September 29, 2024, a sunny Sunday with mild temperatures. Through the glass façade of the Blue Med Convention Center, we see the end of the estuary of Santos with its port complex, which is the largest in Latin America.
At the secretariat, open since 8:30 am, people pick up their badges. They all have one interest in common: Materials Science and Technology. They will enjoy the rich program of the twenty-second edition of the B-MRS Meeting, the scientific event held annually by the Brazilian Materials Research Society, always in different cities in Brazil.
This edition, which took place in the city of Santos, on the coast of the state of São Paulo, from September 29 to October 3, saw a record number of participants: 1,777 people from 36 countries around the world and 24 states in Brazil. Just over 40% of them were professors, researchers, business professionals and post-doctoral students. And almost 60% were undergraduate, master’s or doctoral students.
Opening with 1,250 people in the room
“For us, the students are the most important part of the event,” said Ivan Bechtold (UFSC), president of B-MRS, at the opening ceremony of the event, held on Sunday at 7 pm, in front of an audience of about 1,250 people. The scientist recalled his first participation in the annual B-MRS Meeting, in 2004, when he was still a doctoral student. Later, he organized one of the event’s symposia. In 2019, he was the general chair of the B-MRS Meeting. And today he presides over the society.
The B-MRS event, in fact, provides many Brazilian students with very valuable experiences that are typical of international scientific conferences, but on national soil. In this edition, social networks were responsible for demonstrating this, through posts from participants sharing, for example, that they were giving their first presentation, whether oral or poster, or that they were acting for the first time as chairs of a session.
In addition to the B-MRS president, the opening table of the XXII B-MRS Meeting included the event chairs, Lucas Fugikawa Santos (professor at UNESP Rio Claro) and Laura Oliveira Peres (professor at Unifesp); the president of the International Union of Materials Research Societies (IUMRS), Osvaldo Novais de Oliveira Junior (professor at IFSC-USP), and the pro-rector of Graduate Studies and Research at Unifesp, Fernando Atique. The master of ceremonies was Eduard Westphal, professor at UFSC.
In his speech, Lucas Santos also addressed the students. “I participated in the first B-MRS event in 2002, when I was finishing my doctorate,” he said. “It will be a pleasure to see students who are participating in this edition being chairs of the event in 22 years!”
In his speech, Atique highlighted the importance of developing materials to build a better world and its impact on all sectors of the economy, while Oliveira Junior recalled that collaboration is essential to face global challenges and that scientists have a fundamental role to play in overcoming these challenges. “We have to work hard and together,” he said.
After discussing the event’s program and thanking everyone for their participation, coordinator Laura Peres encouraged attendees to make the most of the meeting. “Interact with your peers, challenge your ideas and explore new research avenues so that, together, we can push the boundaries of Materials Science and contribute to a more sustainable and innovative future,” she said.
After the opening speeches, the room was filled with lightness and joy with the song “Here comes the sun”, by the Beatles. On the three screens, a photo of a sunrise and the text “Here comes the Sunlight”. On the stage, very excited, was the IFUSP professor Marília Junqueira Caldas, a researcher in the area of Materials Physics for 45 years, ready to begin the Memorial Lecture Joaquim da Costa Ribeiro, an honor from B-MRS for researchers with a long and distinguished trajectory within the community.
During her talk, Marília shared with those present her pleasure in scientific discovery driven by curiosity. The scientist told the story of her main contributions to understanding the behavior of various semiconductors, such as silicon, some polymers, graphene and, more recently, materials for use in solar energy, which set the tone for the talk.
[Read our interview with Marília Junqueira Caldas.]
New activities in special sessions and at the booths
Although the sunny Sunday invited a pleasant walk along the seafront in the famous Jardim da Orla de Santos, more than 280 people decided to take advantage of the day to train themselves by participating in the four pre-event short courses, lasting 3 or 6 hours, that the XXII B-MRS Meeting offered, at no extra cost, to participants. In these sessions, renowned experts shared their knowledge on nanoparticle synthesis, microscopy techniques (TEM, 4DSTEM) and writing and publishing scientific articles.
In addition, throughout the week, event attendees were able to enjoy other special sessions. On Monday morning, the American Chemical Society brought ACS on Campus to the B-MRS Meeting, a session to learn about academic publishing and meet editors. On Tuesday afternoon, between 3 and 4 p.m., participants could choose from ten lectures and discussion panels that took place in parallel. Instead of researchers from the field, different guests took the stage at these special sessions: journalists, entrepreneurs, startup investors, representatives of scientific publishers, experts from the scientific instrumentation market… The highlight of this special moment in the program were the three roundtables with their lively discussions about successful scientific dissemination and extension projects, the challenges of being a woman and a scientist, and the possibilities for scientists who want to be entrepreneurs.
Interaction and entertainment were also present in the exhibitors’ area. The booths hosted a wide range of activities: prize raffles, technology demonstrations, competitions and challenges. There were 36 exhibitors at this edition of the event, including companies of research instruments and supplies, research centers, startups and scientific publishers.
