SoftComp/EUSMI Annual Meeting 2025
2025-05-19 13:00 - 2025-05-22 14:00 (Europe/Berlin) | Univ. Ca’ Foscari, Via Torino 155, Venice-Mestre, Venice, Italy
We are excited to announce the SoftComp/EUSMI Annual Meeting 2025, a premier forum for SoftComp participants to engage, discuss, and collaborate on cutting-edge scientific research and joint future goals.
Event Details:
📍 Location: The Annual Meeting will be held at the premisis of Univ. Ca’ Foscari in Venice-Mestre, Italy.
📅 Dates: May 19–22, 2025
⏳ Duration: The meeting consists of three full days from Monday May 19 (lunch time) through Thursday May 22 (lunch time), 2025.
This year, the Annual Meeting will cover all the classic topics in Soft Matter while placing a special focus on the applications of AI and Machine Learning in Soft Matter.
Confirmed Plenary Speakers:
• Wilson Poon, University of Edinburgh
• Christos Likos, University of Vienna
• Stefano Sacanna, New York University
• Nicholas Vogel, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität
• Michael M. Lerch, University of Groningen
Confirmed Invited Speakers:
• Laura Filion, University of Utrecht
Oral Sessions:
• Young Scientists Session
• Glasses, Colloids, and Self-Assembly
• Biological Soft Matter
• Polymers and Biopolymers
• Gels and Networks
• New Methods and Techniques
• Surfaces, Interfaces, and Emulsions
• Synthesis
Poster Session:
• Two dedicated Poster Sessions
• Posters will be on display during the whole Annual Meeting
Showcase your research and connect with experts in the field.
Meeting Chairs:
• Achille Giacometti, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice
• Alfons van Blaaderen, University of Utrecht
More details, including registration and abstract submission deadlines, are available at https://eu-softcomp.net/news/meetings/annual-meeting-2025.
Save the dates!
We look forward to seeing you in Venice!

Advanced PhD School "NAnoPhotOLI2025" – Naples – May 2025
2025-05-26 - 2025-05-30 | Napoli, Italy, Congress Center of the University of Napoli Federico II, via Partenope 36, Napoli, Italy
Dear colleagues,
we are pleased to announce the Advanced School for PhD students “Nano-photodevices for bacterial detection and treatment – NAnoPhotOLI2025” which will take place next May 2025 in Naples, that is organized by Departments of Chemical Sciences (DSC) and Chemical, Materials and Production Engineering (DICMaPI) of the University of Naples Federico II, in collaboration with CSGI consortium and the Innovation Ecosystem “Rome Technopole”, that granted the project.
The NAnoPhotOLI2025 school is addressed to PhD students working in the scientific fields of Biotechnology, Chemistry, Physics, Biomedical and Chemical Engineering, Materials Sciences and Nanotechnology at National and European Universities.
It will be divided in two sessions, which will take place in May 2025.
• The first session will be from 5th to 16th May, with introductory lessons on the fundamentals of the main topics, which will be held by our teachers of the University of Naples Federico II.
• The second session will take place from 26th to 30th May in Naples at the Accademia delle Scienze Fisiche e Matematiche di Napoli, via Mezzocannone 8, with colleagues of National and International Universities and Research Centers operating in the topic fields.
The participation to the Advanced School will be limited to 30 students and will be completely free.
To apply, it will be mandatory to submit a motivational letter, countersigned by the Supervisor of the PhD thesis project, together with an Abstract by March 31th, 2025.
The deadline for the final registration is: April 11th 2025
For more details, please visit: https://www.nanophotoli2025.it
Should you have any questions or require further clarification, please do not hesitate to contact us at nanophotoli2025@gmail.com.
Prof. Luigi Paduano and Prof. Giuseppe Vitiello
on behalf of the Organizing Committee of NAnoPhotOLI2025

