SPEAKERS

Tang received his BS and PhD degrees from South China University of Technology and  Kyoto University in 1982 and 1988, respectively. He conducted postdoctoral research at  University of Toronto in 1989–1994. He joined the Hong Kong University of Science &  Technology as an Assistant Professor in 1994 and was promoted to Chair Professor in 2008.  In 2021, he joined the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, as Dean of School of  Science and Engineering, with a concurrent appointment of X.Q. Deng Presidential Chair  Professor. 

Tang is mainly engaged in the study of materials science, polymer chemistry, and  biomedical theranostics. He coined the concept of aggregation-induced emission (AIE),  and his team is spearheading the AIE research in the world. 

Tang was elected to Chinese Academy of Sciences, World Academy of Sciences for the  Advancement of Science in Developing Countries, Asia Pacific Academy of Materials,  International Union of Societies for Biomaterials Science and Engineering, and American  Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. 

Tang has published >2,500 research papers. His publications have been cited ~250,000  times, with an h-index is 218 (Google Scholar, as of 10 Feb 2026). He has delivered >500  invited talks at international conferences. He has been granted >460 technical patents with  28 technology transfers. He is currently serving as Editor-in-Chief of Aggregate published  by Wiley and is sitting in the editorial boards of >20 scientific journals. 

Tang has received many awards, including Tang Aoqing Chemistry Award (2026), CCS– SINOPEC Award (2024), Biomaterials Global Impact Award (2023), Nano Today Award  (2021), National Natural Science Award (2017), Ho Leung Ho Lee Foundation Scientific & Technological Progress Award (2017), and Croucher Senior Research Fellowship Award  (2007).

Claude Grison is a Research Director at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), a Visiting Professor at the Collège de France, and Director of the Laboratory of Bio-inspired Chemistry and Ecological Innovations.

Claude Grison is an eco-chemist dedicated to developing nature-based solutions to address biodiversity loss. Her research has given rise to a new interdisciplinary field at the intersection of scientific ecology and bio-inspired chemistry.

This holistic approach to sustainable development relies on the ecological restoration of polluted or degraded terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, the conservation of wetlands threatened by invasive alien species, and the innovative chemical valorization of the phytotechnologies developed through this work, a process known as “ecocatalysis.”

This combination of chemistry and ecology in the service of biodiversity represents a unique opportunity to provide concrete solutions to global environmental challenges. Her molecular perspective as a chemist has enabled her to approach scientific ecology from a mechanistic and functional standpoint while integrating an economic dimension, leading to the creation of three companies.

Conversely, her ecological approach has brought significant advances to chemistry by incorporating the concepts of eco-responsibility, bio-inspiration, and an essential societal dimension.

Her research has led to the creation of three companies. She is the author of 210 publications and books, holds 46 patents, and has delivered 270 lectures.

Her work has been recognized with 15 scientific awards, including the Women of Influence Award (Economy) in 2023, the European Inventor Award in 2022, the A. Joannides Prize of the French Academy of Sciences in 2016, the Human-Nature Prize of the Sommer Foundation in 2016, and the CNRS Innovation Medal in 2014.

She is a member of the French Academy of Sciences, the French National Academy of Pharmacy, and Academia Europaea.

Trained as a chemist (ENSCM) and holding a PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of Lyon, I began my research career with an industrial doctoral project conducted with Rhône-Poulenc on the valorization of trifluoroacetic acid as a trifluoromethylation agent, which led to the development of a new production process for triflic acid. I then continued my research career in the chemistry of organofluorine compounds and aromatic functionalization within the Rhône-Poulenc/Rhodia R&D Lyon center, before moving toward process development for the pharmaceutical, agrochemical, and flavors & fragrances markets.

After 16 years in the pharmaceutical industry (Pierre Fabre and Servier), where I held various technical and managerial positions related to the development and industrialization of active pharmaceutical ingredients, I joined Solvay — now Syensqo — to contribute to innovation in organic chemistry applied to advanced materials.

Today, I support the creation of innovative organic solutions and materials for diverse markets, including optics, energy, batteries, and Home & Personal Care.

