The first « Multi-Functional Materials: from Synthesis to Applications » workshop was held on June 27-29, 2023 at UPHF. This event is part of the cross-border materials cluster between UMONS and UPHF. This Materials Cluster was officially launched at the EUNICE alliance’s General Assembly in Valenciennes in June 2022. It brings together UMONS’ Institut des Matériaux, LAMIH (Dept. Méca), CERAMATHS and UPHF’s IEMN. These two universities form the basis of the EUNICE European alliance. The main objective of this workshop was to move towards more collaboration. The organizers (UMONS-UPHF) wanted to extend the event to all EUNICE alliance partners: University of Poznan, University of Catania, University of Cantabria and Karlstad University. The idea, of course, is to extend the Materials cluster to other universities in the EUNICE alliance.

More than 120 participants attended this first workshop on the following topics: materials synthesis (organic, inorganic, composites, etc.) and physico-chemical characterization, optical and electrical characterization on macro/micro and nano scales, …. The targeted applications are numerous: health, energy, biology, transport. The environment was at the heart of the topics: photovoltaics, CO2 emission reduction, green materials… New perspectives with « new » materials and manufacturing tools such as micro- and nanotechnologies, additive manufacturing… open up new challenges in many fields.

The second workshop is already scheduled for 2024, and will be organized at the University of Catania by Professor Cristina Satriano.