Louis Fensterbank

Professor, Sorbonne Université, France

Louis Fensterbank is an engineer from CPE Lyon. He obtained his PhD in 1993 from SUNY Stony Brook under the guidance of Scott Sieburth. After a lecturer position at the Université Pierre & Marie Curie (UPMC), he was appointed in 1995 as a CNRS Chargé de Recherche in Max Malacria’s lab. In 2004, he became Professor at UPMC, now Sorbonne Université. In 2023, he was elected at Collège de France and he holds the Activations in Molecular Chemistry Chair.

His research interests concern the discovery of new molecular transformations relying on radical or organometallic processes, possibly light-activated, and their applications to the synthesis of substrates with relevant properties. He is also involved in organosilicon chemistry and the development of new capping ligands for metallic nanoparticules. Co-author of more than 250 publications, Louis Fensterbank has received several awards, notably the Silver Medal of CNRS in 2017. He is Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, member of the Academia Europaea and member of the European Academy of Sciences.

Daniele Leonori

Professor of Organic Chemistry, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

Daniele obtained his PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of Sheffield (UK), and did postdocs with Magnus Rueping and Peter Seeberger. He then joined the group of Prof. Varinder K. Aggarwal (University of Bristol) as a Research Officer. Daniele began his independent academic career at the University of Manchester in 2014 as a Lecturer, was promoted to Reader in 2018, and to Professor in 2020. In 2022, he was appointed W3 Professor and Chair of Organic Chemistry at RWTH Aachen University. Research in the Leonori group focuses on the development of novel synthetic methodologies based on radical and photochemical strategies.

Lecture title: Novel synthetic methods in photochemistry and photocatalysis

Matteo Palma

Professor of Physical Chemistry and Nanomaterials, Queen Mary University of London, UK

Matteo Palma is Professor of Physical Chemistry and Nanomaterials in the Department of Chemistry at Queen Mary University of London (UK). Since September 2013 he leads a research group focusing on the use of (supra)molecular interactions to control the assembly of functional nanohybrids of low-dimensional materials, from solution to nanopatterned substrates: carbon nanotubes, 2D nanomaterials and DNA nanostructures are employed to this end. Applications range from optoelectronics to biosensing and single-molecule biological investigations. Trained as a physical chemist, he graduated (MSc/Laurea) from the University of Rome “La Sapienza” in 2004 and received a PhD in 2007 from the University of Strasbourg (France) Institute of Supramolecular Science and Engineering (ISIS). He then worked as a postdoctoral scientist (2008-2013) in the Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Physics at Columbia University (New York, U.S.A.) before starting his independent career at Queen Mary.

Lecture title: Programmable Nanohybrid Heterostructures: Chemical Design Principles for Optoelectronic, Biosensing and Biomimetic Applications