Joel Barrault is an Honorary Research Director at the CNRS specializing in sustainable chemistry, catalysis, eco‑design, and biomass valorization. His early work focused on heterogeneous catalysis applied to alcohol sulfhydrolysis in partnership with industry. He then expanded his research to the energy sector (Fischer–Tropsch, activation of C1 molecules such as CH₄ and CO₂) and to environmental applications (wastewater treatment, VOC and CFC substitute removal).

Over the past decades, his main activity has centered on developing renewable resources for energy (biofuels), specialty chemicals, cosmetics, agriculture, and healthcare. This includes extraction–fractionation processes, heterogeneous catalytic reactions, and unconventional activation methods such as plasma–catalysis coupling, supported by kinetic and mechanistic studies.

Committed to multidisciplinary innovation, he has built numerous academic and industrial collaborations and contributed to the creation of regional technology centers. He also co‑founded major international conferences, including Heterogeneous Catalysis and Fine Chemistry and the International Symposium on Green Chemistry (ISGC). His work has led to 350+ publications and 60 patents, in collaboration with permanent staff and over 70 doctoral and postdoctoral researchers.

Michel obtained his doctoral degree in Natural Substances Chemistry at the Paris-Sud University in 1984 and spent a great portion of his career working as a Sustainable Innovation Manager at L’Oréal group. He has participated in the filing of 135 patents and the publication of more than 50 articles and posters and has spoken in more than 50 oral communications in International Conferences, mainly in the fields of Green Chemistry and Bio-Based Materials. In 2020, he took the knowledge and experience gained throughout his career and became an independent consultant in Eco-Design, Green Chemistry and Natural Raw Materials Evaluation. He is currently Vice-President of the Industrial Chemistry Division of the “Société Chimique de France” and also an AFNOR/ISO expert in the standardization of naturalness in cosmetics.

She joined the Michelin group in 2001, after completing a chemical engineering school and obtaining a PhD in the field of physico-chemistry of polymers for ArianeGroup. Throughout her career in materials research and development at Michelin, she has held various positions within the company. Her work has focused on researching new raw materials, including innovative elastomers and resins, as well as designing rubber compounds with advanced material structures to enhance mechanical and physical properties and tire performance. Currently, she leads a research program dedicated to sustainable monomers as part of Michelin’s sustainability strategy.

Guillaume Lemahieu obtained an engineer master’s degree of the graduate chemistry school of Lille (France) in 2017. During the same year, he was graduated of two other masters from University of Lille (France) and from Regensburg University (Germany) into the field of colloidal and physical chemistry. 

In 2020, he obtained his PhD degree after three years of research in collaboration with Total Energies and the University of Lille (France) on the selection of surfactants for Enhanced Oil Recovery.

He joined Formulaction as Application Researcher in 2021, before specializing as Lead Application Developer in 2023 with the mission to find other markets of interest, improve characterization instruments and support Formulaction and Microtrac customers, as well as the sales network in France, Europe and USA.

Until now, he authored and co-authored 13 international scientific papers in the field of colloidal science. His research is mainly focused on physical and colloidal stability of formulations, on predictive algorithms and models for formulation screening, and on the behavior of surfactants at interfaces. 

Frédéric holds a PhD in chemistry from the University of Bordeaux I. After completing a PhD in physical chemistry on organized surfactant phases at the Centre de Recherche Paul Pascal (CNRS) in Pessac, he joined L’Oréal Research in 1995 as an engineer in applied physical chemistry for makeup, where he developed deep expertise in formulation science.

After more than 8 years working on understanding the mechanisms of stability and performance across a wide range of cosmetic formulations, he moved to makeup development laboratories, where he led for 5 years a laboratory dedicated to lip products, followed by 3 years leading a laboratory focused on powders and eyeshadows.

Since 2017, Frédéric Auguste has been heading L’Oréal’s Science of Formulation (SOF) team, whose mission is to support business units in strengthening their skills in physical chemistry and, more broadly, in formulation science, in order to ensure quality and accelerate the transformation of their innovations in the context of the major Beauty 2030 transitions.

A member of the Scientific Council of the Formulation Group (SCF), he is actively involved in promoting the visibility and attractiveness of the discipline.

