Congratulations to Dr Jovana Milić, University of Fribourg, Switzerland for being selected as the recipient of the 2023 Journal of Materials Chemistry Lectureship

The Journal of Materials Chemistry Lectureship is an annual award, established in 2010, which honours early-career scientists who have made a significant contribution to the fields of materials chemistry. This year we received numerous high-quality nominations from across the world. With help from our Advisory and Editorial Boards, each nomination was assessed and considered for the award. Dr Jovana Milić was selected for the 2023 Lectureship based on her impressive publication record, her establishment as an early-career researcher and her strong engagement in a variety of outreach opportunities to support the chemistry community.

“I am honoured by this recognition and stimulated to further contribute to the materials chemistry community!”

Dr. Jovana V. Milić is Assistant Professor and Smart Energy Materials Group Leader at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland since January 2021. She obtained her Ph.D. in the Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences of ETH Zurich in 2017. She then worked as a postdoctoral scientist in the Laboratory of Photonics and Interfaces at EPFL until taking on a Group Leader position at the Adolphe Merkle Institute in September 2020 as the Swiss National Science Foundation PRIMA Fellow. Her research is centered around developing (supra)molecular materials for energy conversion, with a particular focus on hybrid photovoltaics. This involves a multidisciplinary approach at the interface of chemistry, material science, and engineering. Her research activities have been recognized by numerous honors and awards, including the CAS Future Leader 2019, Green Talents Award in 2020, and Zeno Karl Schindler Prize in 2021 for research contributions to sustainable development. She has also been awarded ERC Starting Grant in 2023 for the development of smart and sustainable hybrid materials for opto(electro)ionics. In addition to research and international collaborations, she has been invested in science outreach, policy, and diplomacy as a member of the Global Young Academy, Swiss Young Academy, the European Young Chemists’ Network, and International Younger Chemists Network, connecting and supporting young scientists globally.

You can keep up to date with Jovana’s research:

Website: jovanamilic.com

LinkedIn:  linkedin.com/in/jovanavmilic

Twitter/X: @jovana_v_milic

Discover Jovana’s RSC publications in this web collection to find out more about her research

Check out our interview with Jovana below:

How did you feel when you were announced as the winner of the 2023 Journal of Materials Chemistry Lectureship?

I was surprised and honoured by the nomination and selection for the 2023 Journal of Materials Chemistry Lectureship, which further strengthens my motivation to contribute to the community of materials chemistry.

Which of your JMC publications are you most proud of and why?

I am proud of my recent J. Mat. Chem. C 2021 (doi.org/10.1039/D1TC01533H) and our Nanoscale 2022 (doi.org/10.1039/D1NR08311B) publications, as well as Photochemistry 2022 book chapter (doi.org/10.1039/9781839167676-00346), highlighting our research and educational efforts to rely on supramolecular engineering in advancing hybrid materials toward multifunctional materials for energy conversion and smart nanotechnologies. In addition, I am proud of our J. Mat. Chem. A 2021 contribution (doi.org/10.1039/D1TA90183D) with my colleagues at the European Young Chemists’ Network (EYCN), supporting the community of young chemists. I am also grateful for these articles to be highlighted in the Emerging Investigators Issues of the journals.

At which upcoming conferences may our community meet you?

The community can meet me at several upcoming conferences in hybrid and organic electronics, photovoltaics, and supramolecular chemistry, including the Global Conference for Decarbonization of Energy and Materials (GCDM), Asia-Pacific International Conference on Perovskite and Organic Photovoltaics and Optoelectronics (IPEROP), Materials for Sustainable Development Conference (MATSUS), International Conference on Science and Technology of Synthetic Electronic Materials (ICSM), and International Conference on Noncovalent Interactions (ICNI-III), as well as International Conference in Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics (HOPV), which I will be chairing next year, among others.

Please join us in congratulating Jovana!

