Of the 12 worldwide scientific experts that form the SAB, 10 of them could join us for the meeting in-person, while the other 2 members could connect online. We would like to thank all of them for their presence, assessment and recommendations of our stategic plan and of our overall performace in general. 

The members of the SAB are the following: 

• Prof. Luis Liz-Marzan - CIC biomaGUNE, Donostia - San Sebastián (Spain)
• Prof. Rudolf Gross - Technische Universität München, Physik Department (Germany)
• Prof. Maurizio Prato - Università degli Studi di Trieste (Italy) and CIC biomaGUNE (Spain)
• Prof. Erio Tosatti - Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati (SISSA) - Condensed Matter Theory (Italy)
• Prof. Susan Trolier-McKinstry -  Penn State University - Materials Research Institute (USA)
• Prof. Silke Christiansen - Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems IKTS (Germany)
• Prof. David Larbalestier- Florida State University, Tallahassee (USA)
• Prof. Roser Valentí - Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main (Germany)
• Prof. Patrik Johansson - Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden)
• Prof. Bernhard Holzapfel - Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Germany)
• Prof. Ramón Martínez Máñez - Universitat Politècnica de València (Spain)
• Prof. Natalie Stingelin - Giorgia Tech School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (USA)

The programme for this year's SAB meeting started with a welcome and a presentation of the Institute by ICMAB Director Xavier Obradors, especially for the new SAB members, who were joining us for the first time. 

The meeting continued with a poster session and an ICMAB tour to visit some of the labs and facilities. The visits, individual for each SAB member, were guided by some of our PhD researchers.

Poster session and lab tour during the SAB meeting | ICMAB, CSIC

The SAB members highly appreciated this tour: "After the virtual meetings in previous years, the SAB particularly appreciated the fruitful discussions with master and PhD students during the lab tour and poster presentations. This program part clearly showed the inspiring atmosphere within ICMAB, leading to a high motivation of the young researchers".

After the coffee break, M. Rosa Palacín, PI of the Severo Ochoa 'FUNFUTURE: Smart Functional Materials for a Better Future' project, presented the project's main technical and scientific aspects, focusing in last year's scientific results, but also hihglighting the training, communication and technology transfer activities, as well as our mentoring and talent attraction programmes. 

The meeting continued with the presentation of the main highlights and objectives of the Research Lines that were evaluated (RL1, RL2 and RL3) by the RL coordinators (Alejandro Goñi, Teresa Puig and Gervasi Herranz), and some specific highlights of each Research Line:

• Efficient and Stable Organic Photovoltaics by Combinatorial Screening, by Sergi Riera
• Second Sound: Searching for New Alternatives to Overcome Fourier Heat Transport, by Sebastián Reparaz
• Multivalent Battery Chemistries, by Dino Tonti
• Transition-Edge Sensors for Astrophysics and Dark Matter Search, by Lourdes Fábrega
• HTS Conductors for Green Energy. Coated Conductors with enhanced thermal stability, by Pedro Barusco
• First principles theory of flexoelectricity: from 3D to 2D, by Massimiliano Stengel
• Magnetic Insulators: An Enabling Platform for Innovative Spintronic Concepts, by Can Onur Avci

Presentations during the SAB meeting at the Seminar Room | ICMAB, CSIC

And, finally, a presentation of the main highlights of the other two Research Lines (RL4 and RL5) were presented by the RL coordinators (Marta Mas-Torrent and Imma Ratera). 

"In all cases, the quality of the presentations was appreciated by the SAB members".

The next day, the SAB members had some internal meetings with the Direction team and the ICMAB Scientific Executive Board (SEB). Both days, they could enjoy dinner, coffee breaks and lunches with our staff, including technicians, support staff, researchers and students and feel the atmosphere of the institute. 

"Overall, the organization of this review meeting was greatly appreciated by all SAB members". 

After the meeting, the SAB members handed out an assessment and recommendations report. We would like to thank all the SAB members for the inputs and recommendations given to us on their final report, as well as in internal discussions. We know that there is a lot of space for improvement, but we are sure that we are ready to face the new challenges that we have ahead to continue being a center of excellence internationally recognized , as we are now. 

Thank you to all the ICMAB people who participated in the organization of the meeting, and to all the staff who was involved in some way or another. 

Networking during the SAB meeting at ICMAB | ICMAB, CSIC

See more photos of the SAB Meeting 2022 here.

Read more:

• The Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) meeting will be on 17-18 Nov 2022 (Nov 2022)
• The Scientific Advisory Board will come to ICMAB on 2-3 December 2021 (Dec 2021)
• Fourth visit of the Scientific Advisory Board at ICMAB - online! (Nov 2020)
• ICMAB is awarded with the "Severo Ochoa" Center of Excellence Award for the second time in a row (July 2020)
• Third visit of the Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) at ICMAB (Nov 2018)
• Second visit of the Scientific Advisory Board at ICMAB (Nov 2017)
• First visit to ICMAB of the Scientific Advisory Board-SAB (Nov 2016)