. In 2016 he was designated as Distinguished Professor. Over the past 10 years he has served as an Associate Editor of the New Journal of Chemistry and he is currently an associate editor of Crystal Growth and Design. He was also an associate editor of the 9-volume major reference work Comprehensive Supramolecular Chemistry, 2nd Edition (Elsevier) and is currently a member of the editorial advisory board of Chemistry of Materials. Len Barbour’s research interests involve the study of structure-property relationships of crystalline solids. More specifically, he is interested in solid-state photoreactivity, porous materials, and the development of in situ techniques. His main expertise is in X-ray crystallography, thermal analysis, gas sorption analysis, and the design and construction of instrumentation.
Scott Dalgarno completed his PhD at the University of Leeds under the guidance of Profs. Michaele Hardie and Colin Raston. Following this he spent three years as a postdoctoral research associate with Prof. Jerry Atwood at the University of Missouri-Columbia prior to taking up an independent Lecturer position at Heriot-Watt University in 2007, where he has since been promoted sequentially to Professor of Supramolecular Chemistry. His research in calixarenes and their associated coordination chemistry has led to the award of a series of RSC Prizes and Awards (a 2010 Harrison Meldola Prize, the 2011 Chem. Comm. Emerging Investigator Lectureship and the 2015 Sir Edward Frankland Fellowship), and he served as a member of Dalton Division Council from 2015 – 2018. Scott was a Volume Editor in Comprehensive Supramolecular Chemistry, 2ndEdition (Elsevier), is Section Editor for Inorganic Chemistry in Essential Chem (a new Open Access Taylor and Francis journal), and his interests in calixarenes have recently expanded into host-guest photocatalysis, assembling and characterising very large polynuclear clusters, polymers, and sensing energetic species.
Scott Dalgarno
Michaele Hardie
Michaele Hardie was born in Melbourne, Australia. She studied chemistry at the University of Melbourne, gaining BSc(Hons) and PhD (1996) degrees. Her PhD studies were on cadmium cyanide coordination polymers and was supervised by Dr Bernard Hoskins and Professor Richard Robson. After various postdoctoral posts including at the University of Toledo with A. Alan Pinkerton (crystallography) and Monash University with Colin L. Raston (crystalline supramolecular assemblies), she took up a position as lecturer in inorganic chemistry at the University of Leeds in 2001. She is currently Professor of Supramolecular Chemistry at Leeds. Her research interests are in cavitand chemistry, metallo-supramolecular chemistry including functional coordination cages and metal-organic frameworks, crystal engineering and small molecule crystallography. She was awarded the RSC Corday-Morgan prize in 2011, and is currently an associate editor of ChemComm.
Prof. Dr. Stefan Kaskel was born 1969 in Bonn, Germany. He studied Chemistry at the Eberhard Karls University Tübingen and he received his PhD degree in 1997. He held positions at Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung (Mülheim a. d. Ruhr) and also at Ames Laboratory (DOE) und Iowa State University (Feodor Lynen-Scholarship). Since 2004 he is Full Professor and Head of the Institute for Inorganic Chemistry I at Technical University Dresden and also since 2008 Technology Field Manager Chemical Surface Technology at Fraunhofer IWS, Dresden (part time). In December 2021 he additionally became the Dean of the Faculty of Chemistry and Food Chemistry. His research focuses on porous materials, adsorption, batteries and supercaps and he has been awarded with many awards, for example with two ERC Advanced Grants. Until now, he supervised more than 75 PhD students and he was elected again as “Highly Cited Researcher” in 2023.