Camille Bakkali-Hassani is a CNRS research scientist at the Charles Gerhardt Institute of Montpellier (ICGM, UMR 5253), in the Macromolecular Chemistry & Materials team. After completing a PhD at the University of Bordeaux on ring-opening polymerization using a monomer activation strategy, he carried out a postdoctoral fellowship at Monash University (Melbourne, Australia) focusing on ring-opening polymerization of cyclic esters under continuous flow and via organocatalysis.

In 2020, he joined ESPCI Paris as a postdoctoral researcher במסגרת the European project “SHeRO: Self-Healing Materials for Soft Robotics,” where he employed enzymatic catalysis for the synthesis of self-healing elastomeric materials. In 2022, he joined the ICGM laboratory, where his research focuses in particular on the behavior of catalysts in crosslinked matrices by combining molecular-level approaches with studies of thermomechanical and rheological properties, with special attention to the use of bio-based monomers or those derived from chemical recycling.

Roberto Company is currently an R&I Project Manager within the Syensqo Group. He has 12 years of experience in R&D, project management, and industrialization, with strong expertise in surfactants, emulsions, and formulation. He has worked across specialty chemicals, cosmetics/personal care, and automotive catalysis. His skill set includes project leadership, as well as the management and interpretation of data generated by automated platforms, and the development of AI- and robotics-assisted experiments, particularly for the design of new molecules for shampoos and other cosmetic products. He holds a PhD in physical chemistry from the École Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Lille and a chemical engineering degree from the Universidad de Los Andes.

Julien Legros is CNRS Research Director since 2018 (PhD 2002 on organofluorine chemistry with Jean-Pierre Bégué at the Faculty of Pharmacy Paris South / Postdoc 2002-2004 on enantioselective sulfoxidation with Carsten Bolm at RWTH-Aachen / CNRS Researcher 2004 at BioCIS laboratory then moving in 2011 to COBRA laboratory in Rouen).

Currently acting as Head of the CNRS French Network on Flow Chemistry (GDR Synth Flux) and Head of the Institut CARMeN UMR 6064 in Normandy (merging of former COBRA/LCMT laboratories), his research is oriented toward the use of miniaturized continuous flow reactors for methodological development in organic and organometallic chemistry with applications in the detoxification of chemical warfare agents and the synthesis of active pharmaceutical ingredients (>100 publications).

Daniel Taton received his Ph.D. in 1994 from Pierre and Marie Curie University (Paris 6). holds a professorship position at the University of Bordeaux, and develops his research activities at the LCPO. His research works are at the interface of catalysis and macromolecular synthesis, and a special emphasis in the field of organic catalysis of polymerization. They have progressively evolved toward integrated approaches to a more sustainable chemistry, through the design of polymers with programmed deconstruction, on the one hand, and on the development of for post-modification strategies and chemical recycling of robust polymers, and this will be the topic of his lecture today. He has co-authored bout 160 publications in peer-review journals, 15 book chapters and has filed 22 patents.

Daniel Taton received his Ph.D. in 1994 from Pierre and Marie Curie University (Paris 6). holds a professorship position at the University of Bordeaux, and develops his research activities at the LCPO. His research works are at the interface of catalysis and macromolecular synthesis, and a special emphasis in the field of organic catalysis of polymerization. They have progressively evolved toward integrated approaches to a more sustainable chemistry, through the design of polymers with programmed deconstruction, on the one hand, and on the development of for post-modification strategies and chemical recycling of robust polymers, and this will be the topic of his lecture today. He has co-authored bout 160 publications in peer-review journals, 15 book chapters and has filed 22 patents.

Aymeric Canton has been in charge of the Storage and Flexibility Solutions program within the CEA’s Energy Division since 2022.

This program encompasses R&D activities on batteries and hydrogen technologies carried out by nearly 250 permanent research engineers across the various CEA institutes.

Aymeric Canton obtained his PhD in Applied Mathematics from the University of Bordeaux (France), after which he spent a year at the University of California, Irvine as an assistant specialist.

Upon returning to France, he worked for about ten years on high-performance numerical simulation applied to various physical problems within the CEA’s Military Applications Division, before joining the Nuclear Energy Division of the CEA (in Saclay) in 2012. After six years leading the software engineering and simulation laboratory, he became involved from 2018 onward in building an integrated vision of energy systems, which led in 2020 to the creation of the CEA Energy Division. He notably contributed to the development of a modeling platform for energy networks and the establishment of a shared database for low-carbon technologies.