Archive for the ‘Board News’ Category

Introducing new Materials Horizons Advisory Board members

Join us in welcoming Ye, Bernd, Mengye, Athina and Nan, our new Advisory Board members

Materials Horizons is delighted to announce five of our previous Community Board members have now joined our Advisory Board. We are very pleased to be able to continue working with Ye, Bernd, Mengye, Athina and Nan.

Below you can find the biographies of each of our new Advisory Board members as well as some insight into their research areas and perspectives on working on the Board.

Ye Zhou, Advisory Board member

Shenzhen University, China

Photo of Dr Zhou Prof. Ye Zhou is a group leader in the Institute for Advanced Study, Shenzhen University, China. He was elected as Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC) in 2021, ​Fellow of the Institute of Physics (FInstP) in 2022, and Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (FIET) in 2022. He received his B.S. from Nanjing University (2008), M.S. from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (2009) and Ph.D. from City University of Hong Kong (2013). He worked as postdoctoral fellow and senior research fellow in City University of Hong Kong (2013-2015) and joined Shenzhen University in 2015. His research interests include nanostructured materials and nano-scale devices for technological applications, such as neuromorphic electronics, logic circuits, memory, photonics, and sensors.

 

What does it mean to you to join the Advisory Board of Materials Horizons?

“I am very excited to join Materials Horizons. As an advisory board member, I can study from other members and share my knowledge and insights. It offers an excellent opportunity for networking and establishing valuable professional connections in materials research society.”

What is the current biggest challenge you face in your field?

“I work in the field of neuromorphic materials and devices. The biggest challenge I face is to discover high performance neuromorphic materials and integrate them into low power and intelligent system.”

Why do you feel that researchers should choose to publish their work in Materials Horizons?

“Materials Horizons is a prestigious and leading journal in materials science. We have a great editorial team and papers published in Materials Horizons can receive widespread attention.”

 

Bernd Schmidt, Advisory Board member

HHU Düsseldorf, Germany

Photo of Dr Schmidt Bernd M. Schmidt was born and raised in Berlin, Germany, he did his Ph.D. with Dieter Lentz at the Freie Universität Berlin and with Hidehiro Sakurai at the IMS in Okazaki, Japan, working on bowl-shaped aromatic hydrocarbons. Bernd stayed with a Humboldt research fellowship with Makoto Fujita at the University of Tokyo, Japan, and with Stefan Hecht at the HU Berlin, Germany. Since February 2018, he has been an independent research group leader at the HHU Düsseldorf in Germany, investigating functional and responsive supramolecular systems and materials. He became a member of the Young Academy of the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences, Humanities, and the Arts in 2020. In 2022, he received the Award of the Dr. Otto Röhm Memorial Foundation.

 

What does it mean to you to join the Advisory Board of Materials Horizons?

“I am both very excited and honoured to be able to continue to contribute to Materials Horizons. As a Community Board member, I already enjoyed the inspiring discussions with peers and the editors about topics and events, and I look forward to participating in shaping the future of the journal, the community, and the field of materials science.”

What in your field are you most excited about?

“When thinking about supramolecular materials, I become most excited about the possibility of challenging present metal-based systems and creating sophisticated materials using ideally metal-free, environmentally friendly building blocks that mimic or overcome the stability and physical characteristics of already-existing materials.”

Where do you see the materials science field in the next 10 years?

“There will be several noteworthy advances in materials chemistry. More research and development towards alternative energy storage and generation technologies like solar panels, batteries, and fuel cells will continue to play a significant role in the future.

Sustainable material development will become an ever-increasing priority for materials scientists. The future of 3D printing looks bright, with the potential to create increasingly sophisticated and useful materials. I predict that materials chemistry will remain an important scientific discipline with promising new breakthroughs during the next decade.”

 

Mengye Wang, Advisory Board member

Sun Yat-Sen University, China.