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2023 Journal of Materials Chemistry Lectureship runners-up, Kwabena Bedianko and Laure Biniek

2023 Journal of Materials Chemistry Lectureship shortlisted candidates

Congratulations to our 2023 Journal of Materials Chemistry Lectureship runners-up, Dr Kwabena Bediako and Dr Laure Biniek

This year, Dr Jovana Milić from the University of Fribourg, Switzerland was selected as the recipient of the 2023 Journal of Materials Chemistry Lectureship. While we can only award one winner, we wanted to recognise two runners-up for their impressive contributions to materials chemistry and as emerging leaders in the field.

Congratulations to Dr Kwabena Bediako (University of California, Berkeley, USA) and Dr Laure Biniek (Institut Charles Sadron, CNRS- Strasbourg, France) for being selected as the runners-up of the 2023 Journal of Materials Chemistry Lectureship.

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Kwabena Bediako was born in Ghana, West Africa. He moved to the US in 2004 for his undergraduate studies in Chemistry at Calvin College, MI, graduating with honours in 2008. After a year working at UOP Honeywell in IL where he researched new catalysts for the petrochemical and gas processing industries, he travelled from the Midwest to the East Coast to begin his graduate studies in Inorganic Chemistry with Prof. Daniel Nocera at MIT (and later Harvard University). His graduate research focused on structural and mechanistic studies of water splitting electrocatalysis at cobalt and nickel compounds. After receiving his Ph.D. in 2015 from Harvard University, Kwabena began postdoctoral work in Prof. Philip Kim’s group in the Department of Physics at Harvard, where he studied ion intercalation and quantum transport in 2D van der Waals heterostructures. In July 2018, Kwabena joined the faculty of the UC Berkeley Department of Chemistry.

Laure Biniek is a CNRS researcher at the Institut Charles Sadron (ICS, France). She studied chemistry and then polymer science at the University of Lyon. She earned her Ph.D in the chemistry of low band gap polymers from the University of Strasbourg in 2010. Her postdoctoral training, completed at Imperial College London in Iain McCulloch’s group, focused on the synthesis and characterization of semi-conducting polymers for organic photovoltaics and field effect transistors. After gaining experience in structural analysis under the guidance of Martin Brinkmann at the Institut Charles Sadron (as a second postdoc), she contributed to the development of the high-temperature rubbing technique for the alignment of conjugated polymers. Currently, she is focused on researching structure-property correlations and is actively involved in developing bulk porous conducting polymers for thermoelectric applications. Since 2020, she also leads the discussions on societal responsibilities and sustainable development at ICS. Her role is to evaluate the Institute’s environmental impact and to facilitate the implementation of trajectories aimed at reducing green-house gas emission.

Discover some of Kwabena and Laure’s RSC publications in this Lectureship runners- up web collection

Check out our interview with Kwabena and Laure below:

How did you feel when you were announced as a runner-up of the 2023 Journal of Materials Chemistry Lectureship?

KB: I was delighted to have been nominated, and so when I received news that I was one of the runners up, I was very honoured. It is a great honour to be counted among those who have received this commendation in the past.

LB: I had to read the announcement email several times, it was a wonderful surprise. There are many excellent young scientists who deserve to be recognized for their contribution to the field of materials science. It was a real honour to have been nominated, and even more to be selected among them.

Which of your Journal of Materials Chemistry publications are you most proud of and why?

LB: If I had to pick just one, it would be the most recent (Q. Weinbach et al., JMCC 2023). It was an exciting and challenging project to implement structural control of conjugated polymer on a few cm scale. Experimenting with ice crystallization (to create patterns on the material, but also to visualize its structure by cryo-electron microscopy) was really enjoyable. It was also a great human experience to guide super dynamic young scientists and work together with material characterization specialists.

 At which upcoming conferences may our community meet you?

KB: I will be attending the Fall Materials Research Society meeting in Boston in November 2023.

LB: I will be happy to meet you at E-MRS (Strasbourg May 2024), ICSM (Dresden, June 2024) or ECT/ICT (Krakow, July 2024).

What do you like to do in your free time?

KB: I enjoy watching soccer and playing with my kids.

