Speakers

Dipl.-Chem. Univ. (Chemistry) University of Regensburg (1982-1987)
Dr. rer. nat. Institute for Inorganic Chemistry , University of Regensburg (1987-1989)
Postdoc Dyson Perrins Laboratory for Organic Chemistry, University of Oxford, UK (1990)
Fellowship Liebig Fellow of the Fonds der Chemischen Industrie, University of Regensburg (1991-1992)
Research associate Max-Planck-Working Group „CO2-Chemistry“, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena (1992-1995)
Habilitation Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena(1995)
Lecturer (Privatdozent) Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena (1995)
Group leader Department of “Organic Synthesis” , Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung, Mülheim/Ruhr (1995-1998)
Head of the Technical Laboratories Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung, Mülheim/Ruhr (1998-2002)
Acting Chair
“Technical Chemistry and Petrochemistry”, RWTH Aachen (2000-2002)
Chair Technical Chemistry and Petrochemistry, Institut für Technische and Makromolekulare Chemie, RWTH Aachen (seit 2002)
External Scientific Member Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung, Mülheim an der Ruhr (2002-2017)
Director Molecular Catalysis, MPI CEC (since 2017)

Paolo Melchiorre was born in 1973 in Italy. He studied Chemistry at the University of Bologna (UNIBO, Italy), where he graduated in 1999. He received his PhD in Chemistry in 2003 at UNIBO under the direction of Achille Umani-Ronchi and PG Cozzi.
In 2002, he worked in Denmark with Professor Karl Anker Jørgensen. In 2003, Paolo worked as a postdoctoral associate with Giuseppe Bartoli, at the Industrial Chemistry Faculty at UNIBO. In October 2007, he took a permanent position as an Assistant Professor at UNIBO. In September 2009, Paolo joined the Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ) in Tarragona as an ICREA Professor and ICIQ Group Leader. In October 2022, Paolo moved back to his Alma Mater, the University of Bologna, where he is presently Professor of Chemistry.
AWARDS. Paolo has received the “G. Ciamician” Medal, awarded by the Italian Chemical Society (2007), a JSPS Fellowship under the FY2013 Program for Research in Japan, the 2016 Prize for Scientific Excellence from the Royal Spanish Chemical Society (RSEQ), and the 2019 “G. Modena” Medal from the Italian Chemical Society. He was also nominated Liebig Lecturer 2008 by the Organic Division of the German Chemical Society and he received the 2021 Pedler Award of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). In 2011, Paolo has been awarded an ERC Starting Grant to carry out the 5-year project “ORGA-NAUT”, while in 2016 he has been awarded an ERC Consolidator Grant to carry out the 5-year project “CATA-LUX”, both funded by the European Research Council.

Since 2019, Paolo is an Associate Editor of Chemical Science, the flag-ship journal of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). In 2020, he became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC)
Paolo has authored more than 145 publications in international scientific journals. His papers have received more than 19000 citations. He has delivered about 250 invited lectures and seminars at the national and international level

Giacomo grew up in Trezzo sull’Adda (Italy). He obtained both his BSc and MSc Degrees from Università degli Studi in Milan, where he undertook his final year projects in the laboratory of Prof. La Rosa and Prof. Dalla Croce – investigating the synthesis of novel isoxazoline heterocycles and their participation in chemoenzymatic reactions.
In 2012, Giacomo joined the Chemical Synthesis CDT (Centre for Doctoral Training) at the University of Bristol (UK). There, he started his doctoral studies under the supervision of Prof. John F. Bower. During his PhD, Giacomo investigated novel methodologies for selective C–C bond formation via Ir-catalysed C–H activation.
In 2017, he started a postdoctoral appointment in the group of Prof. Paolo Melchiorre at ICIQ (Tarragona, Spain), where, in 2018, he was awarded a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship. During this time, his efforts focused on the development of asymmetric reactions, enabled by the photochemical activation of organocatalytic and organometallic intermediates.
In 2020, Giacomo joined the University of Manchester (UK) as a Lecturer in Organic Chemistry, working in close collaboration with the research group of Prof David J. Procter on asymmetric Cu-catalysis, sulfonium salt-mediated couplings, and the reactivity of SmI2.
Two years later, Giacomo started his independent career at UoM, where he was appointed Lecturer in Net Zero Catalysis. Currently, his research interests span from synthetic radical chemistry (electrochemistry and photochemistry) to catalytic processes mediated by Earth-abundant metal sources and main-group elements.
Giacomo is a passionate cook and an avid Inter Milan fan.

