Plenary Speakers

Today Clément Sanchez Emeritus Professor of  the Collège de France chair named « Chemistry of Hybrid Materials » and Professor at USIAS (University of Strasbourg Institut of Advanced Studies) chair named Chemistry of ultradivided matter.

He was Director of The “Laboratoire de Chimie de la Matière Condensée de Paris” (UMR 7574, University of Pierre and Marie Curie-Collège de France-CNRS) (1999-2013).

He did a large part of his carrer at the CNRS where he was Director of Research studying ”chimie Douce” strategies to synthesize hybrid nanomaterials. He was also Professor at l'Ecole Polytechnique during 12 years.

He received an engineer degree from l'Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Paris in 1978 and a “thèse d'état” (PhD) in physical chemistry from the University of Paris VI in 1981. He did a post-doctoral work at the University of California, Berkeley, and is currently performing research at Paris Sorbonne University, at the University of Strasbourg and at the University of Bordeaux. He is specialised in the field of nanochemistry and physical properties of nanostructured porous and non-porous transition metal oxide-based gels and porous and non-porous hybrid organic inorganic materials shaped as monoliths, microspheres and films.

He was the chairman and organizer of numerous international meetings associated to the field of soft-chemistry, hybrid materials and related bio-aspects. He was the recipient of a few national and international awards and is member of several Academies of Sciences (for a more complete CV and more informations about his different awards please see)

https://www.college-de-france.fr/site/clement-sanchez/Biographie.htm

https://www.usias.fr/chaires/clement-sanchez/

https://scholar.google.fr/citations?user=vM9snnEAAAAJ&hl=fr

 Corine GERARDIN, Institute Charles Gerhardt Montpellier (ICGM)

Corine Gérardin is a CNRS Research Director at the Charles Gerhardt Institute in Montpellier, France. In 1988, she obtained an engineer degree from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Paris, and in 1991, she obtained her PhD from the University Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, on the solid-state NMR study of silicon carbonitride formed from preceramic polymers. She then worked as a post-doctoral fellow at Princeton University (NJ, USA). In 1994, she was appointed to the CNRS in France and spent two years at the University of Strasbourg, France. There, she developed original methods for studying the formation of microporous cristalline aluminophosphate phases by in situ NMR under hydrothermal conditions for multiphase liquid and solid systems. From 1996 to 2000, she was a visiting researcher at Princeton University and at the CNRS-Rhodia joint Laboratory in Cranbury (NJ, USA). In 1997 she was awarded a bronze medal from the CNRS for her work on the in situ hydrothermal NMR study of the formation of microporous materials. In 2001, she joined the Charles Gerhardt Institute in Montpellier.

And since 2021, she has been the Head of the Department of Porous and Hybrid Materials of the Institute Charles Gerhardt (40 permanent research faculty, 75 students and post-docs). Her main interest is the synthesis of hybrid nanomaterials controlled by the use of specific hydrosoluble block copolymers. She has developed original strategies for the synthesis of polymer-stabilized colloidal particles of metal hydroxides, oxides, phosphates and sulfides using double-hydrophilic block copolymers. Her cuurent focus is on the preparation and property control of functional mesoporous silica and hierarchically porous aluminosilicates for biomedical, catalytical and energy applications. Her research group is also active in the field of self-assembly processes of stimuli-responsive hydrophilic polymers, in particular polyion complex micelles, which they use to structure and functionalize new ordered functional mesoporous materials. Recently she and her group have developed new strategies to control the morphology (nanoparticles, films, membranes, monoliths) of polymer-functionalized mesoporous materials based on EISA (evaporation induced self-assembly), EASA (electrochemically-assisted self-assembly), and FISA (freezing-induced self-assembly) techniques. She is particularly interested in controlling of the mesophases and curvatures of structures formed by soft matter, notably polyion complex micelles, and focuses on the implementation of soft matter concepts in the field of hybrid nanomaterials. Finally she has been involved in the organization of several international conferences, most recently the 8th International Conference on Multifunctional, Hybrid and Nanomaterials in Montpellier in March 2025.

Prof. Archana Bhaw-Luximon, Center for Biomedical and Biomaterials Research, University of Mauritius, Mauritius 

Prof Bhaw-Luximon specializes in Biomaterials Engineering and Nanomedicine and leads the Center for Biomedical and Biomaterials Research (CBBR), University of Mauritius. Her research team with 80% women scientists, engineers bio/materials from land and marine resources to nano-structures for diverse applications such as tissue engineering scaffolds for wound healing, drug delivery, nanofertilizers/nanovaccines (for plants) and nanofiltration membranes (Nanotech Mask developed with RT Knits Ltd during Covid pandemic). The team has a number of collaborative agreement with Industry for innovation projects.

CBBR has major joint projects with the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station (USA), Wits Advanced Drug Delivery Platform, University of Witwatersrand (South Africa), Kotov Lab, University of Michigan (USA), Thuo Lab, North Carolina State University (USA), Qian Lan, University of Illinois (USA) and the Cyclotron Reunion Ocean Indien.

In 2022, she has teamed up with Prof Robert Langer and Prof Ram Sasisekharan from MIT, to build a CBBR Biotech platform to provide support to biotech start-ups and industry. She received a 2 M USD grant from the government of Mauritius for this initiative. Since 2024, she has worked on a number of initiatives to encourage science & technology entrepreneurship.

She was awarded the UNESCO Merck Best African Woman Researcher Award, November 2017.

She is a fervent believer in science entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship for all. She is on the Board of Pathfinder Biotech Ltd, a Mauritian-led Biotech in collaboration with Prof Langer, Prof Sasisekharan and Mr Kendall Tang.