Photo of Dr Wong Dr Mengye Wang obtained her PhD from the Department of Chemistry, Xiamen University, Fujian, China, (2010 – 2015) one year and a half of which was spent as a visiting PhD student at Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta. She completed her post-doctoral fellowship in Applied Physics at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (2018) and was shortly appointed her current role as Associate Professor at the School of Materials, Sun Yat-sen University. Dr Wang’s interests lie within the field of photocatalytic, electrocatalytic and piezocatalytic H2 evolution, CO2 reduction, Nfixation and H2O2 generation. Wang has been an active community board member for Materials Horizons and later in 2019 accepted an Advisory Board role for Materials Advances and Journal of Materials Chemistry A.

 

What in your field are you most excited about?

“To develop our understanding of pollution-free and low-cost materials design, in a way which can be truly applied to this generation of clean energy and pollution control.

 

Athina Anastasaki, Advisory Board member

ETH Zurich, Switzerland.

Photo of Dr Anastasaki Athina Anastasaki was born and raised in Athens, Greece and obtained her B.S. in Chemistry at the University of Athens. She then commenced her PhD studies at the University of Warwick under the supervision of Prof. Dave Haddleton and graduated in late 2014 with the Jon Weaver award for the best PhD in polymer chemistry in the UK. In early 2015, she accepted a Monash-​Warwick research fellow position between the Pharmaceutical department at Monash University and the University of Warwick, jointly supervised by Professor Thomas Davis and Professor Dave Haddleton. She then received an Elings Fellowship, followed by a Global Marie Curie Fellowship, to conduct research alongside Professor Craig Hawker at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Since January 2019, she is an Assistant Professor at ETH and her group focuses on fundamental polymer synthesis, depolymerization and self-assembly predominantly in the area of controlled radical polymerization. 

Athina has co-authored over 115 peer-reviewed publications and has been the recipient of the ACS Macro letters/ Macromonomers/ Biomacromolecules Young Investigator Award, an ERC starting Grant, the Hanwha-Total IUPAC Young Scientist Award and the Golden Owl award, which is in recognition of outstanding faculty teaching. Athina also currently serves as an Associate Editor in the RSC journal Polymer Chemistry.

What does it mean to you to join the Advisory Board of Materials Horizons?

It is a great honour to join the advisory board of Materials Horizons. RSC has a special place in my heart as I very much appreciate publishers who put people above publications.’

What in your field are you most excited about?

‘I am very excited about recent efforts in sustainable polymers, self-healing materials, polymeric recycling and 3D/4D printing. I am also impressed by recent developments in imaging and polymer characterization.’

 

Nan Zhang, Advisory Board member

Hunan University, China     

Photo of Dr Zhang Nan Zhang is a Professor in College of Materials Science and Engineering, Hunan University. Her main research interests include the design and optical properties of metal-based composites for photocatalytic applications and their mechanism investigations.

 

 

What does it mean to you to join the Advisory Board of Materials Horizons?

“Joining the Advisory Board of Materials Horizons is an opportunity to share my expertise and knowledge to a global community of experts in the area of materials science. It could also provide me with the chance to collaborate with other like-minded individuals and make a meaningful impact on the future of materials chemistry. Additionally, being a part of the Advisory Board of Materials Horizons could offer opportunities for networking and professional development, as well as exposure to new ideas and perspectives.”

What in your field are you most excited about?

“Regulation of the optical properties of metal nanostructures is an important aspect of photocatalysis, as it can significantly affect the efficiency and selectivity of photocatalytic reactions, which is one of my research interests. To regulate the optical properties of metal nanostructures in photocatalytic systems, we employ various techniques such as surface engineering, material synthesis, and optoelectronic design.

Why do you feel that researchers should choose to publish their work in Materials Horizons?

“Materials Horizons is well-suited for publishing work that explores the properties, applications, and development of new materials. Materials Horizons has a large and diverse readership, including researchers, students, and industry professionals in the field of materials chemistry. This indicates that authors who publish their work in the journal can reach a wide audience and engage with other experts in the field. Moreover, Materials Horizons has a dedicated team of experienced editors who provide thorough and constructive feedback to authors throughout the publication process, facilitating authors to benefit from expert support and guidance in improving their research and preparing it for publication.”

 

Call for Nominations

Join our community board banner

In light of our new Advisory Board members, we are now seeking engaged and interested early career researchers to join our Community Board.  

