Kirk SCHANZE earned his B.S. in Chemistry from Florida State University in 1979 and his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1983. He was appointed a Miller Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, from 1984-1986 and began his independent faculty career at the University of Florida in 1986. Schanze was University Distinguished Professor and Prominski Professor of Chemistry at the University of Florida until 2016. He is currently the Robert A Welch Distinguished University Professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio. He was a Senior Editor of the ACS journal Langmuir from 2000 - 2008. From 2008 - 2023, Schanze was Editor-in-Chief of ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces and the ACS Applied Materials family of journals (7 titles). He is currently serving as Deputy Editor of ACS Central Science which is the flagship diamond open access journal published by ACS.He has authored or co-authored more than 380 peer-reviewed articles on basic and applied research topics, with a primary focus on organic and organometallic materials chemistry, and is inventor or co-inventor in 20 patents or disclosures.

Jean-François GÉRARD is a professor at the University of Lyon/INSA within the UMR CNRS 5223 IMP Polymer Materials Engineering Laboratory, winner of the 2021 GFP Georges Champetier Prize, distinction honors his career and contributions to the field of polymers. He is deputy scientific director at the CNRS Institute of Chemistry. He is today vice-president of the Axelera competitiveness cluster, leading the fields of chemistry, materials, and the environment, but also representative of public research within the Chemistry and Materials Sector Committee of the National Industry Council. He was director of research at INSA Lyon, president and CEO of SATT Pulsalys, and “General Chairman” of the European Polymer Federation. His research has resulted in 310 publications, 160 invited conferences, and more than 480 oral presentations in international conferences and around 25 patents.

Mariacristina COCCA is the researcher at the Institute of Polymers, Composites and Biomaterials, CNR. The research activities are mainly related to the study of structure-properties relationship of polymers and multiphase polymeric materials. In the microplastic topic her main research areas are: -study of the property of polymeric substrate (particularly textile) to be correlated to microplastic release; -development of analytical procedures to identify and quantify microplastic in complex matrices (wastewater, freshwater, seawater, air, fish stomach, etc.); -development and validation of different mitigation strategies to reduce microplastic pollution. She is Member of the Management Committee for Italy of the COST Action CA20101-PRIORITY and responsible for CNR of national and international projects focused on microplastic pollution and mitigation approaches.

Salvatore IANNACE graduated in Chemical Engineering (1988) and received his PhD (1994) from the University of Naples “Federico II”. He has been the Director of the “Istituto per lo Studio delle Macromolecole” (2015-2019, ISMAC-CNR) and is currently the Director of the “Istituto di Scienze e Tecnologie Chimiche “Giulio Natta” (SCITEC-CNR) His principal research interests lie in the fields of biodegradable and sustainable multicomponent and multi-scale composite and foams with designed structural and functional properties. He has published more than 360 papers including 150 papers in international refereed journals, 2 books, 21 book chapters, 4 patents and delivered around 190 conference papers. (more than 9200 citations, Indice H=53, from Google Scholar). Member of the editorial Board of “Journal of Cellular Plastics”. He chaired the international conferences on Biofoams in Italy (2007, 2011, 2015) and co-chaired the other editions in Canada (2009 and 2013) and China (2018). He has been invited as keynote and plenary speaker at several major international conferences for his pioneering works on the gas foaming behavior of biopolymers and their nanocomposites. He has coordinated around 30 national and international research projects, most of them in collaboration with large companies and SMEs. He has served as referee for the evaluation of research and innovation projects for national and international public institutions. It has been honoured with several awards including the Nanochallenge and Polymerchallenge Grand Prize in 2007. Co-founder of the spin-off HYPUCEM srl (2009).

Rosica MINCHEVA is an assistant professor at the Laboratory of Polymeric and Composite Materials, University of Mons, Belgium, where she conducts research and teaching activities in the fields of: Efficient synthesis of biocompatible (co)polymers with purpose-defined properties, activity, and end-of-life scenarios; Preparation of polymer-based metal/ceramic nanoclusters for drug-delivery and disease treatment; Properties and stability improvement via interface modification and methods, therefore. She is a coauthor of more than 75 peer-reviewed publications in international journals (H-index: 23), 10 chapters and is a coinventor of one patent.

Stergios PISPAS is Research Director at TPCI/NHRF. He studied Chemistry at the University of Athens, Greece and he obtained his PhD in Polymer Chemistry in 1994. He joined TPCI/NHRF in 2004. His research interests include the tailored synthesis of amphiphilic block copolymers and polyelectrolytes by controlled polymerizations, the molecular and physicochemical characterization of copolymers and the development of hybrid, organic-inorganic and synthetic-biological, polymer-based nanostructures for applications in nanomedicine. He is currently serving as Deputy Director of TPCI/NHRF, Editor of Polymers and Member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the European Polymer Journal and Colloid and Polymer Science.