LB: I am quite active, even in my spare time. It’s a balanced combination of recharging my batteries in nature (hiking, climbing, sightseeing,…) and working for a more inclusive, cooperative and sustainable society (within various non-profit organizations).

Do you have any advice for Early-Career researchers who wish to be nominated for the 2024 JMC Lectureship award?

KB: Don’t be shy about asking someone to nominate you (and this applies more generally to any awards/honours for which you are eligible). 

LB: Publishing your best works in JMC and communicating your research to your scientific community are certainly important. Do not forget to highlight your communication to the general public and your service to the community. Good luck with the 2024 award.

Related posts:

2023 Journal of Materials Chemistry Lectureship winner: Jovana Milić

2023 Journal of Materials Chemistry Lectureship shortlisted candidates

Congratulations to our shortlisted candidates for the 2023 Journal of Materials Chemistry Lectureship

The Journal of Materials Chemistry annual lectureship, established in 2010, honours early-career scientists who have made a significant contribution to the field of materials chemistry. We were delighted to have awarded Dr Jovana Milić (University of Fribourg, Switzerland) the 2023 Lectureship.

This year we received numerous high-quality nominations from across the world and we wanted to recognise our shortlisted candidates for their contributions to materials chemistry and as emerging leaders in their fields. We have listed the names of the shortlisted candidates below and have put together a collection featuring some of their recent work published in Royal Society of Chemistry journals.

Read the shortlisted candidates web collection here.

Please note that we have only included candidates who have consented to recognition of their name in this way.

Runners-up

Prof. Kwabena Bediako (University of California, Berkeley, USA)

Prof. Laure Biniek (Institut Charles Sadron- Strasbourg, France)

Shortlisted Candidates

Prof. Ana Jorge Sobrido (Queen Mary University of London, UK)

Prof. Ariel L. Furst (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA)

Dr Can Avci (ICMAB-CSIC, Spain)

Prof. Christina Li (Purdue University, USA)

Prof. Dongliang Chao (Fudan University, China)

Prof. Daniel Tordera (University of Valencia, Spain)

Prof. Daniel Tabor (Texas A&M University, USA)

Prof. Eleni Stavrinidou (Linköping University, Sweden)

Dr Gemma-Louise Davies (University of Birmingham, UK)

Prof. Guo-Hong Ning (Jinan University, China)

Dr Haegyum Kim (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA)

Prof. Huanyu (Larry) Cheng (Pennsylvania State University, USA)

Prof. Jianyu Li (McGill University, USA)

Dr Jingwei Hou (The University of Queensland, Australia)

Prof. Juan-Pablo Correa-Baena (Georgia Institute of Technology, USA)

Prof. Khoon Lim (University of Sydney, Australia)

Prof. Lukasz Marciniak (Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland)

Prof. Lauren Nicole McHugh (University of Liverpool, UK)

Prof. Lisa Poulikakos (UC San Diego, USA)

Prof. Ludovic Favereau (Institute of Chemical Sciences of Rennes, France)

Dr Mayank Kumar Gupta (Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, India)

Dr Lea Nienhaus (Florida State University, USA)

Prof. Rebecca Greenaway (Imperial College London, UK)

Prof. Raphaële Clement (University of California Santa Barbara, USA)

Prof. Robert Macfarlane (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA)

Prof. Robert Hoye (University of Oxford, UK)

Dr Ramendra Sundar Dey (Institute of Nano Science & Technology, India)

Prof. Xian-Kai Chen (Soochow University, China)

Prof. Xue Wang (City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong)

Related posts:

2023 Journal of Materials Chemistry Lectureship winner: Jovana Milić 

2023 Journal of Materials Chemistry Lectureship runners-up: Kwabena Bediako and Laure Biniek

With the opening of the 2023 Lectureship nominations we would like to take the opportunity to celebrate our previous Winner and Runner-Ups from the 2022 Lectureship.

To do this, we asked them a few interview questions to gain some retrospective insight into their successes. We also hope that this could serve as advice and guidance to those who would be nominated for the 2023 Lectureship and beyond.