Symposia: more than 1,700 contributions presented with much scientific discussion
Between Monday and Thursday, 1,732 research contributions were effectively presented within the 29 thematic symposia that comprised the event. To make this possible, around one hundred researchers from 17 countries acted as organizers of these symposia. Under the coordination of the event chairs, Laura and Lucas, these scientists led the organization of their symposia in all phases, from the submission of the proposal, at the end of last year, to the selection of the best papers, on the last day of the event.
This participation of the international community in organizing the symposia of the B-MRS event ensures, time and again, the desired variety, topicality and thematic and geographic representation. In fact, the symposia of this edition addressed the most diverse types of materials: two-dimensional and three-dimensional, electronic ceramics and polymers, high-entropy alloys, smart and sustainable materials, among many others. In more than 500 oral presentations and approximately 1,200 posters, participants presented and discussed recent advances in the design, synthesis, production and characterization of these materials, as well as their applications in areas as varied and important as health, renewable energy, agriculture, environmental remediation, electronics and cultural heritage.
“We were privileged to host renowned international researchers who delivered inspiring talks on the latest advances and opportunities in the field of Organic Electronics,” says researcher Rafael Furlan de Oliveira, from LNNano – CNPEM, who was one of the organizers of the symposium on organic conductive materials and their applications in Electronics, Photonics and Bioelectronics. “The contributions from Brazilian researchers and students were equally impressive, demonstrating the creativity, resilience and scientific excellence of our community,” he adds.
The oral sessions, held in up to 12 simultaneous rooms at the convention center, featured 12-minute presentations (and 25 minutes for invited speakers), followed by a few minutes for questions from the audience. “Each talk at the symposium was followed by lively discussions, reflecting the significant interest in the specific but promising field with vast potential for application of our symposium,” says Frank Alain Nüesch, one of the organizers of the symposium on organic materials that absorb and emit radiation in the near infrared. Nüesch is a researcher at Empa, a Swiss institution dedicated to the science and technology of advanced materials.
The thematic focus of the symposia, present since the first edition of the B-MRS event, brings together people with different backgrounds who are approaching very similar topics from different perspectives, creating an environment conducive to collaboration. “The room was filled to capacity, with attendees engaged in lively discussion with the speakers, which contributed to the high scientific standard of the symposium. Furthermore, it was evident that there was a notable
degree of interaction between researchers with regard to potential future collaborative endeavours and the formulation of new research projects,” reports João Coelho (Universidad de Sevilla, Spain) as co-organizer of the symposium on sustainable development of Printed Electronics.
Scientific discussions also flourished during the event’s three poster sessions, held each late afternoon on the ground floor. Given the large number of posters (about 400 per session), people approaching the area and walking through the exhibition halls could experience the transformation of loud unintelligible noise into interesting conversations and motivating encounters.
Social program: socializing is a must
At the XXII B-MRS Meeting, there was no shortage of opportunities for socializing for all tastes.
The traditional welcome cocktail party, open to all event participants at no extra cost, was held on Sunday evening at the convention center itself, providing the first reunions of the event in a celebratory atmosphere, with delicious food and drinks.
During the week, morning and afternoon coffee breaks were served in the booth area. In addition to replenishing energy and injecting caffeine to face the following sessions, these breaks were very important moments for interaction between researchers and exhibitors.
In addition, on Tuesday evening, the Conference Party took place, another successful tradition of B-MRS events. The party was held at Arena Clube, one of the main nightclubs in Santos. With rock and pop from different decades and countries, the DJ pleased the various generations and tribes present at the venue, who were able to have fun dancing in groups of friends.
Plenary sessions: basic and applied science and innovation for sustainable development
Over the following days, in the main hall of the convention center, with hundreds of people in the audience, six plenary lectures were given by renowned scientists from Brazil, the United States, Italy, Poland and Singapore.
On Monday morning, opening the scientific program, Thomas Randall Lee presented in a didactic and pleasant manner the results obtained by his research group at the University of Houston (USA) in the production and characterization of nanoparticles of various shapes (such as stars, cubes and spheres) with interesting photonic and magnetic properties. “Randy”, who has participated in several editions of the B-MRS event, also spoke about the applications of these nanostructures in the generation of clean energy and as sensors in the medical field.
The second plenary lecture corresponded to the José Arana Varela Award, granted annually by B-MRS to an outstanding researcher in the field of materials in Brazil. This year, the distinction was granted to Bluma Guenther Soares, a professor at UFRJ and researcher at IMA, in recognition of the dimension and quality of her scientific production and her work in training researchers. In the lecture, the honoree addressed part of her wide range of impactful work in the field of organic materials: the use of ionic liquids as additives in conductive polymeric nanocomposites.
[Read our interview with Bluma Guenther Soares.]
“Semiconductors in bottles” that can be used in the production of flexible electronics were the subject of the third plenary lecture, given by Professor Wojciech Pisula, from the Lodz University of Technology (Poland). In these materials, semiconductor films are formed from solutions through self-organization processes of their molecules. The plenary lecturer, who is the author of several articles on the subject featured on the covers of renowned journals, showed that understanding and controlling this process is crucial to achieving high performance in electronic devices.
