This is my last “end of the year message” as president of B-MRS, a position I had the honor of holding for 4 years. I would like to express my gratitude to the community for placing me at the head of such an important society, which so well summarizes the importance of interdisciplinary science that greatly benefits humanity. After all, without advances in materials science and technology – bringing together all the expertise present in our community – our world would be very different from what it is today!
In these 4 years, we have faced many challenges, the main one being the Covid-19 pandemic, which has made impossible the human contact which is so necessary for all of us. After all, it is often in a hallway conversation – one that is not scheduled via communication apps, that does not require a ‘raise of your hand’ and queuing to speak – that new ideas and new collaborations emerge. Despite this, we maintained an active society, with diverse live online events. We called on our partner companies, entrepreneurs, University Chapters, and other members of our community to fill this intolerable void the pandemic had created. And we had incredible responses, with examples that you can find today on our YouTube channel.
The return of in-person events in 2022 was fantastic, despite the difficult times our country has faced for many years. The massive presence of students and researchers gave us motivation and breath to create greater legal and financial security for our society and our future plans to address essential issues for a more equitable world, such as sustainability, inclusion and diversity.
To this end, I am sure that the elected board, which includes three members of the current board and assumes its mandate from January 4th, 2024, will continue the trajectory that we began to follow in the last two years and then create its own paths, always innovating , as is characteristic of B-MRS.
I would like to thank everyone who shared these last 4 years with me at the helm of our society. I don’t mention names, because they wouldn’t fit in this space. However, I could not fail to highlight and especially thank the SBPMat team: Verónica, Alexandre, Aline, Leandro and the staff at Aptor, who make our society always so welcoming to its members.
I wish you all an excellent end of the year, with good health, achievements and a future with lots of science ahead!!
Fondly,
Monica Cotta