We have included Luisa’s responses below along with links to her past work for you to further explore.

Luisa Whittaker- Brooks, Journal of Materials Chemistry 2022 Lectureship Runner-Up

How did you feel when you were announced as a runner-up of the 2022 Journal of Materials Chemistry Lectureship? 

I was very excited when I received the email since I know this is a very competitive application. 

In your opinion, what would make for a strong candidate to be considered for the Lectureship? 

A strong candidate will be a scientist performing research at the forefront of the materials field. I believe it will also help if candidates publish their work in any of the Journals of Materials Chemistry and Materials Horizons, given that publishing their findings in these top-tier journals will make them gain visibility among potential selection committee members of the Lectureship award.  

Which of your JMC publications are you most proud of and why? 

I routinely published my best works in JMC and the one that I am most proud of is our paper entitled 
“Vertically oriented TiS_2−x nanobelt arrays as binder- and carbon-free intercalation electrodes for Li- and Na-based energy storage devices (J. Mater. Chem. A, 2018,6, 21949-21960)”. It is very special because it was my first publication in JMC as an independent investigator. This paper was also part of the Emerging Investigator themed collection, and it was selected as a cover. 

Do you have any advice for Early-Career researchers who wish to be nominated for the Lectureship award? 

Start working on publishing your best work in JMC as soon as possible. This will help you gain visibility. Also, have someone nominate you for submitting a manuscript to the Emerging Investigator Themed Collection. 

At which upcoming conferences may our community meet you? 

My students and I typically attend the MRS, APS, ACS conferences.  

You can read a selection of Luisa’s work here:

‘Concepts and principles of self-n-doping in perylene diimide chromophores for applications in biochemistry, energy harvesting, energy storage, and catalysis’

Daniel Powell and Luisa Whittaker-Brooks.

Mater. Horiz., 2022,9, 2026-2052 DOI: 10.1039/D2MH00279E

https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2022/mh/d2mh00279e

‘Steric hindrance dependence on the spin and morphology properties of highly oriented self-doped organic small molecule thin films’

Daniel Powell, Eric V. Campbell, Laura Flannery, Jonathan Ogle, Sarah E. Soss and Luisa Whittaker-Brooks.

Mater. Adv., 2021,2, 356-365 DOI: 10.1039/D0MA00822B

https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2021/ma/d0ma00822b

‘Vertically oriented TiS_2−x nanobelt arrays as binder- and carbon-free intercalation electrodes for Li- and Na-based energy storage devices’

Casey G. Hawkins and Luisa Whittaker-Brooks.
J. Mater. Chem. A, 2018,6, 21949-21960 DOI: 10.1039/C8TA05645E

https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2018/ta/c8ta05645e

‘Bi₂S₃ nanowire networks as electron acceptor layers in solution-processed hybrid solar cells’

Luisa Whittaker-Brooks, Jia Gao, Anna K. Hailey, Conor R. Thomas, Nan Yao, and Yueh-Lin Loo.
J. Mater. Chem. C, 2015,3, 2686-2692. DOI: 10.1039/C4TC02534B

https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2015/tc/c4tc02534b

Many congratulations again to Luisa, and don’t forget to take this opportunity to submit your own nomination for the 2023 Lectureship award. 

For more information and details on eligibility criteria and how to nominate a candidate, please visit the Journal of Materials Chemistry Lectureship webpage.

 The deadline for nominations is 25 June 2023

Nominate your candidate now!

With the opening of the 2023 Lectureship nominations we would like to take the opportunity to celebrate our previous Winner and Runner-Ups from the 2022 Lectureship.

To do this, we asked them a few interview questions to gain some retrospective insight into their successes. We also hope that this could serve as advice and guidance to those who would be nominated for the 2023 Lectureship and beyond.

We have included  Sahika’s responses below along with links to her past work for you to further explore.