We are inviting nominations for both Materials Horizons and Nanoscale Horizons at this time, please do feel free to state a preference of journal in your nomination, however this is not mandatory, and each nomination will be assessed for suitability for both Materials Horizons and Nanoscale Horizons.

For eligibility and how to nominate please see our Call for Nominations blog for full details.

The deadline for submission of nominations is 19th July 2023.

For more information, please refer to the Materials and Nanoscale Horizons Community Board FAQs.

To find out more about the journals, please visit the journal webpages at: rsc.li/materials-horizons and rsc.li/nanoscale-horizons.

 

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Join our Materials Horizons and Nanoscale Horizons Community Board!

Call for nominations

We are looking for engaged and interested early career researchers to assist in the development of high quality and innovative journals, from a learned society publisher, in rapidly expanding areas of science. 

The purpose of the Community Board for both Materials Horizons and Nanoscale Horizons is to provide a channel for communication and engagement between the materials and nanoscience student, postdoctoral and early career researcher community and the journals’ Executive Editor and Editorial Boards.

Join our community board banner

Guidelines for Nominators

We are inviting nominations for both journals at this time, please do feel free to state a preference of journal in your nomination, however this is not mandatory, and each nomination will be assessed for suitability for both Materials Horizons and Nanoscale Horizons.

  • Nominations are open to PhD candidates and active researchers who received their PhD (or equivalent degree, if applicable) no more than eight years prior to 1 January 2023. Appropriate consideration will be given to candidates from all research backgrounds (academic or industrial) and to those who have taken a career break or followed a different study path. Please do reach out to the editorial office to discuss any eligibility considerations.
  • Any Principal Investigator can nominate someone for the Community Board. Candidates may self-nominate but all nominations should include a separate supporting statement from an active Principal Investigator as outlined below.

To make a nomination please provide the information below to materialshorizons-rsc@rsc.org using this Community Board Nomination Form.

  • The candidate’s name, affiliation, research group, position and contact details, along with a brief CV
  • The nominator’s name, affiliation, position and contact details.
  • A short personal statement from the candidate describing what they will bring to the role in terms of advising and being an advocate for the journal. This must be no longer than 500 words.
  • A supporting statement from an active Principal Investigator (no more than 500 words) addressing the selection criteria (see below).

Selection criteria for Materials Horizons and Nanoscale Horizons Community Boards

The Executive Editor and members of the Editorial Boards will consider the following aspects of all nominations for the Community Boards as appropriate:

  • Profile within institute and/or community
  • Service to the community
  • Area and quality of research
  • Motivation to join Community Board

The deadline for submission of nominations is 19th July 2023.

For more information, please refer to the Materials and Nanoscale Horizons Community Board FAQs.

To find out more about the journal and for a list of current Community Board members, please visit the journal webpages at: rsc.li/materials-horizons and rsc.li/nanoscale-horizons.

 

 

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Introducing Jean-Luc Brédas as a new Scientific Editor on Materials Horizons

Materials Horizons are delighted to welcome Professor Jean-Luc Brédas from the University of Arizona, USA as a Scientific Editor.

 

Professor Jean-Luc Bredas received his B.Sc. (1976) and Ph.D. (1979) degrees from the University of Namur, Belgium. In 1988, he was appointed Professor at the University of Mons, Belgium, where he established the Laboratory for Chemistry of Novel Materials. While keeping an “Extraordinary Professorship” appointment in Mons, he joined the University of Arizona in 1999. In 2003, he moved to the Georgia Institute of Technology where he became Regents’ Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry and held the Vasser-Woolley and Georgia Research Alliance Chair in Molecular Design. Between 2014 and 2016, he joined King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) as a Distinguished Professor and served as Director of the KAUST Solar & Photovoltaics Engineering Research Center. He returned to Georgia Tech in 2017 before moving back to the University of Arizona in 2020 where he is currently Regents Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Jean-Luc Brédas is an elected Member of the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science, the Royal Academy of Belgium, and the European Academy of Sciences. Recent honors include the 2013 American Physical Society David Adler Lectureship Award in the Field of Materials Physics, the 2016 American Chemical Society Award in the Chemistry of Materials, the 2019 Alexander von Humboldt Research Award, the 2020 Materials Research Society Materials Theory Award, and the 2021 Centenary Prize of the RSC. He is an Honorary Professor of the Institute of Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and holds an Adjunct Professorship at the Georgia Institute of Technology. His Focus Article “Mind the Gap” is the first article that appeared in the very first issue of Materials Horizons.

