Confirmed Speakers

Prof. Neil Cameron undertook his BSc (1987-1991) and PhD (1991-1994) at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow. Following two post-doctoral periods, first in Eindhoven then at Heriot Watt University, he was appointed as a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in the Department of Chemistry at Durham University in October 1997. In 2005 he was promoted to Reader (Associate Professor) and in October 2008 he took up the position of Professor of Bioactive Chemistry in the same department. His research is focused on the preparation of bioactive macromolecules, with particular emphasis on self-assembling polypeptides, peptide-synthetic polymer hybrids, bioactive glycopolymers, and scaffolds for 3D in vitro cell culture and tissue engineering.

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Santiago Garcia, chemical engineer, obtained his PhD degree at the Universidad Politècnica de Valencia (UPV), Spain, in 2006 on electrochemistry and coatings. After one year postdoc at the Centro de Biomateriales e Ingeniería Tisular (UPV) he moved to the group of professor Hans de Wit at the Delft University of Technology (TUDelft), The Netherlands, to work on high-throughput techniques for corrosion inhibitors selection. In 2009 he received a Veni Dutch national grant and was appointed assistant professor at the Novel Aerospace Materials group (TUDelft) chaired by professor Sybrand van der Zwaag. He is responsible for several national, European Union and company founded research projects in the fields of self-healing polymeric materials, corrosion protection and functional coatings.

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E.W. “Bert” Meijer is Distinguished University Professor in the Molecular Sciences, Professor of Organic Chemistry at the Eindhoven University of Technology and scientific director of the Institute for Complex Molecular Systems. After receiving his PhD degree at the University of Groningen, he worked for 10 years in industry (Philips and DSM). In 1991 he was appointed in Eindhoven, while in the meantime he holds part-time positions in Nijmegen and Santa Barbara, CA. Bert Meijer is a member of many editorial advisory boards, including Advanced Materials, Angewandte Chemie, and the Journal of the American Chemical Society. Bert Meijer has received a number of awards, including the 1999 Silver Medal of the Macro UK group, the Spinoza Award in 2001, the ACS Award for Polymer Chemistry in 2006, the AkzoNobel Science Award 2010, the International Award of the Society of Polymer Science Japan in 2011, and the Cope Scholar Award of the ACS in 2012. He is a member of a number of academies and societies, including the Royal Netherlands Academy of Science.

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PhD in physics from the University of Brussels (VUB), Belgium in 1989. PhD thesis devoted to the study of the water dynamics in aqueous colloidal silica dispersions using NMR relaxation techniques. Further research at a post-doctoral level covered the analysis of dynamic light scattering data by system identification. Post-doc funding granted by IWT Flanders in 1997. Start at UCB Chemicals-Belgium in 1998 in the unit “elemental analysis” of the analytical laboratory. Activities quickly included the physico-chemical characterisation of dispersed media and later on extended towards the thermal, mechanical and rheological characterization of coatings and pressure-sensitive adhesives. Currently in charge of the Materials Characterization group of the analytical department at Allnex, Drogenbos. Publication of more than 20 peer-reviewed scientific papers and conference proceedings as well as a few international patents. Board member of the Belgium Group of Rheology.

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