Stefan Kaskel
Takafumi Kitazawa
Takafumi Kitazawa received the 1997 Young Chemist Award (Japan Society of Coordination Chemistry) for his work on “Silica-Mimetic Polymorphism of the Cd(CN)2 Host Lattice Depending on the Guest G in Cd(CN)2·xG Clathrates”. In 1996, Kitazawa, along with his co-workers, published the first Hofmann-like spin crossover (SCO) coordination polymer {Fe(py)2[Ni(CN)4]}n (py = pyridine). Kitazawa has also served as Editorial Board Member of the Journal of Nuclear and Radiochemical Sciences in 1999–2002 and as a Project Leader of the JSPS-PAN (Poland) Research Project “High Pressure Synthesis for Mineralomimetic Metal Coordination Compounds” in 2000 and 2001. Kitazawa is also recipient of the JSPS-CISC (Spain) Fellowship, CSIC en Arag´on, Zaragoza University. Kitazawa has published over 100 scientific papers. His current research interests include spin crossover materials related to Hofmann-like coordination polymers, and highly organized and selfassembled materials with cadmium cyanide and polycyanopolycadmate systems. His research interests also encompass radiochemistry and nuclear chemistry, including Mössbauer spectroscopy and actinide coordination chemistry
Reiko Kuroda
Reiko Kuroda is Designated Professor at Chubu University and Professor Emeritus at The University of Tokyo. She received her Ph.D. in Chemistry from The University of Tokyo and worked at King’s College London in the Department of Chemistry (postdoc) and then of Biophysics (Research Fellow, Honourary Lecturer), as well as at Institute Cancer Research, UK (Senior Staff Scientist). She returned to Japan to take an associate professor position in the Department of Chemistry, College of Arts and Sciences/ Department of Biophysics and Biochemistry, Graduate School of Sciences, The University of Tokyo. She was promoted to full professor in the Department of Life Sciences, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences/ Department of Biochemistry, Graduate School of Sciences, The University of Tokyo. She is the first women full professor in the field of natural sciences at The University of Tokyo. She is a scientist known for her seminal contributions to left and right asymmetry in chemistry, spectroscopy, crystallography, molecular and developmental biology. She has published ca. 350 original research papers including articles in Nature and Angewandte Chemie and has given many invited lectures at international meetings around the world. Her scientific achievements have been recognized through many prizes and awards. She was a L’Oréal UNESCO Women in Science Laureate and one of 175 past/current chemists featured by the Royal Society of Chemistry UK for its 175th anniversary. Reiko is a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. In parallel, Reiko has been active on issues related to science policy, education, women in science, science communication and the environment, both nationally and internationally. She proposed the need of bridging science and society in her article “Science in Society, Society for Science” in 1996, which led the science communication activity in Japan. She played a main role in establishing a minor degree graduate course “Science Interpreter Training Programme” in The University of Tokyo in 2005. Her experience includes Scientific Advisory Board member to the UN Secretary General on SDGs, Vice President of ICSU (International Council for Science), Fellow of TWAS (The World Academy of Sciences), full member of the Club of Rome, Steering Committee member of ICEF (Innovation for Cool Earth Forum), and G7 GEAC (Gender Equality Advisory Council) member for the UK (2021), Germany (2022) and Japan (2023).
Janusz Lipkowski graduated at Warsaw University, Faculty of Chemistry (1965), got PhD in 1972 at the Institute of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences. In 1978 he has been appointed the position of Head of Department (original name: ‘Physical Methods of Analysis’, by JL transformed to ‘Physicochemistry of Supramolecular Complexes’). In 1983 he was awarded the degree of DSc (habilitation) and in 1990 became titular professor. Prof. Lipkowski is the author or co-author of more than 360 scientific papers, and 17 chapters to books. He has visited foreign scientific centers, a postdoctoral stay in Parma (Italy) and sabbatical in Tokyo (Japan). Among awards and honors are: the Honorary Professorship of Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences (and a doctor hc of the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry in Novosibirsk) and the foreign member of the Academy of Sciences in Moldova. In Poland he was appointed a series of important positions: director of the Institute of Physical Chemistry (of PASci) from 1992 to 2003, vice-President of Polish Academy of Sciences (2003-2006). Recently retitred as the profess or of Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University in Warsaaw (the 2nd State University in Warsaw). Janusz Lipkowski is full member of Polish Academy of Sciences, member of Academia Europea, fellow of Royal Society of Chemistry and member of societies. From 2007 to 2020 he served as the President of Warsaw Learned Society. Janusz Lipkowski is author or co-author of 380 scientific publications, mostly on clathrate inclusion compounds, supramolecular complexes and their practical uses.