Biophysics of Airborne infection
2025-06-04 - 2025-06-06 | Institut de Botanique, Montpellier, France
he BAI workshop stands out by bringing internationally renowned speakers, experts in very diverse fields from Virology, Soft Matter, MicroBiology, Physics and Fluid Mechanics:Mohsen Bagheri, (Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Germany)Lydia Bourouiba (MIT, USA)Lisa Chakrabarti (PAsteur Institute, France)Rachel Edgar (Imperial College London, UK)Hanneke Gelderblom (Eindhoven University of Technology, The NetherlandsJérôme Legoff (Hopital Saint Louis, Paris, France)Sébastien Lyonnais (CEMIPAI, CNRS-Université Montpellier, France)Peter V. Nielsen (Aalborg University, Denmark)Wilson Poon (University of Edinburgh, UK)Julia Port (Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung, Germany)Jonathan Reid (University of Bristol, UK)Blake Warner (NIH, USA)

The presentations will explore the entire transmission chain of respiratory pathogens between hosts from emission to infection. BAI workshop will be a unique opportunity to discuss, share knowledge, and connect insights across disciplines, advancing research on the link between pathogens infectivity and the physicochemical conditions of their journey through the air.The workshop will also include a proper social event, a Gala diner, and a long wine and cheese poster session to foster exchange between the participants. Please do not hesitate to contact the organisation committee should you need further information.

Post-Doc Position in Singapore: Research Fellow in Soft Materials Science (Structural Characterisation of Protein-based Food Textures)
2025-06-09 08:00 - 2025-11-01 17:00 (Europe/Berlin)
Dear Soft Matter Community,
please find here below an announcement for a postdoctoral researcher (Research Fellow) to join the team at TUMCREATE in Singapore.
The focus will be on the structural characterisation of protein-based food texture as part of the Proteins4Singapore project. Experience with scattering techniques (e.g., SAXS, SANS) or imaging methods (e.g., confocal microscopy, AFM, X-ray tomography) would be particularly valuable.
This position sits at the interface of soft matter, food physics, and materials science, and is based at the unique CREATE campus at the National University of Singapore, where TUM is co-located with institutions such as MIT, ETH Zurich, Imperial College, University of Cambridge, UC Berkeley, University of Illinois, and Hebrew University, among others.
More info on: https://jobrxiv.org/job/tumcreate-27778-research-fellow-in-soft-materials-science-2/.
Please do not hesitate to contact Stefan Guldin (stefan.guldin@tum-create.edu.sg) for any information and to forwarding this to potentially interested candidates.

Higgs School on Advances in Computational Active Matter
2025-06-29 09:00 - 2025-07-04 17:00 (Europe/London) | University of Edinburgh
Active matter has emerged as a field with strong ties to non-equilibrium soft condensed matter and biological physics. Successes of the field include describing the dynamics of motile microbes and flocks of birds, defect self-propulsion in liquid crystals, wound healing and tissue fluidization, modeling of colony growth, and much more. The development of this field owes much to computational techniques. We have therefore put together a school that will introduce early-career researchers to the topic of computational methods for active matter.
Topics Covered
We will provide lectures on 10 topics within computational active matter, each consisting of two 90 minutes sessions, spread over five days. This includes:

Active-Brownian and Run-and-Tumble Particles
Cellular-Potts and Vertex Models for Tissues
Phase-Field Approaches for Pattern-Forming Active Systems
Hydrodynamic Methods for Active Systems, including Lattice Boltzmann, Multi-Particle Collision Dynamics, and Stokesian Dynamics
Squirmer models and immersed boundary conditions
Phoretic Interaction in Chemical Swimmers

The school is concluded with a lecture on the future of active matter systems and will have a group dinner.
Lecturers
We have confirmed the following lecturers and speakers:

Dr. Benno Liebchen (Technische Universität Darmstadt, Germany)
Dr. Chantal Valeriani (Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain)
Dr. Davide Marenduzzo (University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom)
Dr. Enkeleida Lushi (New Jersey Institute of Technology, United States of America)
Dr. Erika Tsingos (Utrecht University, Netherlands)
Dr. Gwynn Elfring (University of British Columbia, Canada)
Dr. Holger Stark (Technische Universität Berlin, Germany)
Dr. Ignacio Pagonabarraga (University of Barcelona, Spain)
Dr. Rastko Sknepnek (University of Dundee, United Kingdom)
Dr. Timm Krüger (University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom)

For more information please visit the Higgs School web portal.

