From January to July 2018, we have the honor to host Prof Clément Sanchez as the recipient of an International Francqui Professor Chair.
In the course of the semester, researchers from the three partner institutions will have the opportunity to interact with Prof Clément Sanchez on a regular basis, along 4 "priority topics":
- Present and future of porous hybrid materials MOFs, COFs, PMOs) in the field of catalysis
- CO2: challenges and opportunities for the chemists
- Biominerals in materials science: understanding of hierarchical structures and hybridation
- Advanced methodologies for the characterisation of catalysts at work
Practically speaking, researchers and professors can register to one of those "priority topics" to be invited to several specific half-day workshops that will be organised during the semester in Louvain-la-Neuve, Leuven or Namur. During these workshops animated by Prof C. Sanchez, researchers will have the opportunity to present and discuss their work, to interact with colleagues, to receive guidance and get new opportunities of collaboration.
For a limited number of PhD students and post-doctoral researchers, there is a possibility to register as a "priority researcher". For those researchers, Prof C. Sanchez will act as "temporary advisor" during his stay, providing guidance on a regular basis, in coordination with the actual promoter of the researcher. His implication in such personal research projects will remain informal (no official co-promotion, no obligation to co-sign publications, etc...).
If you are interested, we ask you to register as soon as possible for the different options listed above (first come, first served). Our goal is to make the scientific community of our institutions benefit as much as possible from the presence and involvement of such a renowned scientist.
The inaugural lecture took place on January 11, 2018, at 5 pm in KU Leuven, with the title "Learning from nature: Towards a bio-inspired materials science" (announcement here).
A closing symposium will be organised in the framework of the 4th ACIN conference on July 19 in UNamur.
Do not hesitate to contact Damien Debecker if you have any question.
Prof Damien Debecker (for the University of Louvain), Prof Johan Martens (for KU Leuven), Prof Bao-lian Su (for UNamur)