Prof. Paradisi graduated with a BSc in Chemistry and then a PhD in synthetic organic chemistry from the University of Bologna. In 2002 she joined the group of Prof. Engel at University College Dublin for her post doc and started working in the area of Biocatalysis. She got her first academic position in the School of Chemistry in UCD in 2006 where she remained till 2016. She was recruited then by the University of Nottingham as Associate Professor in Biocatalysis and promoted to Full Professor in 2019. In the same year however, she was offered the Chair of Sustainable Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the University of Bern and relocated to Switzerland. Flow-biocatalysis and enzyme immobilization are core technologies of the Paradisi Lab. She is the recipient of the Green and Sustainable Chemistry Award 2021 jointly sponsored by the Swiss Chemical Society and Syngenta for her ground-breaking work in developing eco-friendly and ultra-efficient biotransformations for the synthesis of high-value chemicals, dramatically increasing the applicability of biocatalysis.

 

Martina graduated in Pharmacy at the University of Milan, where she obtained also her PhD in Medicinal Chemistry under the supervision of Prof. Molinari with a thesis titled “Biocatalytic synthesis of chiral pharmaceutical intermediates”. In 2016, Martina joined as a Visiting Post-Doc the group of Prof. Paradisi at the University College of Dublin developing sustainable flow-biobased processes for the preparation of valuable compounds. In 2017, she relocated together with the Paradisi group at the University of Nottingham, where a year after she was awarded with a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship, thus strengthening her expertise in the design of intensified enzymatic processes under flow conditions. After a brief period as a Visiting researcher at the University of Bern with a Roche funded project, in 2021 she moved back to her Alma Mater, the University of Milan, where she started her independent career as Tenure Track Assistant Professor. Demonstrating that enzymes can be used as strategic tools in traditional synthesis, three years later she was promoted Associate Professor. Martina was awarded with several prizes among them the 2022 Talent award (ChemBioChem Journal) is noteworthy, while in 2023 she has been selected for the JSP Fellowship dedicated to emerging investigators to join the prestigious Burgenstock Conference.

pfornasiero@units.it

Paolo Fornasiero was born in 1968 in Ruti (Switzerland). In 1992 he obtained the degree in Chemistry (cum laude) and in 1997 the PhD in heterogeneous catalysis both at the University of Trieste (Italy). After one year as post-doctoral fellow at the Catalysis Research Center of the University of Reading (U.K.), in 1998 he was appointed assistant professor. In 2006, he became associate professor in Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Trieste and in 2016 he was nominated full professor in Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Trieste.Professor Fornasiero is Associate Researcher of the National Council of Research (CNR) and from 2008 he is the scientific responsible of the CNR Research Unit associated with the Institute of Chemistry of OrganoMetallic Compounds (ICCOM) of Florence and located at the University of Trieste – Department of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences.Since December 2013 until July 2014 he was visiting Professor at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia.

Professor Fornasiero is a member of the Italian Chemical Society, of the American Chemical Society, of the European Rare-Earth and Actinide Society – ERES, as well as of the INSTM Consortium. Since February 2015, he is Associate Editor of ACS Catalysis, becoming Executive Editor in March 2021.

melchionnam@units.it

Michele Melchionna was born in 1977. He obtained his degree in chemistry in 2002 at the University of Salerno and his PhD at the Edinburgh University in 2006. After the PhD he gained experience outside academia: Higher Scientific Officer at Food Standard Agency (London, UK) and Senior R&D Organic Chemist at Advanced Molecular Technologies (Melbourne, Australia). He was also recipient of post-doctoral fellowships in organic chemistry at the University of Helsinki (Finland) and at the Palacky University (Olomouc, Czech Republic). He moved back to Italy in 2012, where is a post-doc at the Department of Chemical Sciences at the University of Trieste on the project “Self-Assembly in Confined Space”.