Summer School on Polymeric Networks for Sustainable Development
2025-07-06 19:00 - 2025-07-12 13:00 (Europe/Berlin) | Capri, Italy
The school is addressed to students and researchers both from industry and academic institutions and is open to all with an interest in the structure and dynamics of reprocessable polymer networks, i.e., polymeric networks other than the permanently crosslinked ones (known as thermosets). The school will focus on networks with dynamic, i.e., temporary crosslinks, that can then be reprocessed and recycled (entangled networks, associating networks, vitrimers, etc.). It aims at covering all aspects of these reprocessable networks (experimental, theoretical and computational) in a lively and open environment.
The school is organized by 3 SoftComp members: Giovanni Ianniruberto (University of Naples, Italy), Evelyne van Ruymbeke (UCL, Belgium) and Dimitris Vlassopoulos (FORTH-Crete, Greece). It is also worth emphasizing that the school will particularly focus on vitrimers, a class of materials that was invented by a SoftComp team (ESPCI).
The confirmed lecturers are:
Quan Chen, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, CINA
Ralph H. Colby, Pennsylvania State University, USA
Emanuela Del Gado, Georgetown University, USA
Filip Duprez, University of Gent, Belgium
Nikos Hadjichristidis, KAUST, Saudi Arabia
Fardin Khabaz, University of Akron, USA
Xiang Li, Hokkaido University, Japan
Mario Minale, Università della Campania, Italy
Tasuku Nakajima, Hokkaido University, Japan
Thomas O’Connor, Carnegie Mellon University, USA
Ralm Ricarte, FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, Tallahassee, USA
Michael Rubinstein, Duke University, USA
Hiroshi Watanabe, Kyoto University, Japan & Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, China
All speakers are world-leaders in the field.
The expected number of school participants is 50. The registration deadline is 31 January 2025 (subject to
availability of places).
The registration fee is 450€. It covers expenses for lecture notes, coffee + lunch breaks, welcome reception and school dinner.
For more information please check the School web portal.

PhD position on self-assembly dynamics at fluid-fluid interfaces @Wageningen University
2025-09-02 08:00 - 2025-10-02 17:00 (Europe/Berlin)
We have an open PhD position on self-assembly dynamics at fluid-fluid interfaces. Please see the following links for further details:
https://www.wur.nl/en/vacancy/phd-position-in-evaporation-driven-self-assembly-at-fluid-fluid-interfaces.htm
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/637df0f9710645120109b63b/t/68b6c8e804b48618b979c188/1756809448309/vacancy-phd-superassembly.pdf

Bombannes summer school on scattering 2026
2026-06-09 17:30 - 2026-06-16 17:30 (Europe/Berlin) | Carcan-Maubuisson (Gironde, France), France
We are pleased to announce the 17th Bombannes Summer School on “Scattering Methods Applied to Soft Condensed Matter”. This event will be held from 9th to 16th June 2026 at the vacation centre “Les Bruyères” in Bombannes/ Carcans-Maubuisson, Gironde, France.

The deadline for pre-registration is the 20th February 2026, with decisions in April. Further information on the school together with on-line pre-registration can be found on our website:
https://workshops.ill.fr/e/bombannes2026
Please distribute this information to colleagues or students who might be interested. You can also download a flyer at the bottom of our webpage.
On behalf of the Organising Committee, best regards,
Julian Oberdisse, Peter Lindner, Orsolya Czakkel

For any queries please contact us via the e-mail bombannes@ill.fr