In the fourth plenary session of the event, Federico Rosei, from the University of Trieste (Italy) captivated the audience with his speech. The scientist pointed out that the Sun emits more energy in one hour than the planet Earth consumes in a year. On the other hand, he said, there are one to two billion people who still do not have access to electricity. However, the conversion of energy from the Sun into electricity is far from sustainable. The devices developed to date use materials based on fossil fuels, or on toxic or scarce elements, in addition to being difficult to recycle. The Italian scientist, who until recently worked at the University of Quebec (Canada), is studying materials that can be used to generate more sustainable photovoltaic devices. But his vision is not optimistic. According to him, in order to achieve truly sustainable development, what humans need is to change their consumption patterns.
The fifth plenary lecture demonstrated the potential of paper, a sustainable material, as a substrate for high-performance electrochemical sensors that can be used to detect substances such as pesticides, botulinum toxin or mustard gas. Scientist Fabiana Arduini, from the University of Rome Tor Vergata (Italy), showed the research and development work that her group has been carrying out until producing small devices that, using only electrodes printed on paper, can replace a complete laboratory.
The last plenary session of the event was given by a prominent researcher and inventor in the field of batteries, Rachid Yazami. In 1980, the scientist created the graphite anode that is now used together with the lithium cathode in batteries that are prevalent in almost all applications, from portable electronics to electric cars. In 2011, Yazami founded KVI, a company based in Singapore that develops, manufactures and exports batteries. In his lecture, the scientist showed how he is working to improve the charging speed, safety and lifespan of lithium batteries through non-linear voltammetry. After showing a map of Brazil revealing that almost all the elements needed to manufacture batteries are present in the country, he expressed his desire to see a battery gigafactory installed here and many young Brazilian researchers working in this area.
Closing ceremony: 3 young female researchers and 41 students awarded
On Thursday, at around 11:15 a.m., the room was packed to attend the last session of the event, the closing and awards ceremony. Chair Laura presented the event’s figures, celebrated the record number of participants, and thanked the participants, symposium organizers, invited and plenary speakers, exhibitors, B-MRS staff and directors, local and program committees, and volunteers who, together, made the event possible.
In turn, chair Lucas said that, for him, organizing the event was a way of thanking B-MRS for everything the society has given him throughout his career. He shared that, upon accepting the challenge, he had to put aside his insecurities and think about his duty; he simply had to do it, because someone has to do it. “This event is very important to motivate the next generation of scientists,” he said.
The floor was then turned to the coordinators of the next B-MRS Meeting: Luiza Amim Mercante (UFBA) and Daniel Souza Corrêa (Embrapa Instrumentação), the youngest duo to accept the challenge so far. The chairs quickly showed the event location, the city of Salvador (BA), with its undeniable cultural and natural richness, and the meeting venue, which will be the Salvador Convention Center, an impressive building on the seafront. In addition, the coordinators announced the speakers for the 6 plenary sessions and the memorial lecture of the event and the launch of the call for symposia, which was open until November 4.
[Access the webpage of the XXIII B-MRS Meeting.]
Closing the panel’s statements, the president of B-MRS reinforced the importance of the event to keep the community united and announced the location of the 2026 B-MRS Meeting, the city of Curitiba (PR), and its chairs, Gregório Faria, from IFSC-USP, and Paula Rodrigues, from UTFPR.
Finally, the long-awaited moment arrived when the winners of the awards for the best contributions of the event were announced. Representing the award committee, Professor Iêda Maria Garcia dos Santos, financial director of B-MRS, spoke with pride that the society was granting an award exclusively to women for the first time, the B-MRS Award for Early Career Woman Scientist. Sponsored this year by the journal Electronic Materials (MDPI), the award recognizes the female author of the best oral presentation of the event, considering, in addition to the work presented, her previous scientific production. This year’s winner was Ingrid David Barcelos, a researcher at CNPEM. However, the award committee, composed of B-MRS scientific directors Ingrid Weber (UnB) and Lucimara Stolz Roman (UFPR), also granted honorable mentions to Janaína Artem Ataide (Unicamp) and Ingrid Rodríguez Gutierrez (UFABC and CNPEM).
[Read our interview with Ingrid Barcelos.]
Finally, amidst rounds of applause, the winners of the student awards were announced. Forty-one Bernhard Gross awards were given to the best oral presentation and best poster of each symposium. The list of winners showed a good level of gender representation (23 males and 18 females) and geographic representation (institutions from the 5 Brazilian regions, as well as Germany, Canada and Italy), in addition to the presence of 11 undergraduate students, standing out at the beginning of their scientific training. Among these winners of the B-MRS award, six contributions were chosen as the best to receive cash prizes from the scientific publisher ACS Publications and another six from journals of the Royal Society of Chemistry.
[Learn more about the criteria used to select the winners.]
[See the list of all the 2024 winners.]
And so, with the award-winning students on stage posing with their certificates for a group photo, the twenty-second edition of the B-MRS event came to an end.
See you in Salvador!
[All photos taken by the official photographer of the XXII B-MRS Meeting can be accessed and downloaded in the shared folders here.]