Invited Speakers

Prof. dr. Marleen Kamperman

Prof. dr. Marleen Kamperman received her PhD in Materials Science & Engineering from Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. From 2008 to 2010, she was a postdoctoral researcher at INM – Leibniz Institute for New Materials in Saarbrücken, Germany. She started her group ‘Bioinspired Functional Polymers’ as Assistant Professor at Wageningen University in the Physical Chemistry and Soft Matter department in September 2010. In 2018 she was appointed Full Professor in Polymer Science at the University of Groningen. Kamperman received several (inter)national fellowships, prestigious awards and personal grants, including the KNCV Van Marum Medal from the Royal Netherlands Chemical Society (2018), VENI/VIDI/VICI and Athena grants from NWO (2010/2014/2022), and an ERC Consolidator Grant of the European Union (2019) for her work in the areas of polymer science and physical chemistry. She is scientific director of the Health Technology Research & Innovation Cluster (HTRIC) of the University Medical Centre Groningen and University of Groningen and a board member of the Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials. On a national level she was elected to the Young Academy of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (DJA-KNAW) and a member of the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities.

Prof. Jean-François Molinari

Professor J.F. Molinari is the director of the Computational Solid Mechanics Laboratory (http://lsms.epfl.ch) at EPFL, Switzerland. He holds an appointment in the Civil Engineering institute, which he directed from 2013 to 2017, and a joint appointment in the Materials Science institute. He started his tenure at EPFL in 2007, and was promoted to Full Professor in 2012. He is currently an elected member of the Research Council of the Swiss National Science Foundation in Division 2 (Mathematics, Natural and Engineering Sciences), and co editor in chief of the journal Mechanics of Materials. He is an Euromech Fellow.
J.F. Molinari graduated from Caltech, USA, in 2001, with a M.S. and Ph.D. in Aeronautics. He held professorships in several countries besides Switzerland, including the United States with a position in Mechanical Engineering at the Johns Hopkins University (2000-2006), and France at Ecole Normale Supérieure Cachan in Mechanics (2005-2007), as well as a Teaching Associate position at the Ecole Polytechnique de Paris (2006-2009).
The work conducted by Prof. Molinari and his collaborators takes place at the frontier between traditional disciplines and covers several length scales from atomistic to macroscopic scales. Over the years, Professor Molinari and his group have been developing novel multiscale approaches for a seamless coupling across scales. The activities of the laboratory span the domains of damage mechanics of materials and structures, nano- and microstructural mechanical properties, and tribology.

Prof. Daniele Dini

Professor Daniele Dini FREng is Vice-Dean (Research) for the Faculty of Engineering and Professor of Tribology at Imperial College London. He leads a multidisciplinary research group that is at the forefront of developing multiscale and multiphysics computational approaches capable of capturing the physics of interfaces from the molecular and nanoscale to the engineering scale. By combining high-fidelity simulation, data-driven methods and experimental validation, his research provides fundamental insights into friction, lubrication, wear, contact mechanics and surface interactions. These advances have contributed to improved energy efficiency, durability, performance and sustainability in numerous engineering systems and have informed the design of next-generation materials and biomedical technologies.

He currently holds a Shell/Royal Academy of Engineering Research Chair in Complex Engineering Interfaces and has established internationally recognised programmes in computational tribology and interface science. His group has produced innovative modelling tools that are now used to address challenges in sectors including transportation, manufacturing, energy, healthcare and advanced materials. Alongside fundamental scientific discoveries, his work has generated significant industrial impact through long-standing collaborations with leading global companies, contributing to the translation of research into practical engineering solutions.

Professor Dini is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and has received numerous honours recognising both his scientific achievements and industrial engagement, including the inaugural Peter Jost Tribology Award and the Tribology Trust Silver Medal. He was also awarded the Imperial College President’s Award and Medal for Excellence in External Collaboration and Partnerships. Author of more than 400 journal publications and frequent keynote and plenary lecturer at major international conferences, he continues to shape the future of tribology, interface engineering and computational mechanics through research leadership, mentorship and international collaboration.