Janusz Lipkowski
Daniel Maspoch
Dr. Daniel Maspoch is an ICREA Research Professor and Leader of the Supramolecular NanoChemistry & Materials Group at ICN2. He is a chemist who has always maintained a rewarding balance between fundamental and applied research, with pioneering developments in the field of porous metal-organic frameworks and delivery systems. He is author of over 200 manuscripts. In 2021 and 2022, he got the prestigious ERC Advanced Grant and a second ERC Proof-of-Concept Grant, respectively. In 2021 and 2022, he got the prestigious ERC Advanced Grant and a second ERC Proof-of-Concept Grant, respectively. In addition, he was awarded an ERC Consolidator Grant in 2014, and his first ERC Proof-of-Concept Grant in 2019. Recently, in 2023 he has received the prestigious Rei Jaume I Award 2023 in New Technologies. In 2022, he was appointed new Corresponding Academician of the Physical and Chemical Sciences Section, in the specialty of Materials Science by the Royal Spanish Academy of Science (RAC). In 2020, he was rewarded with the Research Excellence Award from the Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry, and in 2015 he was awarded the Premio Marcial Moreno Mañas Lectureship. From the technology transfer side, several technologies and materials developed by his group have been transferred –through licensing patents or signing technology transfer contracts– to various companies. More specifically, Daniel has signed more than 23 research contracts with private companies and has filed 12 patents, from which 4 have been licensed. Moreover, he has been able to signed 4 technology transfer contracts. Interestingly, these technologies have given rise to families of products that are now on the market, as for example LuctaCaps® and Fungipol@CP. He is also co-founder of the spin-off company Ahead Therapeutics.
Kari Rissanen got his Ph.D. degree at the University of Jyväskylä in 1990. The Ph.D. work focused on solid-state structural chemistry of small organic molecules. The Ph.D. thesis work was followed within several positions funded from the Academy of Finland (1988 ->). Since then he has pioneered the research in Supramolecular Chemistry in Finland and is one of the world-leading experts in Supramolecular Crystallography, weak intermolecular interactions, especially halogen bonding and anion-p interactions, and new methodologies in crystallography. His research has focused on a multitude of chemical systems, but in all studies the governing feature has been the understanding of the interactions involved in the recognition and self-assembly phenomena, and subsequent design and synthesis of functional host and sensor molecules based on this knowledge. The detailed structural studies form the solid basis for the understanding and utilization of weak non-covalent, viz. the supramolecular interactions occurring in recognition and self-assembly events, visualized in the solid state by single crystal X-ray diffraction and solid-state NMR, in solution by NMR and in gas phase by mass spectrometry. Prof. Rissanen is the first chemist in the history of the Academy of Finland to be nominated twice as the Academy Professor (1st term 2008-2012, 2nd 2013-2017), the highest-ranking academic position available in Finland. In Nov 2017 he was awarded the prestigious Humboldt Research Award (Germany) and in September 2018 Doctor Honorius Causa from the Tallinn Technical University, Estonia.
Kari Rissanen
Consiglia Tedesco
Consiglia Tedesco is Associate Professor at the University of Salerno (Italy). She entered the X-ray diffraction laboratory at the University of Salerno in 1994 under the supervision of Prof. Attilio Immirzi. She graduated cum laude in 1996 and obtained her PhD in 2001. She spent several periods abroad in 1999 as a PhD student at the University of Bayreuth (Germany), then in 2004 as a visiting scientist at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (France) and in 2014 as a Marie Curie Fellow at Stellenbosch University (South Africa). She is currently serving as Educational Officer for the European Crystallographic Association. Her research activity is focused on the solid state assembly of organic macrocycles aiming at a deeper understanding of structure-property relationship.
