Scientific Program

Christopher Brett is a professor of chemistry in the University of Coimbra, Portugal, was President of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) 2020-21 and is Vic-Chair of the UNESCO International Basic Sciences Programme Scientific Advisory Board, 2021-24.

After his MA and DPhil in electrochemistry at the University of Oxford, he spent a year at British Petroleum, London before moving to Coimbra in 1981. His research interests have focused on the development of new materials in electrochemistry and their application in different areas, particularly in sensing. This has included new nanostructured electrode materials and nanomaterials on modified electrodes, the use of electroactive and redox polymers, corrosion and its inhibition, electrochemical aspects of green chemistry, electrochemical sensors and biosensors. Most recently, he has been exploring deep eutectic solvents for the preparation of naonostructured materials with different properties than those made in aqueous media and room temperature ionic liquids for electrochemical sensors and biosensors. Applications have been in the environmental, food and pharmaceutical areas, the subject of over 350 publications; his Web of Science h-index is 57.

He is Director of the Electroanalysis and Corrosion Laboratory, Instituto Pedro Nunes, Coimbra, the technological innovation link between the University of Coimbra and the industrial sector and which provides services in analytical electrochemistry, environmental chemistry and evaluation of corrosion.

He was President of the Iberoamerican Society of Electrochemistry 2020-22, was President of the International Society of Electrochemistry (ISE) from 2007-8 and was President of the Analytical Chemistry Division of the Portuguese Chemical Society 2018-20.  

Prof. Julien Reboud is Professor of BioSystems Engineering at the James Watt School of Engineering, University of Glasgow. Using his experience from a PhD in France (Université Joseph Fourier/CEA) and post-doctoral work in the Institute of Microelectronics (A-STAR) in Singapore, he has established a track record in developing and integrating microfluidic systems for cell-based assays, including both high content screening for drug discovery and diagnostic tests.

During his PhD, he developed a massively parallel screening platform in microdrops, using surface engineering and advanced image analysis (e.g. segmentation and statistical clustering). In Singapore, in collaboration with material scientists, he developed structures and surfaces for advanced spectroscopy techniques (e.g. Localised Surface Plasmon Resonance, Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering), as well as for diagnostics, including both immunoassays and nucleic acid-based platforms.

He joined Glasgow University and the group of Professor Jonathan Cooper in 2009, before securing a Fellowship in 2013 as an independent researcher. Throughout his career, he has pro-actively sought to transfer technologies towards commercialization, as evidenced through being awarded the PhD prize in the French national start-up competition (2004). In his position at IME in Singapore, he grew from lab bench researcher to project manager (as PI, co-PI and team leader) of small multidisciplinary teams, comprising post-doctoral research assistants, PhD students and technicians. He led several collaborations with industry, primarily aimed at integrating microfluidic systems for diagnostics and drug discovery. More recently, and in close collaboration with Professor Cooper, he has developed new low-cost systems for point-of-care diagnostics in low-resource settings, now working in Africa within the Horizon-funded DIDIDA consortium (https://didida-health.eu). He has been awarded The Royal Academy of Engineering ERA Foundation Entrepreneurs prize for the work in Glasgow on acoustic techniques, which has led to the spin-out company SAW Dx Ltd (Highly Commended Technology and Innovation at the Times Higher Education Awards (2014)) and NebuFlow Ltd (www.nebuflow.co.uk). Additionally, he has published more than 80 peer-reviewed papers in international journals, along with 15 patent applications (2 granted).

José Manuel Herrero-Martínez is Full Professor in the Department of Analytical Chemistry at the University of Valencia since September 2018. He received his PhD degree (supervised by Profs. G. Ramis-Ramos and E.F. Simó-Alfonso) from University of Valencia (Spain) in 2000. He has worked as Assistant Professor (2001–2005) at Department of Analytical Chemistry (University of Barcelona) and as a post-doctoral researcher (2003–2004) in the research group of Prof. P. Schoenmakers at Department of Chemical Engineering (University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands). In January 2006, he got back to the University of Valencia as Research Scientist (Ramón y Cajal) in the CLECEM Group. In September 2009, he obtained the position of Associate Professor. He has published around 170 research articles and several book chapters. His current research interests involve the development of smart materials (polymer monoliths, nanomaterials, MOFs and 3D-printed devices, among others) and its application in microextraction and separation techniques.

Maria Rosário Bronze is the Scientific Coordinator of the Food & Health Division, responsible for the Natural Bioactives and Nutraceuticals Characterization Laboratory at iBET, Researcher at ITQB NOVA and Head of Toxicological and Bromatological Sciences Department and Structural Analysis Lab both at Faculty of Pharmacy, Lisbon University.

Maria Rosário Bronze graduated in Pharmacy at Pharmacy Faculty from Lisbon University, and holds a PhD in Pharmacy (Pharmaceutical Chemistry) from Lisbon University. 

Her work aims to understand the contribution of food and food related components in health. The division she coordinates includes three laboratories working in complementary areas from the extraction, purification, evaluation of bioactivity, formulation, and evaluation of safety, combining different analytical state of the art methodologies.  The Division currently comprises 7 Postdoctoral Researchers, 11 PhD students, 8 Master Students.

Dr. Bronze has published more than 100 international peer-reviewed papers and 6 book chapters receiving a total of 1745 citations (h-index 24). Dr. Bronze is also Associate Professor at Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Lisbon.