The end of September attracted to Prague world experts in materials modeling, who took part in the 11th International Conference on Multiscale Materials Modeling (MMM11). This largest international conference in the field was held in the Prague Congress Center on September 22-27, 2024.
The conference attended by 772 participants offered not only a busy scientific program but also interesting social events. As part of the conference, participants had the opportunity to explore Prague during four guided tours focusing on history, architecture, or gastronomy in the city’s historic center. A „Women’s Breakfast“ was held on Tuesday, September 24, where female participants at various stages of their careers talked about the pitfalls of women’s work in science, such as work-life balance. The event took place in an informal, friendly atmosphere and was positively evaluated by everyone.
The MMM11 conference offered 585 lectures by scientists, postdoctoral fellows, and students in 14 symposia, including 7 plenary lectures and 56 keynote lectures. Among the plenary speakers were the top scientists in the field, such as Claire Wilhelm from the Curie Institute & CNRS in France, Bob Coecke from Quantinuum Ltd. UK & Perimeter Institute in Canada, and Tomáš Jungwirth from the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague. The complete list of plenary speakers can be found on the MMM11 website. In addition to the lectures, 156 posters were presented in two poster sessions.
The conference banquet in the evening of Wednesday, September 25, was not only full of delicious food, drinks, and casual conversation but also involved the announcement of the recipients of two ISMM awards that were presented for the first time by the newly established International Society of Materials Modeling. Professor Jörg Neugebauer from the Max Planck Institute in Düsseldorf, Germany, received the Distinguished career award in the field of materials modeling. The Early-career award in materials modeling, was awarded to Dr. Corey Oses from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, USA.
And how does the organizer Roman Gröger from the Institute of Physics of Materials of the Czech Academy of Sciences, summarizes the conference?
„This conference was held in the Czech Republic for the first time. We aimed to open it up to more colleagues focusing on studying biomaterials, polymers, and functional materials for energy harvesting, conversion and storage. New symposia were held that focus on developing machine learning models and their applications in materials research, as well as on using quantum computers. The conference was rated highly thanks to focused scientific discussions, trouble-free organization, and pleasant weather.“
Until February 2025 the conference participants have the opportunity to submit their papers for peer-review into a special issue of the journal Modelling and Simulation in Materials Science and Engineering (MSMSE).
The next Multiscale Materials Modeling Conference (MMM12) will be held in November 2026 on the Jeju Island of South Korea.