 

Read our interview with Jean-Luc below.

 

1. What attracted you to pursue a career in materials science and how did you get to where you are now?

 It was initially a love for chemistry, which grew into a passion for computational chemistry and organic chemistry. With organic materials becoming increasingly appealing because of their opto-electronic properties and broad range of applications, I gradually evolved into a computational materials scientist.

 

2. Why did you choose to specialize in your specific research field?

Because of a major scientific event that took place as I was starting my Ph.D.: The then-surprising discovery by Alan Heeger, Alan McDiarmid, and Hideki Shirakawa in late 1976 that organic polymers can be made highly electrically conducting, which led to the 2000 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. That discovery is what decided where I wanted to do my post-doc and everything else followed from there.

 

3. What do you see as the most important scientific achievement of the last decade?

Given the pandemic context, the development of m-RNA based vaccines springs to mind. In my field, the emergence of bio-organic electronics is very exciting as well as that of organic-inorganic hybrid perovskites.

 

4. What excites you most about your area of research and what has been the most exciting moment of your career so far?

The fact that the area of organic electronics and photonics combines the need for understanding of fundamental scientific processes with real-world applications: OLED displays are so cool!

 

5. Which of your Materials Horizons publications are you most proud of and why?

It turns out that I signed the very first article published by the journal in early 2014: “Mind the Gap”. It was a Focus Article, which many told me has been very useful to get clear ideas of the distinctions among band gap, optical gap, transport gap, etc.

 

6. Why do you feel that researchers should choose to publish their work in Materials Horizons?

 Because of the journal’s high standards; because their work is initially assessed by scientific editors who are fellow active researchers; and because the journal highlights the new conceptual advances that the authors’ quality work brings forward.

 

7. What attracted you to join the Editorial Board of Materials Horizons?

I was a member of the original Editorial Advisory Board of the journal. I was seduced by the vision that the then Chair of the Editorial Board, Seth Marder, brought to what has become the flagship materials journal of the RSC. I am happy now to be in a position to contribute more directly.

 

8. The Materials Horizons team is delighted to welcome you to the Editorial Board. What are you most looking forward to when acting as a Scientific Editor for the journal?

What I hope to contribute is to a healthy growth of the journal where we strive to keep increasing its high standards, to make sure all members of the materials community are actively involved in its evolution, and to promote respect, diversity, and inclusion in everything we do for the journal.

 

9. What impact do you feel that your area of research can make over the next 10 years?

The application of organic optoelectronics on the bio side and its contributions to personalized medicine as well as to healthcare in developing countries. The appearance of organic solar cells out in the real world. The discovery of exotic quantum phases in purely organic π-conjugated materials.

 

10. What is your favourite reaction or material, and why?

I’ll have to say trans-polyacetylene, even though it is not a polymer that will have big-time applications given its instability. However, this is the material that arguably started the interest in the optoelectronic properties of organics. Also, the wealth of physics behind its deceivingly simple chemical structure is amazing!

 

 11. Why should young people study chemistry or related subjects?

The events of the past two years as well as the dark issues facing our planet, make it more important than ever that the young generations embark on scientific studies, combined with the right political activism.

 

12. What is your biggest passion outside of science?

My family and soccer. It is a blast that both our daughters now live in Tucson and we can see them very often. Soccer-wise, it is nice to realize that the US are increasingly embracing the “beautiful game”; it’s comforting as well that “I’ll never walk alone”.

 

Submit to Materials Horizons now! Check out our author guidelines for information on our article types or find out more about the advantages of publishing in a Royal Society of Chemistry journal.

Keep up to date with our latest articles, reviews, collections & more by following us on TwitterFacebook or by signing up to our E-Alerts.

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Welcome to new Community Board member Weilai Yu

We are delighted to welcome a new Community Board member to Materials Horizons – join us in welcoming Weilai Yu to the journal!!

The Materials Horizons Community Board is made up of early career researchers, such as PhD students and postdocs, that are fundamental in the future development of the materials field.

