We are delighted to invite you to join us on the 9th of October 2025 at the Casa da Cultura de Ílhavo for an exciting day dedicated to fundamental research in sustainable materials science and engineering, nanotechnology, biomedicine, and the circular economy. Under this year’s theme, “Navigating the Borders of Knowledge”, we celebrate our collective commitment to pushing the frontiers of scientific discovery and driving future innovation.
Expect inspiring sessions, engaging discussions, and excellent networking opportunities designed to make your experience both memorable and impactful.
We look forward to welcoming you!
Sofia Bruno, José R. B. Gomes, Andrei Kavaleuski and Rita Teles
The Jornadas CICECO 2025 Organizing Committee
A dynamic cultural venue located in the heart of Ílhavo, distinguished by its contemporary architecture and versatile facilities. Renowned for hosting a wide variety of cultural, artistic, educational, and scientific events, it provides an engaging space for knowledge exchange, creativity, and community interaction.
Jornadas CICECO 2025 will take place on the 9th of October at the Casa da Cultura de Ílhavo. The event is open to the scientific community, industrial, technological and educational partners, free of charge. However, registration is mandatory for access to all in-person sessions and activities. Join us for an inspiring day dedicated to sustainable materials science, nanotechnology, biomedicine, and the circular economy — under the theme "Navigating the Borders of Knowledge". Registration deadline: 5th September. Eligibility: Open to the entire community, our partners, and all curious minds passionate about science and creativity.
Share your research and be part of the vibrant scientific dialogue at Jornadas CICECO 2025! The poster session is a unique opportunity to showcase your work, exchange ideas, and receive valuable feedback from peers and senior researchers across diverse fields — from materials science to nanotechnology, biomedicine, and sustainability. Whether you’re presenting breakthrough results or exciting preliminary data, we welcome your contribution to this dynamic session. Submission deadline: 12th September Eligibility: All CICECO members.
Selected PhD students will rise to the challenge of delivering a captivating research pitch using just one slide and five minutes. Their mission is to distill the core of their research into a message that resonates with a broad, non-specialist audience. This initiative celebrates clarity, creativity, and scientific communication, offering a unique platform to showcase the diverse and impactful research being carried out across CICECO. Participation is by invitation only. PhD students will be selected by CAD (CICECO’s PhD Students Council) during the Research Summit. Submission deadline: 12th September Eligibility: Invited PhD students only.
Celebrate the beauty of scientific discovery through visual storytelling! The Art in Science Photo Contest invites you to submit striking images created through any imaging technique — including simulations and artistic composites. Let your creativity shine and help us bridge science and art. Submission deadline: 22nd September. Eligibility: All CICECO members.
| MORNING | |
| 09:00 | Bus departure from the University of Aveiro |
| 09:30 | Registration |
| 09:45 | Welcome to Jornadas CICECO 2025 – Opening Session Prof. Paulo Ferreira (Rector, University of Aveiro) Prof. João Coutinho (Director, CICECO) |
| 10:15 | Nanoengineering Catalysts to Unlock Previously Inaccessible Chemical Processes Prof. Javier García-Martínez (University of Alicante, Spain) |
| 11:15 | Coffee Break | Poster Session I |
| 11:45 | The Exciting Interface Between Supramolecular Chemistry and Nanotechnology for Functional Hydrogels Prof. Silvia Marchesan (University of Trieste, Italy) |
| 12:30 | PhD Student Pitches – Session I Lucas Pereira, Sílvia Silva, André Oliveira, Xavier Pinheiro, Lília Dias |
| 13:00 | Lunch |
| AFTERNOON | |
| 14:30 | The Dawn of the Ion Age: When Ions Take Control Prof. Albert Tarancón (Catalonia Institute for Energy Research, Spain) |
| 15:15 | Flexible Electronics: A New Odyssey at the Frontiers of Knowledge Prof. Pedro Barquinha (Nova University of Lisbon, Portugal) |
| 16:00 | PhD Student Pitches – Session II Nádia Santos, Bruno Moreira, Bárbara Vaz, Artur Baeta, Diogo Marinheiro |
| 16:40 | Coffee Break | Poster Session II |
| 17:15 | MXenes – Building Blocks for the Future Technology Prof. Yury Gogotsi (Drexel University, USA) |
| 18:15 | CICECO Awards and Jornadas CICECO 2026 |
| 18:30 | Closing Session |
| 18:45 – 19:30 | Musical Event |
| 19:30 | Bus departure to the University of Aveiro |
| NIGHT | |
| 20:00 | Dinner Hotel Ílhavo Plaza |
Professor of Inorganic Chemistry and Director of the Molecular Nanotechnology Lab, a world-leading research center working on the synthesis and application of nanostructured materials for the sustainable production of chemicals and energy at the University of Alicante, Spain.
Founder of Rive Technology, a technology-based company that commercializes nanostructured catalysts that significantly reduce CO2 emissions while increasing energy efficiency. In 2019, W. R. Grace acquired this technology and now commercializes it globally. President of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) for the 2022-2023 biennium. Before that, he served as vice-president, a member of the Executive Committee, and vice-president of the Division of Inorganic Chemistry.
His contributions to nanotechnology have unlocked the potential of heterogeneous catalysts for the conversion of bulky molecules by introducing controlled intracrystalline mesopositivity. This technology is considered a major scientific achievement and is now widely used in academic laboratories and chemical companies around the world, saving hundreds of thousands of tonnes of CO2 per year by reducing the amount of waste and coke that would otherwise be burned to produce green gas emissions in key industrial processes ranging from biomass conversion to catalytic cracking. He is also a renowned entrepreneur. As founder of Rive Technology, the company that commercialises his catalysts, he started, grew and recently sold this business to Grace, the largest catalyst manufacturer.
