On 25 September, the ALCEMIST team from NOVA University of Lisbon participated in the 2026 Noite Europeia dos Investigadores (European Researchers' Night) at the Museum of Natural History and Science (MUHNAC) of the University of Lisbon! With a strong focus this year on sustainability, this was a great venue for us to present our work on processing of liquid crystal elastomers from sustainable materials and some of the ways we can use liquid crystal elastomers in sustainability applications.

photo credit: Lena Godinho

Tags: CLCEs

The ALCEMIST team went to this year's International Liquid Crystal Conference in Québec, Canada! Lena and Jan both gave plenary talks while Luís presented a poster and, while not directly members of ALCEMIST, Yong Geng and Yosuke Pestana Nakamura presented ALCEMIST-adjacent work related to our fiber spinning projects.

Our collaborator Apala Majumdar from the University of Manchester also received the LG Mid-Career Prize from the ILCS!

The ESMP group hosted the 2026 German Liquid Crystal Conference (GLCC 2026) on the Belval campus of University of Luxembourg, 8-10th of April 2026. As it followed on our first ALCEMIST workshop most team members were present also at the conference, showcasing the project in several ways. Jan Lagerwall was the chair and main organizer of the conference, Lena Godinho was one of the invited speakers and also represented southern Europe as well as the International Liquid Crystal Society during a panel discussion on future directions for liquid crystal research in Europe, and Eugene gave the laudatio to Prof. Rudolf Zentel at the ceremony where Rudolf received the Saupe medal from the German Liquid Crystal Society.






As icing on the cake, Miriam and Tatiana were awarded a best poster prize for their work on shear-aligned large-scale liquid crystal elastomer actuator sheets. And everyone participated in the organization, discussions and in ensuring a good atmosphere and a successful meeting in general.

Tags: meeting

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