Dr. Mike Zaworotko was born in Wales in 1956 and received his B.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from Imperial College (1977) and the University of Alabama (1982), respectively. He served as a faculty member at Saint Mary’s University, Nova Scotia, Canada, from 1985-1998, at University of Winnipeg, Canada from 1998-99 and at the University of South Florida, USA, from 1999-2013. In 2013 he joined the University of Limerick, Ireland, where he currently serves as Bernal Chair of Crystal Engineering and was Co-Director of the Synthesis and Solid-State Pharmaceutical Centre, www.sspc.ie, from 2017-2022. Research activities have focused upon fundamental and applied aspects of crystal engineering since 1990. Currently, metal-organic materials (MOMs), ultramicroporous physisorbents, and multi-component pharmaceutical materials (MPMs), such as cocrystals, are of particular interest. These new materials are aimed at addressing global challenges such as carbon capture, water purification and better medicines. Dr. Zaworotko has published over 500 peer reviewed papers, book chapters and patents that have been cited over 60,000 times. H-index = 113; 20 publications with >500 citations. In 2011, Thomson-Reuters listed him as the 20th highest impact chemist since 2000. In 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2018 he was listed as a highly cited researcher in the field of Chemistry by Clarivate Analytics: www.highlycited.com In 2018, he was listed as a highly cited researcher in a second field, Pharmacology and Toxicology, whereas in 2019 and 2022 he was listed as a highly cited researcher in Cross Field.
Mike Zaworotko
Harshita Kumari
Harshita Kumari obtained her PhD in supramolecular chemistry from the University of Missouri in 2011, under the mentorship of Prof. Jerry L. Atwood. Following this, she pursued a postdoctoral fellowship focusing on computational chemistry of supramolecular complexes with Prof. Carol Deakyne and Prof. Jerry L. Atwood. In 2014, she joined the James L. Winkle College of Pharmacy at the University of Cincinnati as an Assistant Professor. Her exceptional contributions to research led to her tenure and promotion to Associate Professor in 2020. In 2023, she was selected for Americal Leadership Fellows Program by AACP and served as a special consultant to Vice Provost of Graduate Education. In 2023, she was also sent out by the Office of Provost for the High Potential Leadership Program at Harvard Business School. In 2024, she was honored with the Faculty Excellence Award in Research from the Office of Provost and Office of Research at the University of Cincinnati. Over the past decade, her research has centered on developing innovative methods for constructing nanometric delivery vehicles, utilizing principles of self-assembly and molecular recognition. Her current research endeavors involve integrating modern biophysics principles into material and soft matter to establish structure-function correlations. This work has significant implications for applications in 3D printing, imaging, sensing, and catalysis. Her expertise extends to surfactant chemistry, polymers, and formulation science. She has contributed to numerous book chapters, patents and peer-reviewed journal articles, highlighting her impactful research contributions. Her primary areas of expertise lie in neutron scattering, reflectometry, spectroscopy, and in-situ methodologies (HP-SANS, Rheo-SANS).
Prof. Jan J. Weigand is a renowned chemist known for his significant contributions to sustainable chemistry and circular economy practices. He earned his diploma in chemistry in 2002 and a Dr. rer nat. degree in 2005 from LMU in Munich with distinction. He has received numerous accolades, including the Bavarian Culture Prize in 2005. His academic journey continued with a Lynen Scholarship from the AvH Foundation, facilitating postdoctoral research at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada. Returning to Germany, he pursued habilitation at WWU Münster in late 2007 and received the Liebig scholarship from FCI in 2008. In April 2010, he became a fellow of the Emmy Noether research program by the DFG and earned the Wöhler Research Award for young scientists. His pioneering work secured an "ERC Starting Grant" from the European Council in July 2012. Since January 2013, he has been a Professor at TU University Dresden and his research spans molecular inorganic and phosphorus chemistry, with a strong emphasis on sustainable methodologies, technical applications, and innovative recycling strategies. He secured a Reinhardt Koselleck funding from the DFG (2023) for his project, "Blueprint for Modern Sustainable Phosphorus Chemistry". His work highlights a dedicated commitment to advancing sustainability within the chemical industry.
Jan J. Weigand
Kathi Edkins
Kathi Edkins completed her PhD at the University of Innsbruck, Austria, in pharmaceutical solid state under the supervision of Prof. Ulrich J. Griesser. She then joined the group of Prof. Jon Steed at the University of Durham as a postdoctoral research associate co-supervised by Prof. Judith A. K. Howard FRS, followed by a short impact acceleration fellowship. After working in the group of Prof. Todd B. Marder at the University of Wuerzburg, Germany, as a senior research officer, she returned to the UK to take up a lecturship in pharmaceutics at Durham University in 2014. She was appointed Senior Lecturer at Queen’s University Belfast in 2017, Reader at the University of Manchester in 2020, and Professor in Molecular Pharmaceutics at the University of Strathclyde in 2023.
