Speakers

Dr. Anne-Laure Fameau studied Food Science before coming to soft matter during her thesis. She received her Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the University of Nantes in 2011. During her Ph.D, she worked at the Laboratory Léon Brillouin at CEA Saclay (French Neutron Center) as well as the French National Institute of Agricultural & Environment Research (INRAE) in Nantes. At the end of 2011, she obtained a permanent staff position at INRAE in Nantes. In 2015, she joined L’Oréal company in the Physical-Chemistry Department (Paris). In 2018, she received the European Young Lipid Scientist Award and the Langmuir Prize at ECIS Conference. In 2021, she received the AOCS Young Scientist award. She came back to academia at INRAE at the end of 2021.
Her research interests are in the field of responsive soft materials based on lipids and green surfactants with a particular emphasis on foams, emulsions and interfaces. Her research is focused on the development of these systems and their detailed structural characterization using scattering techniques such as SAXS and SANS.
All of her work in academia resulted in 36 scientific papers, 12 review articles, 5 book chapters, and 19 patents.
Dr. Fameau also enjoys transmitting her passion for science to young students. She visited many schools and gave scientific talks to students to promote science in France, and especially to promote science for girls.

Prof. Dganit Danino earned her B.Sc., M.Sc. and Ph.D. in chemical engineering at the Technion and in 2002, following post-doctoral work at NIH in the U.S. she returned to the Technion as a senior member of the Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Engineering. Prof. Danino is an expert in electron microscopy at low temperatures (Cryo-EM) engaged in both the development, use and education of Cryo-EM methodologies. Her research is focused on mechanisms of self-assembly of soft materials and 1D structures, the development of delivery vehicles, milk proteins and structure-function of membrane shaping proteins and large GTPases. She published more than 170 papers and book chapters. Dganit was a visiting scholar at the Physics Department Harvard University, the Koch Institute MIT, and the KAVIL Institute for Theoretical Physics University of California Santa Barbara. She was the president of the Israel Society for Microscopy (ISM) between 2009 and 2013, and the President of the European Colloid and Interface Society (ECIS) in the years 2019-2021, and she is a Co-Editor-in-Chief in Current Opinion in Colloids and Interface Science (COCIS), and an Editor in Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces.

Prof João Cabral is Professor of Soft Matter in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Imperial College London, and P&G/Royal Academy of Engineering research chair. Previously he held posts at the Universities of Chicago (USA), Lisbon (Portugal), Fudan (China), and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST, USA). He has served as associate director of the Institute of Molecular Science and Engineering (IMSE, Imperial) and chairs the UK Polymer Physics group (IoP/RSC). At Imperial, he leads an experimental research group of soft matter engineering, extensively employing microfluidics, scattering (neutron, Xray, light), and automated of digital and physical workflows to develop sustainable formulations and processes, from the molecular to the macroscales.

Prof. Krassimir P. Velikov (1970) studied chemistry at the University of Sofia, earning M.Sc. degrees in Chemical Physics and Theoretical Chemistry in 1994 and in Chemical Engineering in 1997. He conducted research at the Centre de Recherche Paul-Pascal/CNRS in France with Prof. Dr. B. Pouligny and served as a Research Associate at the University of Sofia. In 1998, he began his Ph.D. on colloidal particles under Prof. Dr. Alfons van Blaaderen at AMOLF and Utrecht University, completing it in 2002, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at Utrecht.

Since October 2002, prof. Velikov has worked at Unilever R&D in Vlaardingen, the Netherlands, currently as Team Leader and Science Leader in Colloidal Dispersions and Nanoscale Structuring. He holds part-time positions at Utrecht University since 2009 and North Carolina State University since 2010. Additionally, he has been a program director at NanoNextNL since 2011. His research focuses on soft-condensed matter, colloidal dispersions, nanoscale structuring, colloidal self-assembly, and the application of colloids in enhancing stability, appearance, texture, taste, and bioavailability of bioactives, as well as the physical-chemistry of digestion and delivery of functional ingredients.

Prof. Nikolai D. Denkov is a Full Professor of Physical Chemistry at the Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy, Sofia University, Bulgaria, since 2008. Prof. Denkov served as a vice dean of the Faculty (2004-2008), Head of DCPE department (2008-2015), Deputy Minister (2014-2016) and Minister (2017, 2021-2022) of Education and Science in Bulgaria, and Prime Minister of Bulgaria (2023-2024). His research includes experimental and theoretical studies on the formation, stability, rheology, and applications of disperse systems, and on the surfactant control of their properties. He has published over 190 research articles, cited > 12 000 times in the literature (h-index = 56). He has led more than 50 projects with international companies, incl. Unilever, BASF, PepsiCo, Saint Gobain, Wacker, Dow Corning and Heineken, and is a co-inventor of 14 filed and granted patents. Prof. Denkov is a member of the Physical Sciences working group in European Space Agency (ESA) and of the Council of the International Association of Colloid and Interface Scientists (IACIS). He is also a Fellow of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. In 2020, he was elected as a regular member of Academia Europaea. For his outstanding research contributions, he has received numerous awards, including the “Pythagoras” Award, the highest Bulgarian recognition for scientific achievements (2010), the Solvay Prize of the European Colloid and Interface Society (2019), and the Lectureship Award from the Division of Colloid and Surface Chemistry in Japan (2020).

Professor Thomas Rades is Head of Research at the University of Copenhagen since 2012 and a distinguished researcher in pharmaceutical sciences, with a focus on drug formulation and nanoparticle-based vaccine delivery systems. He has made significant contributions to the field, having authored over 500 papers in prestigious journals (30000+ citations, h-index = 94), along with book chapters, patents, and a book on formulation science. Professor Rades holds editorial positions at key journals including the Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences. He has supervised more than 85 PhD students and has received awards for his expertise in undergraduate and postgraduate teaching activities. Professor Rades’ interdisciplinary approach integrates physical, chemical, and biological sciences to drive advancements in pharmaceutical formulation and delivery systems.