Vladimir Fal’ko MAE is condensed matter theorist who made fundamental contributions towards understanding physical properties of various two-dimensional (2D) materials, heterostructures of 2D materials, and twistronic structures. Fal’ko initiated the Graphene Week Conference series (which runs annually since 2006), during 2014-2021 he was the founding Editor-in-Chief of the IoP 2D Materials Journal, and, during 2012-2023, he was among the initiators and leaders of the EU Graphene Flagship Project. Since 2015, Fal’ko is Director of National Graphene Institute at Manchester and during 2016-2024 he was the 2D Materials Theme Lead in Henry Royce Institute
Dr. Arenal is the Group leader of the Nanoscopy on Low Dimensional Materials (NLDM) at the Instituto de Nanociencia y Materiales de Aragon (INMA, CSIC-Universidad de Zaragoza) and since 2018, he is the Coordinator of the TEM area of the Laboratorio de Microspcopias Avanzadas (LMA, Universidad de Zaragoza, member of the ELECMI, Spanish National facility (ICTS) for Advanced Microscopies). Since Dec. 2011 Dr. Arenal is on leave from the CNRS and he is currently ARAID Research Professor at the INMA and the LMA. Dr. Raul Arenal received his Ph.D. in Solid State Physics from Univ. Paris-Sud (now Paris-Saclay, Orsay, France, 2005) and in 2013, he obtained his Habilitation (HDR) also at this University. From April 2005 to August 2007, he joined the Electron Microscopy Center in Argonne National Laboratory (ANL, USA) as post-doctoral fellow. In 2007, he became research scientist (Chargé de Recherches) at the CNRS (France), working at the LEM, CNRS-ONERA (Chatillon, France).
Dr. Arenal has published more than 325 papers in refereed journals (http://www.raularenal.com) and edited one book (Springer).
He is Elected Member of the Executive Committee of the International Federation of the Societies for Microscopies (IFSM) (2024-2031). Dr. Arenal is member of the board of the Spanish Microscopy Society (SME; periods: 2013-2017, 2017-2021 & 2021-2025) and in 2021, he has been elected Secretary of the SME (2021-2025). In 2017, DR. Arenal has been elected member of the Young Academy of Europe (YAE) and this year he was elected member of its board (2017-2020; Communication Vice-chair and Membership Chair). Dr. Arenal is the chair of the HeteroNanoCarb conference series focused on graphene, NT and related 1D-2D nanomaterials.
Daniel Ruiz-Molina is a Full Professor of Materials Sciences and Nanotechnology of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and Editor of the journal Biomimetics. He earned his PhD at the Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC) and afterwards took a 3-year postdoctoral position at the University of California San Diego (USA), mostly focused on smart molecular materials. Since 2006, he has held a permanent position as a CSIC researcher and leader of the Nanostructured Functional Materials Group (NanosFun) at the ICN2. His main research areas include the fabrication, characterization, and application of functional nanostructures for environmental and medical applications. He has published over 200 peer-reviewed scientific articles in leading environmental and chemical engineering research journals, book chapters, and conferences and he has authored numerous professional reports. He has also been very active in industrial collaborations and applied research, setting up four startups in areas related to the environment and health.
Roman Gorbachev is a Research Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Manchester (UoM). He completed his PhD in physics at the University of Exeter in 2009, and established his research group at the UoM in 2014.
Prof. Gorbachev’s research area is experimental condensed matter physics with an emphasis on fabrication of nanoscale low-dimensional devices. The availability of novel nanoscale materials, such as atomically thin 2-dimensional crystals and nanowires has enabled the assembly and study of composite electronics and mechanical devices, as well as the exploration of fundamental physics in these low-dimensional systems.
The use of modern state-of-the-art semiconductor device fabrication techniques and the development of new methods of material synthesis/manipulation are essential parts of Roman’s research, which enables him to explore the new physical phenomena and impact future technologies.
Zdeněk Sofer has been a Full Professor at the University of Chemistry and Technology Prague, Czech Republic, since 2019. He also received his Ph.D. at the University of Chemistry and Technology Prague in 2008. During his Ph.D., he spent one year at Forschungszentrum Julich (Peter Grünberg Institute, Germany), followed by postdoctoral experience in University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany. His research interests include semiconductors and 2D materials, their synthesis, crystal growth, chemical modifications and functinalization. He is particularly focused on various applications of two-dimensional materials including energy storage and conversion. He has published more than 600 papers, received more than 20,000 citations, and has the h-index of 85. He was the recipient of the Rector award for young researcher in 2013 and 2016 as well as the Neuron Impulse award in 2016 and the award of the Czech Science Foundation President and the UCT Prague rector award in 2019.
