Scientific Program

Juan M. Feliu studied Chemistry at the University of Barcelona, graduating in 1973 and earning a Ph. D. degree in Physical Chemistry (Electrochemistry) in 1978. He was promoted to Associate Professor of Physical Chemistry at the same University, and in 1983 moved to the recently created University of Alicante to join the group of Professor A. Aldaz. Once in Alicante, he started a fruitful collaboration with Dr. Jean Clavilier (CNRS, Meudon, France) which served as the basis for his work on single crystal surfaces. He was promoted to Professor (Catedrático) of Physical Chemistry in 1993 at the University of Alicante. Prof. Feliu was the Director of the Institute of Electrochemistry of the University of Alicante (2003-2012). He served as chairman (1999-2002) of Division 1 (Interfacial Electrochemistry) of the International Society of Electrochemistry, and as President of the ISE (2005-2006). In 2000/2001 he served in the IUPAC’s Commission I.3 (Electrochemistry). He served as Associate Editor of the Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry (2003- July 2015) and is currently Editor-in Chief of this journal.

Fraser Stoddart is a Nobel Prize-winning scientist, Board of Trustees Professor and Director of the Center for the Chemistry of Integrated Systems at Northwestern University. He received his BSc (1964) and PhD (1966) from Edinburgh University, and went to Queen’s, Sheffield, Birmingham University and UCLA before joining the Northwestern University (2008). He was the first to successfully synthesize a mechanically interlocked molecule, known as a catenane, thereby helping to establish the field of mechanical bond chemistry. Stoddart’s research enabled the development of self-assembly processes and template-directed synthesis for the generation of a variety of mechanically interlocked molecules, the movements of which can be controlled. Such molecules have a wide range of applications, including as components of drug-delivery systems, electronic sensors, and motorized devices. His work has been recognized by many awards, medals and honorary doctorates. The first and the latest of his awards were from the Carbohydrate Chemistry Award of The Chemical Society (1978) and the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (2016), which he shared with French chemist Jean-Pierre Sauvage and Dutch chemist Bernard Feringa. He is currently on the international advisory boards of numerous journals, including Chemistry World, ChemPlusChem, Macromolecular Rapid Communications and Organic Letters. He is editor-in-chief of Applied Nanoscience. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society (1994), the German Academy (Leopoldina) of Natural Sciences (1999), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2005), and the Science Division of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (2006). He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2012) and the National Academy of Sciences (2014). He is an honorary fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (2008) and the Royal Society of Chemistry (2011).

Prof Tebello Nyokong obtained her PhD at the University of Western Ontario in Canada in 1987. She is a South African chemist and Distinguished Professor at Rhodes University. Currently she holds the DST/NRF Research Chair in Medicinal Chemistry & Nanotechnology, and is the founding Director of the Rhodes University/DST Centre for Nanotechnology Innovation, housing state-of-the-art tools for studies at the nanoscale. Her research focuses on the areas of photo-dynamic therapy, the synthesis and application of novel metallophthalocyanines, electrochemical sensing and electrospinning of nanofibres for a range of applications. Her research has found application in a range of areas from environmental remediation and water treatment to healthcare and even in the military, several of which are being examined for commercialization. She is the recipient of several awards including the Royal Society of Chemistry/Pan African Chemistry Network Distinguished Women in Chemistry Award (2011), the UNESCO Medal for Contribution to Development of Nanoscience and Nanotechnologies (2015), the ISE Electrochemistry Excellence Award: Teaching & Research (2013) as well as the L’Oreal-UNESCO award for “Women in Science” representing Africa and the Arab States in 2009. Internationally she serves on several bodies and was appointed to the United Nations Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Technology Bank For Least Developed Countries (2015) and the UNESCO High-level panel on Science, Technology and Innovation for sustainable Development (2011). Her impact on the African continent has been recognized through the Continental Award, the Kwame Nkrumah Scientific Award by the African Union (2016) and the National Research Foundation’s “Lifetime Achievement Award” in 2013. For her contributions to science, she was bestowed with the Order of Mapungubwe: Bronze by the State President Mbeki in 2005.The National Center for Research on Human Evolution (CENIEH) in Spain has recognized her as one of the “13 Names to Change the World” (2012).

