J. González began his scientific career in 1992 at the Complutense University of Madrid, where he studied cyclodextrin inclusion complexes. He earned his PhD at the Carlos III University of Madrid (UC3M), specializing in glass fiber-reinforced polymers. He completed research stays at several institutions, including Tampere University, Case Western Reserve University (CWRU), UC Santa Barbara (UCSB), and NIST, focusing on polymer science and materials characterization. He currently leads the AFM Laboratory at UC3M. In 2006, he founded the Polymeric Composite Materials and Interfaces research group (an official UC3M group), dedicated to the development of multifunctional thermoplastic materials. He pioneered a high-energy ball milling method to achieve uniform nanoparticle dispersion, enabling the design of materials with unique electrical and antibacterial properties. He has extensive experience in advanced nanoscale characterization techniques and has established close collaborations with internationally recognized groups, including the University of Salerno, University of Aveiro, UCSB, CWRU, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, the University of the Basque Country, and the University of Navarra, among others. His current research focuses on developing polymer nanofibers via Solution Blow Spinning (SBS) for medical, electrical, and food packaging applications. He has published more than 125 SCI articles, led international, national, and regional research projects, and serves on several editorial boards in the field of polymer science.
Keynote talk title: Active Fibrous Materials Based on PLA/Magnetic nanoparticles Prepared by Solution Blow Spinning
Maria Laura Di Lorenzo is Research Director at Italian National Research Council (CNR), Institute of Polymers, Composites and Biomaterials (IPCB). She is the author of three books published by Springer, three patents, and more than 150 articles published in JCR journals that have received nearly 8,000 citations (Scopus). Dr. Di Lorenzo's main research interests focus on polymer crystallization and melting, bio-based and biodegradable polymers, crystallization kinetics, glass transition, polymer blends and composites. Since 2017 (first edition), Maria Laura Di Lorenzo is in World's Top 2% Scientists, the ranking developed by Stanford University and published in the Elsevier Data Repository (August 2025), DOI: 10.17632/btchxktzyw.8.
She is currently Coordinator of EIC-PATHFINDER "BORN" project (Biobased thermal-resistaNt food packaging), Coordinator of PRIN 2022 PNRR "DesiRe" project (Design for Recyclability: mono-material multi-graded semi-crystalline polymer foams), and head of CNR unit of PRIN 2022 "0DeF3" project (Zero-defect Fused Filament Fabrication).
Dr. Di Lorenzo is Senior Editor of Thermal Advances (Elsevier) and member of the Editorial Board of: Thermochimica Acta (Elsevier), Thermo (MDPI), Reviews on Advanced Materials Science (De Gruyter), Polymers (MDPI), International Journal of Polymer Science (Wiley), Advances in Materials Science and Engineering (Wiley).
Filomena Freitas is an Assistant Professor at the Chemistry Department of NOVA School of Sciences and Technology, NOVA University Lisbon (FCT NOVA), Portugal, and a Senior Researcher at the Biochemical Engineering Group (BIOENG), at UCIBIO, FCT NOVA. She has completed a PhD in Biological Engineering by FCT NOVA in 2004. She has developed research on the development of upstream and downstream processes for the production of value-added microbial products, including polysaccharides and polyhydroxyalkanoates, as well as intellectual property development and technology transfer. Special focus is also given on the biological valorization of agro-industrial wastes/byproducts, aiming at implementing sustainable bioprocesses. She has over 110 papers published in international peer review journals, book chapters and International Patents, which have recently been granted in several countries.