Kathi’s research interests are in molecular interactions and dynamics in pharmaceutical materials, connecting the structure of solutions and amorphous phases with crystallisation outcome, and tailoring diffusion of drug molecules in supramolecular gels for drug delivery. She has been awarded the BTM Willis Prize in neutron scattering in 2016 and holds an ERC Consolidator Grant.
Silvia Bracco obtained her PhD in 2004 in Materials Science and after a few years as post-doc she became Assistant Professor in Industrial Chemistry in the research group of Proff. Piero Sozzani and Angiolina Comotti. She was appointed Associate Professor in Industrial Chemistry at the Department of Materials Science of University of Milano-Bicocca in 2019. After earning her PhD in Materials Science, she spent several periods as a visiting researcher in foreign institutions such as the University of California at Santa Barbara - Materials Research Laboratories (MRL), the European Grenoble Synchrotron Radiation Facility and the Swedish NMR Centre (SNC) - University of Göteborg. Her scientific activity took place in the field of macromolecular and supramolecular chemistry, with a focus on design, synthesis and study of new porous nanostructured materials for the storage and selective adsorption of gas. These materials include molecular crystals, hypercross-linked 3D polymers and organometallic structures (MOFs). Relevant results have been obtained in the field of solid-state molecular rotors, whose rotation speed in the Gigahertz regime persists even at 2 K, and whose dynamics is modulated by the diffusion of gas in the engineered cavities of the porous matrices. The research activity has mainly used solid state techniques. Special expertise has been achieved in ss-NMR techniques, including 2D HETCOR experiments on CO2-matrix and hyperpolarized Xe NMR, XRD of powders, microcalorimetry coupled with adsorption isotherms, breakthrough experiments for selective separation of gas mixtures (CO2, N2 and H2). The results of her research activity are published in 100 articles, most of them published in high-impact journals.
Silvia Bracco
Valentina Colombo
Following the completion of her PhD, dedicated to the pioneering synthesis of highly robust azolate-based metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), Professor Colombo's research pursuits shifted towards the detailed structural characterization of these materials. Her particular focus lies in understanding their crystal structure and reactivity, achieved through a comprehensive approach that juxtaposes in situ (and operando) X-ray diffraction techniques with spectroscopic methods and theoretical calculations, in collaboration with several international research groups.
Since 2019, Professor Colombo coordinates the research activities of the Functional Porous Materials Group within the Department of Chemistry at the Università degli Studi di Milano. This team comprises 1 Researcher (RTD-A), 4 PhD students, 2 post-doctoral researchers, and 1 master's thesis student (as of Feb. 2024). In her role, she has significantly contributed to the rationalization of advanced materials' functional properties, elucidating phase transitions, framework flexibility, sorption-desorption processes, and identifying primary adsorption sites while unveiling host-guest interactions. With research funding raised for ~ 700.000 € in the last 5 years, she has more recently focused her group's efforts on cutting edge applications like direct carbon capture from air and the sequestration of emerging pollutants from water.
She authored and co-authored 47 articles in internationally recognized journals, including Science, Nature Materials, JACS, Chemical Science, Advanced Materials and Angewandte Chemie. These contributions have garnered over 2500 citations throughout her 15-year career. Beyond her research output, she has supervised 17 Bachelor’s or Master’s Theses and mentored 5 Ph.D. students.
Driven by her passion for solid-state chemistry, crystallochemistry, and structure solution methods, Professor Colombo also leads the commissioning and development of research programs aimed at understanding polymorphism and crystal forms in the pharmaceutical industry. Her expertise has led to collaborations with SMEs in the Lombardy and Piedmont regions, resulting in contracts valued at over 50.000 euros annually.
Professor Colombo is member of the International Scientific Committee of the EuroMOF congress series and promoter and co-director of the MOFschool (International School on Porous Materials), an internationally recognized event held biennially on Lake Como, which serves as a premier platform for the global MOF community to exchange knowledge and foster collaborations.
Outside of her academic and professional endeavors, Professor Colombo loves spending time in her garden, observing nature growing. She is also a proud mother to Anna (10 y.o.), Marta (8 y.o.), and Pietro (1 y.o.).
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