Second Training School Overview
The Second Training School, the project’s “real” first training school, took place in September 2026 in Belgium (Liège and Brussels). This event brought together the DCs, the training and coordinating team and some guest speakers in one place.
The second training school lasted four days.
The event was divided into three parts.
On the first two days , the doctoral candidates attended lectures by different guest speakers on the subject of ” Focus on self-assembly at and out of thermodynamic equilibrium“.
The guests were chosen AND invited by the students themselves. The four students who invited the guest speakers – for this session – also acted as chairpersons ( Introduction of the speakers, monitoring the Q&A session).
- Pr. Jeanne Crassous on “Multifunctional helicene-based chemical platforms” – University of Rennes
- Pr. Yann Ferrand on ” Dynamics of self-assembly in out-of-equilibrium systems” – University of Bordeaux
- Pr. Fabien Cougnon on ” Exploitation repulsive interactions to direct sefl-assembly” – University of Jyväkylä
- Pr. Tatjana Vogt on ” Supramolecular chemistry of metal-oxo clusters: From controlled assembly to functional (bio)materials” – University of Leuven
- Pr. Christophe Detrembleur on ” CO2-based cyclic carbonates for producing polymer networks with dynamic covalent bonds: synthesis and applications” – University of Liège
- Pr. Mihail Barboiu on ” Artificial water channels – towards biomimetic membranes for desalination” – University of Montpellier
- Pr. Andreas Walther on ” Hydrogels with a Pinch of Embodied Intelligence” – Johannes Gutenberg University
- Pr. Giulio Ragazzon on ” How molecular ratchets can drive endergonic processes” – University of Strasbourg
- Pr. Leonard Prins on ” Neuromorphic information processing by energy-dissipating self-assembling nanoparticules” – University of Padova
- Pr. Anne de Wit on ” Chemo-hydrodynamic self-organization” – University of Brussels
The third day, the doctoral candidates visited Syensqo – one of the beneficiary of the Network – in Brussels. They received a lecture on “Gender Diversity in industry” and got the opportunity to visit some of the R&D labs.
A huge thank you to the Syensqo team, especially Kazuhiko Yokota (HQ Site Director and R&I Belgium Director) , Caroline Capiau (Site Operations Coordinator) and everyone involved, for such a warm welcome and for sharing insights into your activities.
In the afternoon, they visited the European Research Council.
Many thanks to Martin Penny (Head of Unit – Communication) and Christine Courillon (Research Program Agent) for their warm hospitality and unvaluable insights.
The fourth-last day, the doctoral candidates attended lectures by Maria Teresa Gonzalez-Cerveron (Mathematics Panel Coordinator – ERC) on “Gender and Diversity aspects in academia”, and by Domna Paschalidou (Project Adviser – REA) on “Communication and Dissemination”. And finally, in the afternoon they visited the House of European History and the Parlementarium.
