PLENARY SPEAKERS
Dr Enrique Iglesia
Professor
Purdue University, United States of America
Biography
Enrique Iglesia is the Michel Boudart Distinguished Professor and Presidential Fellow on Energy Transitions at Purdue University and the Distinguished Vermeulen Professor (Emeritus) at the University of California-Berkeley. He has served as Laboratory Fellow at Pacific Northwest Laboratory and Faculty Senior Scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. He holds degrees from Princeton and Stanford Universities and honorary doctorates from the Universidad Politecnica-Valencia and the Technical University-Munich. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the National Academy of Inventors and a Fellow of AIChE, ACS, the Royal Society of Chemistry, and (Honorary) Fellow of the Chinese Chemical Society. He served as Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Catalysis (1997-2013) and as co-chair of committees addressing “Basic Research Needs in Energy” and “The Future of Chemical Engineering”, sponsored by the National Academies.
He has been recognized with the Somorjai, Olah, and Murphree Awards from ACS, the Alpha Chi Sigma, Wilhelm, and Walker awards from AIChE, the Emmett, Burwell, Boudart, and Distinguished Service awards from NACS, the Gault Lectureship from EFCATS and the Cross-Canada Lectureship from the Chemical Institute of Canada. In 2024, he was named the Faraday Lecturer of the Royal Society of Chemistry. He has received the ENI Prize, the Tanabe Prize, the Natural Gas Conversion Award, and the Noyce Teaching Prize, (the highest teaching recognition at Berkeley). He has coauthored nearly 400 publications and 50 patents. His conceptual and practical contributions to catalysis and chemical reaction engineering address some of the most important challenges in energy conversion and use, in the synthesis of chemicals and intermediates, and in the protection of the environment through the application of kinetic, spectroscopic, isotopic, and theoretical methods and novel catalyst architectures.
Prof Wataru Ueda
Professor
Kanagawa University, Japan
Biography
Education and research experience
- 1981 PhD from Department of Environmental Chemistry and Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology
- 1981 Research associate at the Research Laboratories of Resources Utilization, Tokyo Institute of Technology
- 1985-1987 Ramsey memorial fellow at the Department of Physical Chemistry, Cambridge University and Royal Institution, UK, working with Prof. J. M. Thomas.
- 1990 Lecturer at Department of Environmental Chemistry and Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology
- 1998 Professor at the Department of Materials Chemistry and Engineering, Science University of Tokyo in Yamaguchi
- 2001~ Professor at the Catalysis Research Center, Hokkaido University
- 2014~ Professor at Department of Material and Life Chemistry, Faculty of Engineering, Kanagawa University
- 2014~ Visiting professor of Hokkaido University, Visiting professor of Tokyo Institute of Technology, Visiting professor of National Taiwan University
- 2016~ Emeritus professor of Hokkaido University
- 2018~ Specially appointed professor of Tokyo Institute of Technology, visiting professor of Malaya University
Professional activity
- 2015 Editor of Applied Catalysis A, General
- 2006-2010 Director of the Catalysis Research Center, Hokkaido University
- 2008-2105 ERC panel member
- 2009-2015 International Academic Committee Member for PCOSS in Xiamen University in China
- 2011-2012 Vice-president of Catalysis Society of Japan
- 2012-2013 President of Catalysis Society of Japan
- 2013~ International Advisory Member for Catalysis Hub in UK
- 2013-2014 Vice-president of Japanese Petroleum Institute
- 2014-2016 President of Japanese Petroleum Institute
- 2015~ Fachbeirat for Fritz-Haber-Institute der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft Berlin
- 2015~ Research Supervisor of JST-CREST program(Creation of innovative catalysts using diverse natural carbon resources)
SYMPOSIUM KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Prof Kazuya Yamaguchi
Professor
University of Tokyo, Japan
Biography
| 1997 | B.S. Osaka University |
| 2001 | Ph.D. Osaka University Research Associate, The University of Tokyo |
| 2006 | Lecturer, The University of Tokyo |
| 2009 | Associate Professor, The University of Tokyo |
| 2016 | Professor, The University of Tokyo |
Prof Natasa Novak Tusar
Professor
National Institute of Chemistry, Slovenia.
Biography
Prof. Dr. Nataša Novak Tušar has been the head of the Laboratory for catalysts and research program Chemistry of catalysts for clean air in the Department of Inorganic Chemistry and Technology at the National Institute of Chemistry in Ljubljana since 2022. After receiving her PhD in chemistry from the University of Ljubljana, she was an individual Marie Curie fellow at the ELETTRA synchrotron and the University of Trieste, Italy, from 2003-2004. Her research interests include catalyst/photocatalyst design and development in heterogeneous catalysis for environmental and energy applications. Her special focus are catalysts/photocatalysts for removal of organic pollutants from air (photocatalysis) and water (Fenton catalysis) via advanced oxidation processes. She is co-author of more than 100 articles and she received the “2021 Excellence in Science” award from the Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency. Since 2018, she is a full professor and director of the PhD programme “Materials” at the University of Nova Gorica, Slovenia. She is a member of the governing bodies of ENMIX (European Nanoporous Materials Institute of Excellence) and of EFCATS (European Federation of Catalysis Societies) – vice president from 2025. She is a member of the editorial boards of the journals Catalysis communications and Frontiers in chemistry.