Sahika Inal, Journal of Materials Chemistry 2022 Lectureship Winner

How did you feel when you were announced as the winner/runner-up of the 2022 Journal of Materials Chemistry Lectureship?

I was surprised, happy, grateful, and excited! A healthy balance of feelings which made me appreciate our community.

In your opinion, what would make for a strong candidate to be considered for the Lectureship?

I think service to the community is very important. We often think that academic excellence is the most important factor, but I feel that we are all doing significant scientific work, what probably makes a difference is how one contributes to the others.

Which of your JMC publications are you most proud of and why?

I am proud of all my publications and work my group members have contributed. The publication, Savva et al JMC C, 2018 is however the one I will not forget about as it was the first paper that came out of my independent group.

Do you have any advice for Early-Career researchers who wish to be nominated for the Lectureship award?

I wish them best of luck and suggest them to publish their best work in RSC.

At which upcoming conferences or events may our community meet you?

I will be at FPI in Raleigh, SPIE in San Diego, MRS Fall in Boston

Discover some of Sahika’s work here:

‘Ionic-to-electronic coupling efficiency in PEDOT:PSS films operated in aqueous electrolytes’

Achilleas Savva, Shofarul Wustoni and Sahika Inal.

J. Mater. Chem. C, 2018,6, 12023-12030 DOI: 10.1039/C8TC02195C

https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2018/tc/c8tc02195c

‘The effect of the donor moiety of DPP based polymers on the performance of organic electrochemical transistors.’

Yazhou Wang, Amer Hamidi-Sakr, Jokubas Surgailis, Yecheng Zhou, Hailiang Liao, Junxin Chen, Genming Zhu, Zhengke Li, Sahika Inal and Wan Yue.

Mater. Chem. C, 2021,9, 13338-13346 DOI: 10.1039/D1TC02994K

https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2021/tc/d1tc02994k

‘Propylene and butylene glycol: new alternatives to ethylene glycol in conjugated polymers for bioelectronic applications’

Maximilian Moser, Yazhou Wang, Tania Cecilia Hidalgo, Hailiang Liao, Yaping Yu, Junxin Chen, Jiayao Duan, Floriana Moruzzi, Sophie Griggs, Adam Marks, Nicola Gasparini, Andrew Wadsworth, Sahika Inal, Iain McCulloch and Wan Yue.

Mater. Horiz., 2022,9, 973-980 DOI: 10.1039/D1MH01889B

https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2022/mh/d1mh01889b

‘A guide for the characterization of organic electrochemical transistors and channel materials.’

David Ohayon, Victor Druet and Sahika Inal.
Chem. Soc. Rev., 2023,52, 1001-1023. DOI: 10.1039/D2CS00920J

https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2023/cs/d2cs00920j

Many congratulations again to Sahika, and don’t forget to take this opportunity to submit your own nomination for the 2023 Lectureship award. 

For more information and details on eligibility criteria and how to nominate a candidate, please visit the Journal of Materials Chemistry Lectureship webpage.

 The deadline for nominations is 25 June 2023

Nominate your candidate now!

We are delighted to announce that nominations are now OPEN for the prestigious 2023 Journal of Materials Chemistry Lectureship. Do you know an outstanding emerging scientist in the field of materials chemistry who deserves recognition? Nominate them today for a chance to win this respected award!

Established in 2010, this international lectureship honours early-career scientists who have made significant contributions to the field of materials chemistry, with previous recipients including Shaojun Guo, Christopher Bettinger, Henry Snaith, Maria Escudero-Escribano and last year’s winner Sahika Inal.

For more information and details on eligibility criteria and how to nominate a candidate, please visit the Journal of Materials Chemistry Lectureship webpage.

 The deadline for nominations is 25 June 2023

Nominate your candidate now

You are of course welcome to circulate this information more widely with any colleagues who might be interested in making a nomination. We look forward to receiving your nominations!

Find out more about our previous Journal of Materials Chemistry Lectureship winner, Prof. Sahika Inal and our runners-up Prof. Luisa Whittaker-Brooks and Dr Jessica Wade in our blog post