Materials processing and nanofabrication

Professor Yogendra Kumar Mishra leads the Smart Materials Group at the Mads Clausen Institute, University of Southern Denmark (SDU), Sønderborg. Before joining SDU, he led a research group on 3D Nanomaterials at the Functional Nanomaterials Chair. Prof. Mishra has over 250 publications with 13,000+ citations and an H-index of 62. He serves on the Board of Delegates for the European Materials Research Society (EMRS) and as an Editorial Board Member/Associate Editor for high-impact journals, including the Materials Today family and Nano Energy. Renowned for pioneering research in Functional Tetrapod-based 3D Nanotechnology and Smart Fibers for Textiles and Healthcare, his work on 3D nanomaterials and engineered fibers enables applications in sensing, water purification, healthcare, drug delivery, plasmonics, imaging, advanced energy, and environmental technologies.

Manuel Salmeron-Sanchez is Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Glasgow and ICREA Research Professor at Institut de Bioenginyeria de Catalunya (IBEC). Manuel develops advanced biomaterials for cell engineering and mechanobiology. His research includes materials that trigger the organisation of extracellular matrix proteins (Science Advances 2016); the use viscosity to control cell behaviour (PNAS 2018 & Nature Communications 2024) and interfaces that trigger the mechanical activation of growth factors (Advanced Materials 2024). Manuel holds an ERC Advanced Grant to develop the next generation of viscoelastic materials in cell engineering. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland’s National Academy for Arts and Sciences.

Dr. Clément Hébert specializes in the development of implants for recording and stimulating neuronal activity to investigate the dynamics of the nervous and peripheral systems, as well as in the production of neuroprostheses. He completed his doctoral research at the Néel Institute in Grenoble (CNRS), focusing on the design of microelectrode arrays based on carbon nanotubes and diamond. Following his PhD, Hébert undertook his first postdoctoral position at the CEA in Saclay within the diamond sensor laboratory, where he developed a novel low-noise electrode technology, initially for in vitro systems and later integrated into flexible implants for retinal prostheses and electrocorticography measurement matrices. With the support of Marie Curie funding, Dr. Hébert joined Professor Garrido’s research group in Barcelona, where he worked on flexible implants incorporating multiplexed graphene sensor networks for speech neuroprostheses. Concurrently, he contributed to the development of ultra-low-noise graphene-based electrodes for applications in retinal stimulation prostheses, epi- and intracortical recording, and peripheral nervous system stimulation, primarily targeting the sciatic nerve. In 2018, after securing the prestigious ATIP-Avenir grant, he was appointed as a Chargé de Recherche (CRCN) at Inserm within the BrainTech laboratory. His primary research focus is the development of a speech neuroprosthesis.

Dr. Marc Torrell  is a researcher in the Nanoionics and Fuel Cell Group that belongs to the Advanced Materials for Energy Area of the Energy Research Institute of Catalonia (IREC). His main lines of research are the structural and electrochemical characterization of materials electrochemical devices related to the use and generation of hydrogen. He has a degree in Chemistry (University of Barcelona) and Materials Engineering (Polytechnic University of Catalonia) and received his PhD in Chemistry from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering of the University of Barcelona. After his first Postdoctoral stage at the Physics dept. of University of Minho, he returns to the University of Barcelona as associated professor before joining IREC. He currently combines his activity in the development of new concepts of electrolysis cells based on solid oxides (SOEC) and fuel cells (SOFC), some of them based on 3D printing of functional ceramic materials, with their activity and commitment to the realization of demonstration projects of the technologies of manufacture and use of hydrogen for the decarbonization of mobility and industry. He is the author of more than 70 works in international specialized journals (h> 28), has published 5 book chapters on advanced materials and their uses for energy applications and has several patents on the field.