Peter Bruce is a British chemist and Wolfson Professor of Materials in the Department of Materials at the University of Oxford. He is Director of the UK SUPERGEN Energy Storage Hub. He obtained his PhD at the University of Aberdeen (1982). Bruce’s primary research interests are in the fields of solid-state chemistry and electrochemistry; particularly solid-state ionics, which embraces ionically conducting solids and intercalation compounds. He is interested in the fundamental science of ionically conducting solids (ceramic and polymeric materials) and intercalation compounds, in the synthesis of new materials with new properties or combinations of properties, in understanding these properties and in exploring their applications in new devices, especially for energy storage such as devices such as rechargeable lithium batteries. Although ionically conducting solids represent the starting point for much of his research, he has extended his interests beyond the confines of this subject alone. His pioneering work has provided many advances. For example, Peter discovered that crystalline polymer electrolytes actually are better conductors than amorphous ones. He used solid-state chemical principles to develop a rechargeable lithium-ion battery that has since revolutionized the electronics industry. He also developed lithium–air batteries that have found uses in electric and hybrid electric vehicles. Peter’s outstanding research has been recognized with a number of prestigious awards and fellowships. He received the Tilden Prize of the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2008, the Carl Wagner Award of the Electrochemical Society in 2011 and the 2012 AkzoNobel UK Science Award of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Wolfgang Schuhmann obtained his diploma degree in chemistry from the University in Karlsruhe, Germany (1982) and his PhD from the Technical University of Munich (1986). After finishing his habilitation thesis at the Technical University of Munich in 1993, he was appointed as Professor of Analytical Chemistry at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum in 1996. His publications in the literature span the breadth of his research interests, addressing micro- and nanoelectrochemistry; development of tools for microelectrochemistry (scanning electroche¬mical microscopy); electrochemical robotics and combinatorial electrochemistry; modified electrodes for biosensors, DNA assays; local visualization of electrochemical activity on surfaces with applications in corrosion, material chemistry, electrocatalyst development; fuel cells, biofuel cells, Li batteries, photo¬electrochemistry; carbon nanotubes as electrode materials; electrochemical deposition of catalyst nanoparticles and noble-metal free electrocatalysts. He has received many awards, including the Biosensors & Bioelectronics Award (2000), Julius-von-Haast Fellowship Award of the Royal Society of New Zealand and the Humboldt Foundation (2008), Katsumi-Niki-Award of ISE (2011), Alessando Volta Medal of the Electrochemical Society (ECS, 2018) and the Heyrovsky-Ilkovic-Nernst-Lecture of the GDCh, the Czech and the Slovak Chemical Societies (2014), Professor Schuhmann is Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC, 2005), Fellow of the ISE (2012), and was the recipient of a Howard Fellowship of the University of New South Wales, Sydney (2014). He has also been a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Iuliu Hatieganu”, Cluj-Napoca, Romania (2016), the Schulich Faculty of Chemistry at the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel (2017) and is recipient of the “Schulich Visiting Professor Lectureship” for 2018-19.

Peidong Yang received a B.S. in chemistry from University of Science and Technology of China in 1993 and a PhD in chemistry from Harvard University in 1997. He did postdoctoral research at University of California, Santa Barbara before joining the faculty in the department of Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley in 1999. He is currently professor in the Department of Chemistry, Materials Science and Engineering and a senior faculty scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He is S.K. and Angela Chan Distinguished Chair Professor in Energy. He was recently elected as MRS Fellow, and as a member of the National Academy of Sciences and American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is the director for California Research Alliance by BASF, and co-director for the Kavli Energy Nanoscience Institute. He is one of the founding members for DOE Energy Innovation Hub: Joint Center for Artificial Photosysnthesis (JCAP) and served as its north director for the first two years. Yang is an associate editor for the Journal of the American Chemical Society and also serves on the editorial advisory board for a number of journals including Acct. Chem. Res. and Nano. Lett. He was the founder of the Nanoscience subdivision within American Chemical Society. He has co-founded two startups, Nanosys Inc. and Alphabet Energy Inc. He is the recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship, E. O. Lawrence Award, ACS Nanoscience Award, MRS Medal, Baekeland Medal, Alfred P. Sloan research fellowship, the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Young Investigator Award, National Science Foundation Young Investigator Award, MRS Young Investigator Award, Julius Springer Prize for Applied Physics, ACS Pure Chemistry Award, and Alan T. Waterman Award. His main research interest is in the area of one dimensional semiconductor nanostructures and their applications in nanophotonics and energy conversion.