We are pleased to welcome Weilai Yu to this outstanding group of early career researchers. 

Headshot of Weilai Yu

 

 

Weilai Yu, Stanford University, USA

ORCID: 0000-0002-9420-0702

Dr. Weilai Yu is currently a postdoc scholar of Chemical Engineering at Stanford working with Prof. Zhenan Bao. In 2021, he obtained his Ph.D in Chemistry at Caltech working with Prof. Nathan S. Lewis. His research interests include solar fuels, electrochemistry, Li battery and materials interface.

Connect with Weilai on Twitter: @yuweilai93 

 

 

Check out Weilai’s most recent publications in the Royal Society of Chemistry:

Catalytic open-circuit passivation by thin metal oxide films of p-Si anodes in aqueous alkaline electrolytes
Harold J. Fu, Pakpoom Buabthong, Zachary Philip Ifkovits, Weilai Yu, Bruce S. Brunschwig and Nathan S. Lewis
Energy Environ. Sci., 2022,15, 334-345, DOI: 10.1039/D1EE03040J

Investigations of the stability of etched or platinized p-InP(100) photocathodes for solar-driven hydrogen evolution in acidic or alkaline aqueous electrolytes
Weilai Yu,  Matthias H. Richter,  Pakpoom Buabthong, Ivan A. Moreno-Hernandez, Carlos G. Read, Ethan Simonoff, Bruce S. Brunschwig and Nathan S. Lewis
Energy Environ. Sci., 2021,14, 6007-6020, DOI: 10.1039/D1EE02809J

Investigations of the stability of GaAs for photoelectrochemical H2 evolution in acidic or alkaline aqueous electrolytes
Weilai Yu, Matthias H. Richter, Ethan Simonoff, Bruce S. Brunschwig and Nathan S. Lewis
J. Mater. Chem. A, 2021,9, 22958-22972, DOI: 10.1039/D1TA04145B

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Welcome to our new Scientific Editor David Scanlon

We are delighted to welcome our new Materials Horizons Scientific Editor to the journal’s Editorial Board: David Scanlon of University College London, UK (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9174-8601)
“I am very much looking forward to supporting the computational materials science community and the wider materials science community as a Scientific Editor for Materials Horizons. Computational research is now a vital partner for experimental research as we search for the next generation of advanced materials, and I am excited to see the best and brightest new ideas being submitted to Materials Horizons.”
David Scanlon is Chair of Computational Materials Design at the Department of Chemistry, University College London, where he leads the Scanlon Materials Theory Group (SMTG). David gained his BA.(Mod) Computational Chemistry in 2006 and PhD in Chemistry in 2011 from Trinity College Dublin, where he carried out his research under the supervision of Professor Graeme W Watson. In 2011 he moved to the UK to University College London (UCL) to take up a Ramsay Fellowship in the Department of Chemistry, hosted by Professor Sir Richard Catlow, FRS. In September of 2013 he was appointed to a Lectureship in the Department of Chemistry at UCL, a joint appointment with Diamond Light Source, and was promoted to Reader in 2016 and Professor in 2018. He is an ERC Starting grant holder (2018-2023), and was awarded the the Harrison-Meldola Memorial Prize in 2015 and the Materials Chemistry Division Early Career Award in 2021 from the RSC. His group’s work is at the forefront of the global effort to explore new materials based on computations and to advance the capacity of first principles calculations to predict materials properties. The group is currently working on new materials for Li- ion batteries, understanding novel materials for photovoltaics and photocatalysis, and optimising materials for thin film displays. The group regularly publishes with experimental groups working in complementary areas of materials science from around the globe.

Read some of David’s recent Articles:
Latest directions in p-type transparent conductor design
J. Mater. Chem. C, 2021, Advance Article
J. Mater. Chem. A, 2021, Advance Article
Mater. Horiz., 2021, Advance Article

Submit your best work to David and our team of Scientific Editors now! Check out our author guidelines for information on our article types or find out more about the advantages of publishing in a Royal Society of Chemistry journal.
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Welcome to our new Editorial Board Chair, Martina Stenzel

Please join us in welcoming our new Editorial Board Chair to Materials HorizonsProfessor Martina Stenzel of the University of New South Wales, Australia (ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6433-4419).
“I have been with Materials Horizons since the beginning of the journal, and I always liked how the journal tried to involve researchers at various stages of their career. For me it is important to be inclusive and have a journal that represents all researchers and is respectful of their opinion. As Editorial Board Chair I would like to see that Material Horizons reflects the changes in science and the society.”


