Prof. Jordi Arbiol graduated in Physics from the Universitat de Barcelona (UB) in 1997, he went on to obtain his PhD (European Doctorate and PhD Extraordinary Award) in 2001 from this same institution in the field of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) applied to nanostructured materials. He was assistant professor at the UB. From 2009 to 2015 he was ICREA Professor and group leader at the Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC). He was President of the Spanish Microscopy Society (SME) (2017-2021) and held the position of vice-president from 2013 to 2017, having been a member of its Executive Board (2009-2021). In 2018 he was elected as Member of the Executive Board of the International Federation of Societies for Microscopy (IFSM) (2019-2026).
Since 2015 he has been ICREA Professor and leader of the Advanced Electron Nanoscopy Group at the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2), CSIC and BIST. He is Scientific Supervisor of the Electron Microscopy Area at ICN2 and BIST, and also at the Electron Microscopy Center at the ALBA Synchrotron (EMCA). He has been one of the founding members of e-DREAM. He received the FWO Commemorative Medal (Flanders Research Foundation) in 2021, the BIST Ignite Award in 2018, the 2014 EU40 Materials Prize by the E-MRS, the 2014 EMS Outstanding Paper Award and was listed in the Top 40 under 40 Power List (2014) by The Analytical Scientist. As of May 2022 he has more than 415 peer-reviewed publications and more than 24700 citations (GoS) with h-index: 88 GoS (76 WoS).
Dr. Raul Arenal received his Ph.D. in Solid State Physics from Univ. Paris-Sud (Orsay, France, 2005) and in 2013, he obtained his Habilitation (HDR) also at this University (now, Paris-Saclay University). He joined the Electron Microscopy Center in Argonne National Lab. (ANL, USA) as post doctoral fellow. In 2007, he became research scientist (Chargé de Recherches) at the CNRS (France; LEM, ONERA-CNRS). From 2010 to 2011, he was visiting scientist (sabbatical position) at the Laboratorio de Microscopias Avanzadas (LMA) at the Instituto de Nanociencia de Aragon (INA) of the Universidad de Zaragoza (Spain). Since 2012, Dr. Arenal is on leave from the CNRS, and he is currently ARAID senior research scientist at the LMA, INMA, CSIC-U. Zaragoza. Since 2018, he is the Director of the TEM area of the LMA-INA. Dr. Arenal has published more than 200 papers in refereed journals (http://www.raularenal.com) and edited one book (Springer).
Arenal’s broad area of research interest lies in electron microscopy focused on materials science and nanoscience: TEM (EELS, HR(S)TEM, electron diffraction, electron tomography). These studies are mainly focused on the growth mechanism, structural and physical properties of low dimensional materials based on carbon, boron and nitrogen as well as other nano-structures (in particular, metallic nano-objects for plasmonic/photonic interest). Among his scientific activities, Dr. Arenal is the chair of the HeteroNanoCarb conference series (http://heteronanocarb.org) focused on graphene, NT and related 1D-2D nanomaterials
Dr. Alberto Bianco received his PhD in 1996 from the University of Padova (Italy). As a visiting scientist, he worked at the University of Lausanne (Switzerland), the University of Tübingen (Germany), as an Alexander von Humboldt fellow, the University of Padova and Kyoto University (Japan) in 2019. He is currently First Class Research Director at the CNRS in Strasbourg. His research interests focus on the design of multifunctional carbon-based nanomaterials for therapy, diagnostics and imaging. He has published more than 300 articles in high-impact international journals, for a total of over 41,500 citations and a h-index of 84 (Google Scholar). He was included in the 2015 and 2016 Thomson Reuters list of the top 200 most cited chemists. He has been elected Fellow of the European Academy of Science in 2017 and of the Academia Europaea in 2020. In 2019 he obtained the CNRS Silver Medal. Since 2011 he is Editor of the journal CARBON.
Rodrigo Martins is a Full Professor at FCT NOVA and an internationally recognized expert in advanced functional materials for electronics and energy applications. He has authored more than 1,375 scientific publications, which have received over 44,500 citations, resulting in an h-index of 105.
He currently serves as President of the European Academy of Sciences, Director of the Associated Laboratory i3N (Institute of Nanostructures, Nanomodelling and Nanofabrication), President of the Board of the Portuguese Advanced Materials Cluster (NANOMAT), and member of the Board of the Portuguese Batteries Cluster (BatPower). He is also Chair of European Affairs for the European Materials Research Society (E-MRS) and Editor-in-Chief of the journal Discover Materials.
Professor Martins coordinates EMERGE (Emerging Printed Electronics Research Infrastructure), the first European research infrastructure dedicated to technologies beyond silicon.
He is a member of several prestigious academies and professional organizations, including the Academia Europaea, the Royal Academy of Sciences and Arts of Barcelona, the Portuguese Academy of Engineering, and the Portuguese Order of Engineers. He serves on the Advisory Board of the European University for Customized Education (EUNICE) (2025–2027) and on the Editorial Board of Innovation Materials (2025–2027).
His international distinctions include serving as Co-Chair of the FNRS Quinquennial Scientific Prize – A. De Leeuw-Damry-Bourlart Prize in Applied Exact Sciences (Belgium). He holds appointments as Qiushi Chair Visiting Professor at Zhejiang University, Honorary Professor at the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Technical University of Wuhan, Wuhan University, and Fuzhou University, and as Invited Professor at Southwest University, Chongqing.
In 2023, he was selected as a PIFI Distinguished Scientist by China, and in 2025 he received the prestigious Chinese Government Friendship Award.
Previously, Professor Martins served as President of the International Union of Materials Research Societies (IUMRS) and was a member of both the Scientific Council of the European Research Council (ERC) and the Advisory Council of the European Commission’s Directorate-General responsible for the Horizon Europe Programme.