by Peter Lindner, ILL
The 4th International Soft Matter Conference (ISMC2016) was held at the Alpes Congrès centre at Alpexo in Grenoble from 12-16 September 2016 and brought together nearly 700 scientists working in the field of soft matter including 200 students. The meeting was co-organized by ILL and ESRF together with the Université Grenoble Alpes, the CEA and CNRS under the auspices of the SoftComp consortium.
Attendees of the ISMC2016 in front of the Alpes Congrès Center.
Copyright: Serge Claisse@ILL, www.ill.eu, reprinted by permission of Taylor & Francis LLC, from Fragneto G at al., Neutron News, 2016;28(1):11-14.
The conference programme included eight plenary lectures, 21 keynote presentations, 116 contributed talks selected from over 800 submitted abstracts, and 480 posters. With a total of 32 sessions (four parallel sessions per day), three lunch-time sessions, and two poster sessions, the conference covered a broad range of fundamental and applied aspects of soft matter and complex systems. Financial contributions by 36 sponsors from institutions and private companies helped to keep the cost of the conference down.
The opening ceremony featured short presentations by Prof. Christophe Ferrari, president of Grenoble Alpes Métropole, Prof. Patrick Levy, president of the ComUE of the Université Grenoble Alpes, Prof. William G. Stirling, Director of ILL and Dr. Francesco Sette, Director General of ESRF. Plenary speakers included Lucasian Professor of Mathematics Michael E. Cates (University of Cambridge), SoftComp co-founder Prof. Dieter. Richter (Forschungszentrum Jülich) and six others. In addition, there were three award ceremonies; European Physical Journal E sponsored the Pierre-Gilles de Gennes prize, the Soft Matter Lectureship award was sponsored by the Soft Matter Journal and IUCr supported the Young Scientist Awards.
Soft Matter award given to Damien Baigl, U Paris, (second from right) during the ISMC2016.
Copyright: Serge Claisse@ILL, www.ill.eu, reprinted by permission of Taylor & Francis LLC, from Fragneto G at al., Neutron News, 2016;28(1):11-14.
EPJE Pierre-Gilles de Gennes Lecture prize awarded to Regine von Klitzing, TU Berlin (left), during the ISMC2016.
Copyright: Serge Claisse@ILL, www.ill.eu, reprinted by permission of Taylor & Francis LLC, from Fragneto G at al., Neutron News, 2016;28(1):11-14.
On the first day, Xenocs offered a welcome Wine & Cheese Party to the participants, featuring a world champion cheese maker from Grenoble. Many participants took part in the social programme, which comprised visits to Grenoble’s old town, art museum, the Château de Vizille, Chartreuse liqueur cellars and the Chartreuse Monastery Museum. The conference dinner took place in the unusual environment of the Pôle Sud Skating Rink with ice skating ballet and jazz music.
Overall, as many participants agreed, the conference was a great success in terms of the quality of the presentations, technical organization, and opportunities for discussions and exchanges, rewarding the three years of hard work by the local organizing committee.
Read more on the event webpage.