Dr. Mindaugas Lukošius received M.Sc. degree in Inorganic Chemistry in 2006 from the University of Vilnius, Lithuania. The PhD degree in Chemistry was obtained from the Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, Germany in 2010, in the field of CVD depositions and developments of high-k MIM capacitors. In 2015 he joined the Graphene research group and since 2018 he is leading the 2D materials team in the Materials Research department at IHP and focuses on the development and integration of novel graphene modules into the BiCMOS pilot line. The research focuses on graphene- and 2D-material-based photonic devices, with particular emphasis on graphene modulators integrated on silicon nitride platform.
Dr. Ana Primo earned her Ph.D. in Chemistry from the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia (Spain) in 2006. Following her doctoral studies, she undertook a postdoctoral stint at the Institute Charles Gerhardt in Montpellier, France, from 2007 to 2009. Currently, she holds a tenured position as a scientist at the “Instituto de Tecnología Química” (UPV-CSIC). Together with Professor Hermenegildo García, she founded the HG Energy Group, which she currently leads alongside Professor García.
Her research focuses on the synthesis of 2D materials such as graphene and boron nitride, exploring their applications in catalytic and photocatalytic processes. Notable among her investigations are CO2 reduction for methanol production and water splitting for hydrogen generation. With over 170 publications, Dr. Primo’s work has garnered more than 9000 citations, reflecting her significant contributions to the field of chemistry, and she has an h-index of 48.
Dr. Amit Goyal is a SUNY Distinguished Professor and SUNY Empire Innovation Professor at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo. He is a Member of US National Academy of Engineering, US National Academy of Inventors, National Academy of Sciences, India and the European National Academy of Engineering. He is a Member of the US National Materials & Manufacturing Board (NMMB) and an elected Fellow of AAAS, MRS, IEEE, APS, ASM, ACERS, IOP, WIF and WTN. He has co-authored over 380 publications and has 85 issued patents. He was ranked by Thompson-Reuters as the most cited author worldwide in the field of high temperature superconductors from 1999-2009. He is the Director of the Lab for Heteroepitaxial Growth of Functional Materials & Devices, and the Director of the NYS Center of Plastics Recycling Research & Innovation at SUNY. He served as the Founding Director of the Institute on Research and Education on Energy, Environment &Water (2015-21), and is an Emeritus Corporate Fellow at the Oak Ridge National Lab. He has received numerous accolades including US Department of Energy’s E.O. Lawrence (EOL) Award in the inaugural category of Energy Science & Innovation. The EOL award is given by the USDOE Secretary on behalf of the US President. Selected additional honors include: TEN R&D 100 awards, the R&D Magazine's "Innovator-of-the-Year" award (2010), Three National Federal Lab Consortium Awards for Tech. Transfer, and the SUNY-Buffalo President’s Medal (2019), and the highest award at the University at Buffalo.
Pablo Ares is Associate Professor at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM) and Group Leader at its Condensed Matter Physics Center (IFIMAC). His research focuses on low-dimensional systems, with particular attention to graphene and other two-dimensional (2D) materials, using and developing advanced scanning probe microscopy techniques. His main interests include atomic force microscopy (AFM), nanoscience, nanotechnology, and the nanoscale characterization of materials and interfaces.
Before joining UAM, he worked for more than a decade in industry at Nanotec Electrónica, an AFM instrumentation company, where he contributed to the development of scanning probe microscopy technology. In 2014, he moved to the Department of Condensed Matter Physics at the UAM, where in 2017 he obtained his Ph.D. He then joined the Graphene Group at the University of Manchester as MSCA Fellow. In 2020, he returned to the UAM, first as Assistant Professor, later as Ramón y Cajal Fellow, and he has been Associate Professor since 2026. He is currently Principal Investigator of the ERC Starting Grant project HeaT2Defects, which aims to understand heat transport in 2D materials at the nanoscale, focusing on the role of individual defects, ripples and stacking configurations. His work combines experimental nanometrology, advanced AFM methods, and 2D materials physics.