Martina Stenzel studied chemistry at the University of Bayreuth, Germany, before completing her PhD in 1999 at the Institute of Applied Macromolecular Chemistry, University of Stuttgart, Germany. She then started working as a postdoctoral Fellow at the UNESCO Centre for Membrane Science and Technology at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, Australia, before being appointed as lecture in 2002 at the same University. In 2012 she was promoted to full Professor and is now UNSW Scientia Professor and ARC (Australian Research Council) Laureate Fellow. In 2018 she was elected as Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science. Her research interest is focused on the synthesis of functional polymers nanoparticles and their use as drug delivery carriers. Martina has been a Scientific Editor on the Materials Horizons Editorial Board since June 2014.

Read her recent articles:

J. Mater. Chem. B, 2021, Advance Article

Mater. Horiz., 2020, 7, 1727-1758

Polym. Chem., 2020,11, 7253-7263

We would also like to take this opportunity to thank our previous Editorial Board Chair, Seth Marder, for eight years of service on Materials Horizons since its launch. He looks back on the first eight years of the journal:
“We set out some guiding principles for the creation of Materials Horizons and some distinguishing characteristics that we felt were important. Very specifically, Materials Horizons had the goal of providing the community with a multidisciplinary society-based journal that focuses broadly on the area of materials. I believe that we are, in our own small way, helping to invest in the future of our discipline and benefit from the valuable input. I am very grateful to have been given the opportunity to contribute to these activities.”

I hope you will join us in welcoming Martina and thanking Seth for his past contribution.

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Materials Horizons & Nanoscale Horizons Community Boards

General information

The purpose of the Community Board for both Materials Horizons and Nanoscale Horizons is to provide a channel for communication between the materials and nanoscience student and early career researcher community and the journals’ Executive Editor and Editorial Boards, and also to facilitate student and postdoctoral (or equivalent) engagement with Materials Horizonand Nanoscale Horizons. We are looking for engaged and interested early career researchers who will see this as an opportunity to assist in the development of an innovative journal, from a learned society publisher, in rapidly expanding areas of science. We are inviting nominations for both journals at this time, please do feel free to state a preference of journal in your nomination, however this is not mandatory and each nomination will be assessed for suitability for both Materials Horizons and Nanoscale Horizons Community Boards.

Guidelines for Nominators

We are inviting nominations for both journals at this time, please do feel free to state a preference of journal in your nomination, however this is not mandatory and each nomination will be assessed for suitability for both Materials Horizons and Nanoscale Horizons Community Boards.

  • Any Principle Investigator can nominate someone for the Community Board of either Materials Horizons or Nanoscale Horizons. Candidates must not nominate themselves.
  • Nominations are open to PhD candidates and active researchers who received their PhD (or equivalent degree, if applicable) no more than eight years prior to 1 November 2019. Appropriate consideration will be given to candidates from all research backgrounds (academic or industrial) and to those who have taken a career break or followed a different study path.

To make a nomination please provide the information outlined below to materialshorizons-rsc@rsc.org.

  • The nominator’s name, affiliation, position and contact details
  • The candidate’s name, affiliation, research group, position and contact details
  • A supporting statement from the nominator (no more than 750 words) addressing the selection criteria (see below)
  • A short personal statement from the candidate describing what they will bring to the role in terms of advising and being an advocate for the journal. This must be no longer than 250 words.
  • An up-to-date CV for the candidate, including publication history (if any)

Selection criteria for Materials Horizons and Nanoscale Horizons Community Boards

The Executive Editor and members of the Editorial Boards will consider the following aspects of all nominations for the Community Boards as appropriate:

  • Impact of research
  • Quality of publications and/or patents and/or software
  • Profile within institute and/or community
  • Service to the community

Materials and Nanoscale Horizons Community Board_FAQs

The deadline for submission of nominations is 27th January, 2020.