His contributions to catalysis, energy, and chemistry have been recognized with some of the most prestigious awards, including: the King Jaime I Award (2014); the Emerging Researcher Award from the American Chemical Society (2015); the Kathryn C. Hach Award for Entrepreneurial Success, also from the American Chemical Society (2018); the National Research Award presented by the King of Spain (2024); and Honorary Fellowships from the Royal Society of Chemistry (2022) and the Chinese Chemical Society (2025).
Yury Gogotsi is a Distinguished University Professor and Bach Endowed Chair in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Drexel University (Philadelphia, USA). He is the founding Director of the A.J. Drexel Nanomaterials Institute. He is credited with making principal contributions to the development of materials for electrochemical capacitors, the discovery of a large family of 2D carbides and nitrides known as MXenes, and the tuning of porosity in carbide-derived carbons with sub-nanometer accuracy. He published the first microscopic observation of water inside carbon nanotubes, discovered polygonal nanotubes (graphite polyhedral crystals), and invented the field of high-pressure surface science. The impact of his work is demonstrated by over 300,000 citations. The 2024 Stanford List placed Gogotsi 25th among all scientists in all disciplines and 2nd in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology worldwide, based on his 2023 citations.
PhD in Chemistry at The University of Edinburgh (2008, UK), Pharmaceutical Chemist (2007, UK) & Pharmacist (2006, Italy) qualifications, honorary researcher at UCL (London, 2005-2007), Academy of Finland Fellow at University of Helsinki (2008-2010), CRSS Fellow jointly at Monash University and Commonwealth Scientific Industrial Research Organization, CSIRO (Melbourne, 2010-2012). In 2013 I returned to the University of Trieste where my scientific adventure had started with the M.Sc. degree, (honours). In 2018 I became Associate Professor and received the Habilitation as Full Professor. In 2021-2022 (6 mo.) I have been Visiting Academic the University of Cambridge (UK). Member of the Advisory Board of ACS Nano, Chem, ChemComm, J. Mater. Chem. B, Chem. Eur. J., Materials Advances. Recent awards: Career Award by the Proteomass Scientific Society (Portugal, 2024), Italian Chemical Society Silver Seal (Italy, 2024), RSC Soft Matter Lectureship (UK, 2021). Research interests: nanostructured functional (bio)materials at the interface between nanotechnology and supramolecular chemistry, multi-component materials. One lab specialises in nanocarbon composites and the other lab in peptide-based supramolecular materials.
Pedro Barquinha received his PhD in Nanotechnologies and Nanosciences from NOVA University Lisbon in 2010. He is an Associate Professor at the Materials Science Department, NOVA FCT, where he is also coordinator of the doctoral program in Nanotechnologies and Nanoscience, as well as coordinator of the Materials for Electronics, Optoelectronics and Nanotechnology research group (100+ members) at the Materials Research Center (CENIMAT|I3N). He has 20+ years’ experience in multiple fields within flexible electronics, from materials to circuit integration. This has been achieved through 50+ research projects with academia and industry, including an ERC Starting Grant (TREND) and an ERC Proof of Concept Grant (FLETRAD). Pedro co-authored 170+ peer-reviewed papers (h-index=60, as May 2025), 4 books and 9 book chapters and gave 80+ invited presentations worldwide. Between 2020 and 2025 he was editor in IEEE Electron Device Letters (EDL) and currently he is editor in IEEE Journal on Flexible Electronics (JFLEX). Pedro has also been active in high-level advisory or decision-making bodies: since 2022 he has been a member of the Portuguese Council for Science, Technology and Innovation (CNCTI), an advisory body of the Portuguese Government. Since the same year he has been the president of the Technical and Scientific Council of the Collaborative Laboratory AlmaScience and a member of the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL) Council.
Albert holds an M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Barcelona (2001, 2007), as well as an M.Eng. in Materials Science from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (2007). He has served as a research associate at IMB-CSIC (Spain) and as a visiting researcher at the University of Oslo (Norway), Imperial College London (UK), and Caltech (USA). Currently, he is an ICREA Professor at IREC, where since 2010 he has led a research group of over 40 members focused on alternative technologies based on solid-state ionics and iontronics. Albert has been the Principal Investigator of more than 15 EU-funded projects, including an ERC Consolidator Grant, an ERC Proof of Concept Grant. He serves as an editor for Journal of Physics: Energy (IOP), APL Energy (AIP), and Journal of the European Ceramic Society (Elsevier). He is recognized among the top 1% most-cited scientists in the field of Energy. Albert’s research centers on advanced materials for energy applications, with a particular focus on enhancing the performance of solid-state energy devices such as Solid Oxide Fuel and Electrolysis Cells (SOFC/SOEC), Thermoelectric Generators (TEGs), and Li-ion batteries for energy storage and portable power. In recent years, his work has pioneered new concepts in the emerging fields of Nanoionics and Iontronics, which explore the role of size effects and interfaces in mass transfer, transport, and storage, paralleling the transformative impact of Nanoelectronics. His group is at the forefront of integrating interface-dominated nanomaterials into devices for groundbreaking applications. Recently, his group developed the first synaptic transistors based on oxide-ion conductors as part of the Transionics ERC Proof of Concept project—marking a foundational step toward a new class of switchable devices that could drive the future Ion Age.
Registration deadline
PhD Pitch submission deadline
Poster abstract submission deadline
Art in Science Competition submission deadline