Scientific Interests
– Assembly of carbon nanostructured-based materials
– Energy-related catalytic processes such as reforming and water gas-shift
– Photo-assisted H2 formation
– Heterogeneous catalysis for organic synthesis

http://www.dsch.univ.trieste.it/~fornasiero/staff_melchionna_page.htm

Christoph Scheurer is a Group Leader in the Theory Department at the Fritz-Haber-Institute (FHI) in Berlin, specializing in the operando evolution of energy materials and solid-solid interfaces. He studied Chemistry and Mathematics and holds a PhD in Chemistry from ETH Zürich, where his research focused on NMR theory for quantum exchange in transition metal hydrides. His career includes postdoctoral work at Clark University and the University of Rochester, as well as leading an Emmy-Noether junior research group at TU München. At TUM, he has been involved in lab automation and RDI projects for more than a decade as the chemistry department’s information officer.  Since 2020, he has been a permanent group leader at the FHI, with research interests in the atomistic simulation of charge carrier dynamics, ion and polaron dynamics in solid-state batteries, and the aging processes in catalytic materials. His work combines cutting-edge simulation techniques with machine learning to develop digital twins for multimodal operando experiments.  Dr.  Scheurer has co-authored numerous publications on battery materials and catalysts, contributing significantly to advancements in energy storage technologies.

hross@wiley.com

Haymo Ross is the Editor-in-Chief of Chemistry – A European Journal, the cornerstone publication of Chemistry Europe (www.chemistry-europe.org). The Società Chimica Italiana (SCI) is a member of Chemistry Europe

 

Directeur de Recherche Emérite CNRS
Membre de l’Académie des Sciences
Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie des Nano-Objets UMR 5215 INSA-CNRS-UPS
INSA Toulouse 
135 Avenue de Rangueil
31077 Toulouse
 
 

Pierre Fau obtained his Ph.D. in Materials Science from the Université Paul Sabatier in 1993 (Toulouse III) where he studied the synthesis and properties of nickel copper manganites thin films prepared by cathodic sputtering system. In 1995, he joined Motorola Semiconductors SA in Toulouse as Research Engineer for the development of metal oxide gas sensor (MOS) integrated on micromachined silicon platforms (MEMS). In 1998, he joined Microchemical Systems, a start-up company based in Neuchatel, Switzerland, first as Senior Research Engineer and then as R&D Director. With his research team, he developed several MOS devices based on nanostructured metal oxides prepared by solution chemistry syntheses for CO, NO2, or VOCs detection. Since 2004 he joined the Université Paul Sabatier as a research engineer for the development of nanomaterials and their industrial applications at the LCC-CNRS (UPR 8241). He is a founding member of the Nanochimie, Organisation et Capteurs team at the LCC in 2013. In April 2022 he joined the Nanostructures et Chimie Organométallique team at the LPCNO-INSA to pursue his research projects in the field of nanomaterials developments and participate in new projects in catalysis and microelectronics domains.

His research expertise targets the synthesis and characterization of metallic or metal oxide nano-materials by metalorganic chemistry, and their applications in various technological fields (microelectronics, aeronautics, sensors, health, photocatalysis …). His research interest also focuses on the decoration of nanosized and solution dispersed materials used as supports (CNTs, nanoflakes, powders…) by other nanoparticles either metallic (Cu, Ag, Au …), oxides (TiO2, CuO, ZnO, MnOx …) or as films.

 

lars.borchardt@rub.de

Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Lehrstuhl für Anorganische Chemie I
Universitätsstraße 150, 44780 Bochum

Lars is the leader of the group. He is developing sustainable syntheses for organic molecules and nanostructured materials based on mechanochemistry.

https://www.borchardt-group.com/

wilm.pickhardt@rub.de

Wilm joined the group in October 2019. He is working on transition metal mediated coupling reactions of small organic molecules inside the ball mill.

https://www.borchardt-group.com/group

 
Mattia graduated in Industrial Chemistry at the University of Bologna, where he also obtained a PhD in Chemistry working in Professor Cavani’s group on various topics concerning catalysis and development of industrial processes based on innovative feedstocks.
Since 2019 Mattia works in Versalis, the ENI’s chemical company, at the Mantua research center as Catalyst Development manager with particular focus on transition and circularity.

Rob studied Chemistry with Industrial Experience at the University of Bristol before undertaking Ph.D. studies at Imperial College London under the supervision of Prof. Matt Fuchter working on a diverse set of projects including organocatalytic methodology with N-Heterocyclic carbenes. In 2014 he moved to Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd in Cambridge, UK, joining the chemocatalysis team and working on route design and development in active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) synthesis for the production of Generic drug products. In 2021 Rob moved to Pfizer in Cork, Ireland, where he spent a brief period as a technologist in a manufacturing plant before taking this experience back into the R&D laboratories as part of the Process Development Centre working on the 2nd Generation process development of APIs.

Job role:

Senior Research Chemist in the Process Development Centre (PDC)

 Website: www.pfizer.ie