For more information about the journal and for a list of current Community Board members, please visit the journal webpage at: rsc.li/materials-horizons

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Congratulations to Professor Martina Stenzel

Professor Martina Stenzel, from The University of New South Wales and one of our excellent Scientific Editors, has been elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science!

As a world-leading researcher in polymer chemistry and its applications, she has provided vital support to Materials Horizons by upholding the stringent requirements of exceptional significance.

Here in a video recorded for the Australian Academy of Sciences, she discusses her research and motivations: https://youtu.be/NBD6L5dj_dc 

Check out some of her recent articles:

Spatially resolved coding of λ-orthogonal hydrogels by laser lithographyChem. Commun., 2018, 54, 2436-2439

Entry of nanoparticles into cells: the importance of nanoparticle propertiesPolym. Chem., 2018, 9, 259-272

Penetration and drug delivery of albumin nanoparticles into pancreatic multicellular tumor spheroidsJ. Mater. Chem. B, 2017, 5, 9591-9599

The living dead – common misconceptions about reversible deactivation radical polymerizationMater. Horiz., 2016,3, 471-477

 

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Congratulations to our Highly Cited board members!

We are delighted to have many world-leading materials science researchers on our Editorial Board and on our Advisory Board, helping to guide Materials Horizons as a premier journal publishing first reports of exceptional significance.

Many have been recognized in Clarivate Analytics’ recently published 2017 Highly Cited Researchers list!

Congratulations from the Materials Horizons team to…

…Editorial Board members

…and Advisory Board members

  • Paul Blom, Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Germany
  • Yong Cao, South China University of Technology, China
  • Naomi Halas, Rice University, USA, Rice University, USA
  • Martin Heeney, Imperial College London, UK
  • Taeghwan Hyeon, Seoul National University, South Korea
  • René Janssen, Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands
  • Susumu Kitagawa, Kyoto University, Japan
  • Frederik Krebs, Elite Science, Denmark
  • Nathan Lewis, California Institute of Technology, USA
  • Bin Liu, National University of Singapore, Singapore
  • Chad Mirkin, Northwestern University, USA
  • John A Rogers, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA
  • Yi Xie, University of Science and Technology of China, China
  • Peidong Yang, University of California, Berkeley, USA
  • Shu-Hong Yu, University of Science and Technology of China, China
  • Dongyuan Zhao, Fudan University, China

Click on their names to check out some of their most recently published work in Materials Horizons.

If you think you might have some work that represents a brand new concept of exceptional significance then get in touch on materialshorizons-rsc@rsc.org

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Crystallizing Ideas on Amorphous MOFs in Kyoto – A Short Term Visit

Materials Horizons Community Board member Dr Thomas Bennett tells us about a research trip he recently took to Kyoto, Japan which was funded by a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science short term fellowship.

Tom started a Royal Society University Research Fellowship at the University of Cambridge in 2016, along with a visiting adjunct professor position at The Wuhan University of Technology. He also holds a visiting scientist position at CSIRO Melbourne. In 2017/2018, Tom is also Director of Studies for Materials Science, at Trinity Hall, Cambridge University. He has been fortunate enough to receive the EPSRC post-doctoral prize (2012) and the Panalytical award for an outstanding contribution to X-ray diffraction (2013).

 

His latest research on the discovery of the first liquid metal-organic-framework was featured in Chemistry World earlier this month.

 

You recently spent a month in Kyoto, Japan visiting the group of Professor Satoshi Horike and Professor Susumu Kitagawa on a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) short term post-doctoral fellowship. What motivated you to consider making this journey?

The research of my group is focused on metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), which are sponge-like compounds formed by networks of inorganic ‘bricks’ linked organic ligands. However, we place an emphasis on the amorphous, or non-crystalline state, and specifically MOF-liquids and melt quenched glasses. The latter is the first new family of glass-formers discovered since the 1970s, and has been gathering much attention.