Prof Ulrike Diebold
Professor
TU Wien, Institute of Applied Physics, Austria
Biography
Professional Experience
- Austrian Academy of Science (ÖAW) – Vice President (2022–2027), part-time position
- Institute of Applied Physics, TU Wien – Professor of Surface Science (2010–), Deputy Department Head (2010–)
- Department of Physics, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA – Research Professor (2010–), Yahoo! Founder Chair in Science and Engineering (2006–2009), Associate Department Chair (2002–2009), Professor of Physics (2001–2009), Associate Professor (1999–2001), Assistant Professor (1993–1999), Adjunct Professor of Chemistry (1993–2009)
- Department of Physics, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA – 1990–1993: Post-doc with Prof. Theodore E. Madey
Research
- > 300 papers in peer-reviewed journals
- > 250 invited talks at conferences, > 140 colloquia and seminars
Awards and Honors
- 2022 Fellow, Royal Society of Chemistry FRCS
- 2021 International Honorary Member American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- 2020 Gerhard Ertl Lecture Award
- 2020 ERC Advanced Grant ‘WatFun’
- 2019 Honorary Doctorate, Brno University of Technology, Czech Republic
- 2019 Science Prize of the City of Vienna
- 2019 Elected Member, Academia Europaea
- 2019 American Physical Society, Outstanding Referee
- 2018 Xing Da Lectureship, Peking University, Bejing, China
- 2018 Fresh Lecture, Leiden University, Netherlands Nanjing University, China
- 2016 Zhongshan Colloquium Nanjing University, China
- 2015 Elected Member German Academy of Sciences, Leopoldina
- 2015 Blaise Pascal Medal in Materials Science, European Academy of Sciences
- 2015 Debye Lecture, Utrecht University, Netherlands
- 2015 Erwin Schrödinger Memorial Lecture, Trinity College, Dublin
- 2015 25th Brdička Memorial Lecture, Heyrovský Institute of Physical Chemistry, Prague
- 2014 Elected Member, European Academy of Sciences
- 2014 Eminent Visitor Award, Catalysis Society of South Africa CATSA
- 2014 Elected Full Member, Austrian Academy of Sciences ÖAW
- 2013 Wittgenstein-Preis
- 2013 Arthur W. Adamson Award for Distinguished Service in the Advancement of Surface Chemistry, American Chemical Society
- 2012 Elected as a Corresponding Member, Austrian Academy of Sciences
- 2012 European Research Council (ERC), Advanced Research Grant ‘OxideSurfaces’
- 2008 Fellow, Research Center Dresden-Rossendorf, Germany
- 2008 Outstanding Researcher Award, Tulane’s School of Science and Engineering
- 2007 Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science
- 2006 Yahoo! Founder Chair in Science and Engineering
- 2005 Fellow, AVS – The Science and Technology Society
- 2005 Provost’s Recognition Award for Research and Scholarly Achievement
- 2004 Tulane Liberal Arts and Sciences Faculty Research Award
- 2004 Fellow, American Physical Society
- 2003 National Science Foundation, “Special Creativity Award”
- 2001 Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Prize from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Germany
- 1998 Habilitation in “Experimental Physics”, Technische Universität Wien
- 1997 NSF CAREER Award
- 1995 Oak Ridge Associated Universities, Junior Faculty Enhancement Award
- 1992 “Charlotte Bühler Fellowship” for Habilitation from the Austrian Science Foundation”
- 1983, 1984, 1985 Fellowships for ‘Especially Talented Students’, TU Wien
Editorial Activities and Advisory Boards
- 2020–2021 Board of Reviewing Editors, Science
- 2019–2021 Editorial Board, Physical Review Research
- 2017–2019 Editorial Advisory Board, ACS Energy Letters
- 2013–2018 Member International Advisory Board, Advanced Materials Interfaces
- 2012–2017 Divisional Associate Editor (Materials Physics) Physical Review Letters
- 2017–2019 Advisory Board, ACS Energy Letters
- 2016– Advisory Board, npj Quantum Materials
- 2010–2015 Advisory Editorial Board Surface Science
- 2009–2010 Reader Panel, Nature
- 2009 Guest Editor (together with T.M. Orlando), “Non-Thermal Processes on Surfaces. Dedicated to the Memory of Prof. Theodore E. Madey” Special Issue in J. Phys.: Cond. Matter
- 2007–2010 Advisory Editorial Board Open Journal of Physical Chemistry
- 2006–2007 Guest Editor (together with A. Selloni and C. Di Valentin), “Doping and Functionalization of Semiconducting Metal Oxides”, Special Issue in Chemical Physics
- 2006–2007 Surface, Interface and Atomic-Scale Science Editorial Board of Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter
- 2003–Advisory Editorial Board Surface Science Reports
Education
- 1986 Diplom-Ingenieur in Engineering Physics (eq. MS)
- 1990 Ph.D. in Physics, both degrees from TU Wien, Vienna, Austria; Advisor: Prof. Peter Varga
- 1998 Habilitation in Experimental Physics, TU Wien, Vienna, Austria