Jean-François GÉRARD is a professor at the University of Lyon/INSA within the UMR CNRS 5223 IMP Polymer Materials Engineering Laboratory, winner of the 2021 GFP Georges Champetier Prize, distinction honors his career and contributions to the field of polymers. He is deputy scientific director at the CNRS Institute of Chemistry. He is today vice-president of the Axelera competitiveness cluster, leading the fields of chemistry, materials, and the environment, but also representative of public research within the Chemistry and Materials Sector Committee of the National Industry Council. He was director of research at INSA Lyon, president and CEO of SATT Pulsalys, and “General Chairman” of the European Polymer Federation. His research has resulted in 310 publications, 160 invited conferences, and more than 480 oral presentations in international conferences and around 25 patents.

Witold BROSTOW is the Regents Prof. of Materials Science and Engineering, University of North Texas and the President of the International Council on Materials Education (45 countries represented). Research Philosophy: Giving ambitious tasks to undergraduates doing research increases the number of students who decide to go to a graduate school. Those that do so have a much easier start. Thus postdocs, visiting researchers and graduate students have support in their work from enthusiastic undergraduates.
W. Brostow & H.E. Hagg Lobland, Materials: Introduction and Applications, John Wiley & Sons, New York 2017. Publications cited 16708 times (Google Scholar, 15 April 2024).

Cosimo CARFAGNA is full professor of Chemistry at the "Federico II" University in Napoli (Italy). For 16 years he directed the Institute for Polymers, Composites and Biomaterials (IPCB) of the National Research Council based in Naples, Catania and Lecco. He was president of the NA3 research area of the National Research Council. His career began as a researcher in Enichem (Istituto Guido Donegani). His research activities in the over 40 years of career concern the following topics: Polymers chemistry and technology, functionalization of polymers, synthesis of polymers, liquid crystalline polymers for electro-optical applications, composites and nanocomposites, functional tissues, recycling and transformation of plastic materials, use of intermediates from renewable sources for the stabilization of polymers, materials for packaging, materials for the textile sector. He has published about 300 works in scientific journals, is the author of numerous patents and has been invited as Plenary Lecturer in numerous national and international congresses.

Carmen TEODOSIU is Professor in Department Environmental Engineering and Management of Gheorghe Asachi Technical University Iasi (TUIASI), Romania. She obtained her Chemical engineering degree at TUIASI (1981), Post-graduate and Master of Science with distinction in Environmental Science& Technology (1994-1996), both at IHE Institute for Water Education Delft, Netherlands. Ph.D. title in Chemistry was awarded by TUIASI (1999). She was Vice-Rector for research& Director of Doctoral schools (2008-2016). Her research interests are: Advanced wastewater treatment, Sustainability assessments, Waste management.
She published >222 scientific papers in international peer-reviewed journals, 38 books/book chapters, 10 patents, Hirsch index=33 (Scopus). She was involved, as coordinator/PI, in 296 research projects funded by European&National agencies or industries. She is a PhD supervisor in Chemical and Environmental Engineering domains, 16 candidates received their PhD titles under her supervision. Prof. TEODOSIU received the Doctor Honoris Causa award from Pannonia University Veszprem, Hungary.

Calin DELEANU is Senior Researcher in the “Petru Poni” Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry and “Costin D. Nenitescu” Institute of Organic and Supramolecular Chemistry. He got a PhD in chemistry from the University Politehnica of Bucharest. He was visiting researcher in Institut Europeen des Membranes, Montpellier. He is founding Member of the Romanian Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine and founding member of the Romanian Chapter of the American Chemical Society. He was awarded the “Costin D. Nenitescu” and “Petru Poni” Medals by the Romanian Chemical Society and the “Costin D. Nenitescu” Prize of the Romanian Academy. He is author of over 150 papers, he is/was directing 25 research grants, including 4 European projects and he is/was member of many grant research teams. His research interests include applications of NMR spectroscopy in chemistry and life sciences, as well as organic synthesis.

Kevin P MENARD has worked in a range of industries, including aerospace, oil and gas, polymers, scientific instrumentation, food, cosmetics, and academia. He and his sons founded and continue to operate Veritas Testing and Consulting, a thermal analysis and rheology contract laboratory. He has over 200 publications or presentations, including monographs, encyclopedia articles, and chapters, mostly dealing with thermal analysis. His most recent publication is Dynamic Mechanical Analysis: A Practical Introduction, K. Menard and N. Menard, Francis and Taylor, Boston, 2020.

Cyrille SOLLOGOUB is a full professor at CNAM (Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers) in Paris and carries out his research in the PIMM lab (ENSAM, CNRS, CNAM). He obtained his PhD at Ecole des Mines de Paris in 2003. His research focuses on the (nano)structuration of multiphase polymer systems (polymer blends, block copolymers, nanocomposites) in order to improve macroscopic properties (thermomechanical, gas barrier, electrical conduction, and others). In 2023, he was awarded the Paul J. Flory Polymer Research Prize by the World Forum on Advanced Materials (PolyChar).

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