IUMRS Regional Office in Africa

You are cordially invited to attend a lecture on recent advancements in perovskite solar cells, which have achieved significant improvements in power conversion efficiency but continue to face challenges in stability and scalability. The presentation will highlight key strategies for enhancing material performance and long-term stability.

The lecture will be delivered by Professor Mmantsae Diale, South African Research Chair in Clean and Green Energy and Full Professor of Physics at the University of Pretoria, an accomplished researcher with extensive contributions to materials science and sustainable energy.

Join us as Professor Ouma explores a radical shift from traditional AI material prediction to self-organizing ecosystems where AI agents act as virtual scientists, labs, and reviewers. This “simulation-first” approach uses synthetic intuition to evolve and debate new materials within a digital universe, discovering improbable compounds long before they reach a physical experiment. For more info please view attached abstract and speaker biography.

With seabirds trapped in multipack drink rings, and mid-ocean islands of indestructible rubbish, the idea that plastics could play a big part in a sustainable future world might seem far-fetched. However, new smart plastics may yet rescue the reputation of this all-consuming 20th century material. Research into ‘cool plastics’ for cars and buildings could reduce the need for air conditioning and, thus, improve their energy efficiency. We will present recent efforts to design plastics of desired optical functions targeted for a greener world. We will discuss the potential of such systems that can offer the same flexibility, softness and light weight as commodity plastics but can control the flow of light and heat therefore assisting energy management in buildings and greenhouses in the form of heat mirrors, photovoltaic applications when used as anti-reflection coatings and semi-transparent mirrors, as well as building blocks for novel optical structures that can lead to quantum devices.

In this talk, Prof Chwee will delve into the transformative potential of wearable technologies and artificial intelligence (AI) in revolutionising healthcare. With the advent of smart wearables, point-of-care diagnostics, health data analytics and AI algorithms, we are witnessing a paradigm shift in how we monitor, diagnose, and treat health conditions. We will cover several innovative wearable health technologies and health metaverse that we have developed through an interdisciplinary collaboration among engineers, scientists, clinicians, industrial partners and entrepreneurs. As we enter into the era of precision medicine, our smart health technologies and AI will contribute towards the future of health diagnostics and monitoring, that will not only be about early diagnosis but also precise therapy.

Pablo Jarillo-Herrero, a leading physicist and MIT professor, is known for his pioneering research in experimental condensed matter physics, particularly in quantum electronic transport and optoelectronics of two-dimensional materials. In his upcoming talk, he will review the fundamentals of moiré quantum matter—a platform that has emerged from the discovery of correlated phases and superconductivity in magic angle twisted bilayer graphene—and will highlight its rich array of quantum phenomena, including correlated insulators, superconductivity, magnetism, and ferroelectricity. He will also discuss recent advances in the field and will conclude with an outlook on promising future directions. Prof. Jarillo-Herrero has received numerous prestigious awards and honors recognizing his significant contributions to physics.

Prof. Miserez will explore the innovative world of phase-separating peptide (PSP) coacervate microdroplets (CMs) and their potential as a groundbreaking delivery system for biomacromolecular therapeutics. Prepare to discover how precise control over CM properties can significantly boost cellular uptake and cargo release, revolutionizing the delivery of proteins, genes, and gene-editing tools. This cutting-edge approach promises remarkable transfection efficacy, even in challenging cell types, and holds immense promise for the future of gene and cell therapies. For more details, please see the attached file.