Prof Ordejón is Director of the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2). He earned his degree in Physics (1987) and PhD in Science (1992) at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. He worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (USA) from 1992 to 1995, and as assistant professor at the Universidad de Oviedo from 1995 to 1999. In 1999 he obtained a research staff position at the Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC). In 2007 he moved to CIN2 (now ICN2) as the leader of the Theory and Simulation Group, where he is currently a Distinguished Researcher and Director.

He is known for being one of the main developers of the popular SIESTA software for first-principles calculations. He has published more than 200 scientific articles, which have received over 30,000 citations (h-index of 60). Since 2009 he has served as co-editor of EPL (formerly Euro Physics Letters) and since 2004 as regional editor of physica status solidi. He oversaw the Condensed Matter Physics subject area of the Physics Panel of the Spanish National Evaluation and Foresight Agency (ANEP) from 2003 to 2006, and was the head of the Physics and Engineering Panel of the Access Committee to the Spanish Supercomputing Network from 2005 to 2011. He became a fellow of the American Physical Society in 2005, and in 2017 was elected a member of the Academia Europaea.

Prof. Vladimir Fal’ko is condensed matter theorist responsible for several advances in the theory of electronic and optical properties of atomically thin two-dimensional crystals and fundamentals of nanoelectronics. His current research interests include graphene-based electronic and optoelectronic systems and electronic and optical properties of various atomically thin two-dimensional crystals and their heterostructures. He is one of the initiators of the European Graphene Flagship Project, founder of Graphene Week Conference series and Editor-in-Chief of the IoP Journal ‘2D Materials’.  Falko is currently Director of the National Graphene Institute and Professor of Condensed Matter Theory at the University of Manchester.

Professor Young was educated at the University of Cambridge and became Professor of Polymer Science and Technology in Manchester in 1986. He was the founding Head of the School of Materials in the newly-formed University of Manchester in 2004, which is now the largest university materials department in the UK and the focus of major UK materials research initiatives. He is a Fellow of Royal Society (2013), Royal Academy of Engineering (2006) and Academy of Europe (2015). His main research interest is the relationships between structure and properties in polymers and composites. He has introduced of a number of revolutionary techniques that have given a completely new insight into the micromechanics of deformation in fibres and composites. In particular, he has pioneered the use of Raman spectroscopy for the analysis of deformation processes that take place at the molecular level. Over recent years he has extended this approach to the mechanics of deformation of graphene and other 2D materials in nanocomposites. His contribution in research has been recognised through numerous invitations to give Plenary and Keynote lectures at International Conferences and through the awards of the Griffith Medal (2002), Leslie Holliday Prize (2011), Swinburne Medal and Prize (2012) and Platinum Medal (2019) from the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining.

Keynote talk title: Dependence of the Reinforcement of Polymer-Based Nanocomposites upon the Nanofiller Geometry

Aitor Mugarza earned his PhD in Physics at the University of the Basque Country (2002). After postdoctoral stays at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA, and at the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2), he was appointed Group Leader of the Atomic Manipulation and Spectroscopy Group (2013) and ICREA Research Professor (2015) at ICN2. Active in the research of quantum electronic and magnetic phenomena at the nanoscale, he has carried out pioneering studies on electron confinement and band engineering on resonator superlattices, the manipulation of charge and spin in single molecules, or the synthesis of atomically precise graphene-based nanoarchitectures.

João Rodrigues received his MSc degree in Micro and Nanotechnology Engineering  in 2018 from FCT NOVA (Portugal). Started as a research fellow at the International Iberian Nanotechnology (INL) working in the synthesis and characterization of 2D materials applied to optoelectronics. Since 2020 he works as a R&D Engineer at Graphenest S.A, developing emerging solutions of graphene-based materials, inks and coatings, with a major focus on electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding applications.

Artur M. Pinto graduated in Pharmaceutical Sciences, obtaining his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the Faculty of Engineering – University of Porto (FEUP), visiting U. Washington. Afterwards, Artur has been appointed as a Post-Doctoral Researcher at Eindhoven University of Technology, Chemical Engineering Department, the Netherlands. Following his Post-doc, Artur has been awarded a long-term Researcher position at LEPABE (Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy) - FEUP. He has been the Principal Investigator of several collaborative projects between LEPABE-FEUP, i3S (Institute for Research and Innovation in Health), and the University of Texas in Austin (USA), focused on developing innovative 2D-nanomaterials and adjusting their properties for biomedical applications, such as phototherapy, chemotherapy, and immunotherapy of cancer.

Dr. Larry Cheng is an Assistant Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics (ESM) and Materials Research Institute (MRI) at The Pennsylvania State University. His research group focuses on the design and fabrication of biologically inspired stretchable and transient electronics with applications in robotics, biomedicine, and energy. Dr. Cheng has co-authored over 80 peer-reviewed publications and his work has been recognized through the reception of several awards. He also serves as an associate editor for Computers in Biology and Medicine and reviewer for over 120 international journals