Keynote Speakers

 Wesley BROWNE

After a PhD in photochemistry and photophysics at Dublin City University (2002, in the group of Prof J.G. Vos) and postdoctoral positions in the group of Prof John McGarvey (Queen’s University Belfast) and of Prof Ben Feringa (Uni. Groningen), he joined the faculty at the University of Groningen in 2008. He is currently Chair of Molecular Inorganic Chemistry and Program Director for Chemistry. He was awarded a NWO-VIDI grant in 2007 andi n 2011 an ERC consolidator grant. In 2016 he was awarded the Gouden Docent (Golden Teacher) medal of the Royal Netherlands Chemical Society for contributions to chemical education and is a member of editorial advisory board for Chem Commun. The Browne group’s research focuses on applying spectroscopy and electrochemistry to (bio)inorganic catalysis and materials science, with special emphasis on Raman spectroscopy and multi-spectroscopic operando methods that enable rapid elucidation of reaction mechanisms. He has published over 270 research papers, reviews and patents to date.

 Cyrille COSTENTIN

Cyrille COSTENTIN received his undergraduate education at Ecole Normale Supérieure Paris-Saclay and pursued his graduate studies at the University Paris Diderot (Paris 7) where he received his Ph.D. in 2000 under the guidance of Prof. J-M. Savéant and Dr. P. Hapiot. After a postdoc at the University of Rochester, he joined the faculty at the University of Paris Diderot as Associate Professor in 2001. He was promoted Professor in 2007. His area of expertise includes mechanisms and reactivity in electron transfer chemistry with particular recent emphasis on electrochemical and theoretical approaches to proton-coupled electron transfer processes and catalytic processes for small molecule activation. He is an expert in molecular electrochemistry and he was a Visiting Scholar at Harvard University from 2016 to 2019 working with Prof. D. G. Nocera. In September 2019 he joined the Département de Chimie Moléculaire at the Université Grenoble-Alpes where he is now leading the group “Electrochimie Moléculaire et Photochimie Redox”

 Maria CAPORALI

Maria Caporali got her PhD in Chemistry in 2003 at the University of Florence discussing a thesis on homogeneous catalysis. Soon after she moved to the Technical University of Eindhoven (NL) in the group of P. van Leeuwen for a post-doctoral grant on palladium-catalyzed polymerization. In 2006 she joined M. Peruzzini’s group at CNR ICCOM working on the activation and functionalization of white phosphorus mediated by late transition metals. Her current scientific interests span from phosphorus chemistry to the synthesis and characterization of low-dimensionality materials as metal phosphides nanoparticles, 2D black phosphorus and evaluation of their catalytic activity in relevant chemical processes, as hydrogen evolution. She has supervised several Master and PhD students and recently she got the position of Senior Researcher at ICCOM CNR. Maria Caporali has authored 74 papers, 2 patents, 2 book chapters and delivered several oral communications to international and national congresses.

Jérôme LACOUR

Jérôme LACOUR  was educated at the École Normale Supérieure (Ulm, Paris). He holds an Agrégation in Physical Sciences (major in Chemistry) and obtained in 1993 his Ph.D. in Chemistry at the University of Texas at Austin under the supervision of Prof. Philip D. Magnus. After post-doctoral studies in the laboratory of Prof. David A. Evans at Harvard University, he joined the Organic Chemistry Department of the University of Geneva in 1995. In 2001, he received the Sandoz Family Foundation professorship. Since 2004, he holds a full professor position in the department. Currently, his primary research interests are in asymmetric synthesis, catalysis and chiroptical spectroscopy using organic, physical organic, organometallic and coordination chemistry tools.

Antonio LEYVA-PEREZ

Antonio LEYVA-PEREZ was born and grew up in Seville (Spain). He studied Chemistry at the University of Valencia. After that, he carried out the Ph.D. on heterogeneous catalysis under the supervision of Prof. Hermenegildo García (Jaume I Award 2016), at The Polythecnic University of Valencia. His thesis received the Special Award of the Polytechnic University of Valencia in 2006. After a short stay in the M.I.T. at Prof. Steven L. Buchwald´s (BBVA Frontiers of Knowledge Award 2015) laboratories, working in organometallics, he did post–doctoral studies in the Chemistry Department of The University of Cambridge at Prof. Steven Ley´s group (Arthur C. Cope Award 2018) working in the total synthesis of the complex natural products isobongregic acid and epyriculol. In 2008, he returned to the ITQ to work with Prof. Avelino Corma (Prince of Asturias Award 2014 for scientific and technical research). After receiving a Ramon y Cajal research contract in 2014, a Distinguished Research permanent position in 2016, and a Tenured scientist position in 2019, he works independently. Since 2023, he’s a Researcher Scientist, with >125 publications, >15 patents (some of them in industrial exploitation) and a h-index of 47. His main objective is to expend time with his wife and two children while enjoying chemistry research too.

 Maria TOMAS

Dr. Tomás Gamasa presents a quite unique multidisciplinary training in the fields of Organometallic catalysis, Bio-supramolecular Chemistry and Chemical Biology.  She completed her Ph.D. in 2011 as FPU fellow at University of Oviedo. The doctoral studies were focused on the design and development of synthetic methodologies. She performed several research stages at different national and international institutions. In 2011, she joined Professor Thomas Carell group at LMU Munich as Post-Doctoral Research Humboldt fellow. Her work was centered on DNA modifications for the expansion of the genetic code.