The group based in the Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (ICeMS) is world renowned for excellence in the field of coordination polymers, and are also interested in the glassy and liquid states of hybrid polymeric systems. I’ve met both Satoshi and Susumu on multiple occasions at conferences, and we share the same desire to broaden the field and investigate the non-crystalline domain. We made a conscious decision to take the time to set up a lasting collaborative relationship between our two groups, given our common research interests. This was made easier by the fact we get along extremely well and we can be open about our research with one another!

 

How did you go about applying for the JSPS fellowship? Do you have any tips for others who might be thinking of applying as well?

The application form is short and easy to fill out – and the JSPS office in London is extremely helpful. There are several deadlines per year, and your Japanese proposed host institution will guide you through the process if unsure. I’d strongly encourage anyone interested in a stay with a Japanese Institution to get in touch with a local contact and discuss the possibilities.

 

What was the focus of the research that you carried out in Japan?

We focused on the links between coordination polymers and MOFs in the non-crystalline domain, and carried out some experiments aimed at understanding the chemical opportunities and variability in the area. We also have set up our two groups to work together experimentally, and samples should start to be exchanged soon!

 

Do you have any exciting results or collaborations planned in the future as a result? Are there any publications we should keep an eye out for?

We do! Aside from some promising early experimental results which are being followed up upon now, we hope to be able to provide our thoughts on how the non-crystalline coordination polymer and metal-organic field will develop in the long run. We’ve had some excellent advice on how to do this along the way, which will hopefully make it an enjoyable read when it comes together!

 

What impact do you think this experience will have on you and your research in the future?

The Royal Society University Research Fellowship that I am extremely fortunate to have, offers me freedom to explore the real edges and interfaces of science as it evolves, and there is no doubt that the exchange will benefit both our research groups – be it through student exchanges or sharing our different experimental capabilities.

I’m currently looking for new students and members, full details of which can be found on the group website: https://tdbennettgroup.wordpress.com/.

Personally, the experience was invaluable. I am busy building up my group as a Royal Society University Research Fellow, and it’s really valuable to be able to learn from Satoshi, who is further on in his career. Long term planning, strategy and research environment is particularly important.

 

What were the best and most challenging aspects of your month away?

Well, the research first and foremost! Aside from that, Kyoto is simply a stunning city, and a bike is absolutely the best way to get around it. Waking up with sunrise at 6am and cycling around beautiful gardens, temples and cobbled lanes gives you a real taste of peace and quiet before the day really gets going! One of my hobbies is travelling – seeing beautiful sights, learning about different cultures, meeting new people and (especially) eating wonderful cuisines. In all cases, Kyoto was perfect.

As always when you are away from home, the occasional loneliness could have been an issue – you always want to share the best experiences with somebody. This was never an issue in Kyoto. Alongside my hosts, I’m particularly grateful to Prof. Shuhei Furukawa, Dr. Sanjog Nagarkar, Dr. Jet Lee, Dr. Gavin Craig and Ms. Azuma for making me feel so welcome!

My partner, Helena, also joined me for a week in the middle of the stay, and we took the opportunity to visit the mountainous Hida region.

 

Are you attending any conferences or events next year where our readers might meet you?

I will be at EuroMOF 2017 in Delft in late October, and then giving an inorganic seminar in Berkeley with Prof. Omar Yaghi in January 2017. Beyond that, I’m part of the organising team for the Annual UK MOF Symposium, which will be held at the University of Southampton on the 9th and 10th April 2018. I will be back in Japan for the ICCC 2018 in Sendai, early August, and then in New Zealand for the biannual MOF conference in December 2018.

I’ve recently gotten into Twitter, so follow me @thomasdbennett for a rough idea of my whereabouts!

 

And finally, what is the one piece of career-related advice that you wish you’d received as an early-career scientist?

I’ve had the immense privilege of working with many great scientists (too many to name them all!) who have supported me no end, including Prof. Tony Cheetham, Prof. David Keen, Prof. Andrew Goodwin, Dr Nick Bampos and Prof. Dirk De Vos. Dr. Ross Forgan, University of Glasgow, is a Royal Society Research Fellow about 5 years on from me and he has been great as well.

A new idea and a novel area always help, although it’s easy for me to say now! I think that as long as you look after your students, appreciate the value of your collaborators, stay grounded and keep a smile on your face, then you will be able to remain grateful for what is a fantastic career.

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