Title: The genesis of molecular photovoltaics and perovskite solar cells.

Abstract: TBA

Date: 14th of October @10.00 CET

Recorded Session: https://youtu.be/az54MbUckrM

About the speaker: 

https://www.epfl.ch/labs/lpi/graetzel/ 

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.ch/citations?user=B0h47WAAAAAJ&hl=fr 

Title: Ultrafast quantum nano-optics 

Abstract: TBA

Date: 21st of October @10.00 CET 

About the speaker: 

https://nano-optics.physik.uni-siegen.de/images/biography_mario_agio.pdf

Recorded Session: https://youtu.be/ac-ggSwdXNE

Title: Competence Framework for Policy Makers including Futures Literacy

Abstract:

Policymaking, the task at the core of the European Commission, is a key tool for creating desired futures. However, it calls for a highly competent community of civil servants and policymakers. To remain at the forefront of global excellence in policymaking, the European Commission aims to provide its staff with the capacity to future-proof, develop, implement, monitor, and evaluate policies in an evidence-informed, transparent and collaborative way. 

The EU Policymaking Hub offers a platform to learn, collaborate and share knowledge in EU policymaking as well as a new range of training. The  framework at the core of this offer covers seven clusters of competencies, including being future literate, and recognizing it as a core competence for policymaking. The competence progression model addresses the capacity to anticipate change (working with the short-term future) and the capacity to engage in foresight (working with the long-term future). For each level of competence, the progression model describes the level of skill required and indicates tools and methods that should be mastered. 

The presentation will introduce the values and methodological aspects of the development of this tool and the details of the future literacy part of the progression model for the benefit of all policymaking organisations.

https://knowledge4policy.ec.europa.eu/node/45701_fr

Date: 2nd of November @11.00 CET

Register: https://forms.gle/t1Es6nJuZytR4cgg7 

About the speaker:

Recorded Session: https://youtu.be/EoOpJAfNEBA 

Title:  Layered Materials: Characterization and Applications.

Abstract: 

Graphene and layered materials (LMs) have great potential in photonics and optoelectronics, where the combination of their optical and electronic properties can be fully exploited, and the absence of a bandgap in graphene can be beneficial. The linear dispersion of the Dirac electrons in graphene enables ultra-wide-band tunability as well as gate controllable third-harmonic enhancement over an ultra-broad bandwidth, paving the way for electrically tuneable broadband frequency converters for optical communications and signal processing. Saturable absorption is observed as a consequence of Pauli blocking and can be exploited for mode-locking of a variety of ultrafast and broadband lasers. Graphene integrated photonics is a platform for wafer scale manufacturing of modulators, detectors and switches for next generation datacom and telecom. Heterostructures based on LMs have properties different from those of their individual constituents and of their three dimensional counterparts. These can be exploited in novel light emitting devices, such as single photon emitters, and tuneable light emitting diodes. LMs have potential for quantum technologies, as scalable sources of single photon emitters (SPEs). Quantum emitters in LMs hold potential in terms of scalability, miniaturization, integration. Generation of quantum emission from the recombination of indirect excitons in heterostructures made of different LMs is a path with enormous potential. I will overview production, characterization and application of graphene and LMs, focussing optical and quantum applications.

Date: 4th of November @10.00 CET

About the speaker: 

https://www.graphene.cam.ac.uk/people/acf26 

Google Scholar Profile: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ucXN1nQAAAAJ&hl=el&oi=ao 

Recorded Session: https://youtu.be/OQxxGRNNlUo

Title: The 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics: A very brief introduction to quantum mechanics and Bell's inequalities 

Abstract: TBA

Date: 9th November 2022 @10.00 CET. 

About the speaker: https://mech.hmu.gr/prosopiko/melh-d-e-p/prof-kavoulakis-georgios/ 

Recorded Session: https://youtu.be/1fYbGzuX8ro

Title: Supramolecular Strategies in Hybrid Perovskite Photovoltaics.

Abstract: 

Hybrid organic-inorganic perovskite materials have become one of the leading semiconductors for renewable solar-to-electric energy conversion in photovoltaics. However, they are unstable under operating conditions, which stimulates global research efforts to overcome this challenge towards practical applications. Supramolecular strategies have provided an invaluable tool for controlling hybrid perovskite materials by purposefully tailoring noncovalentninteractions with organic components, such as through halogen bonding, π- interactions, and host-guest complexation, which has been assessed at the atomic level by solid-state NMR spectroscopy. These strategies were also applied to the development of low-dimensional perovskite architectures that further enhance stabilities as well as photovoltaic performances.As a result, perovskite solar cells have reached superior operational stabilities without compromising their performances,providing a versatile strategy for advancing hybrid photovoltaics.

Date: 18th of November @10.00 CET

About the speaker: 

Dr. Jovana V. Milić is Assistant Professor and Group Leader at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland since January 2021. She has obtained her PhD in the Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences of ETH Zurich in 2017 with Prof. François Diederich. She then worked as a postdoctoral researcher and scientist in the Laboratory of Photonics and Interfaces of Prof. Michael Grätzel at EPFL, until taking on a Group Leader position at the Adolphe Merkle Institute in Fribourg as Swiss National Science Foundation PRIMA Fellow in September 2020. Her research is centred around the development of (supra)molecular materials for energy conversion that can respond to external stimuli and adapt to their operating conditions, with a particular focus on photovoltaics. This involves a multidisciplinary approach at the interface of chemistry, physics, material science, and engineering towards sustainable development. She has been recognized by a number of honours and awards, such as the CAS Future Leader 2019, Green Talents Award in 2020, and the Zeno Karl Schindler Prize in 2022, among others. In addition to research and international collaborations, she is invested in science outreach, policy, and diplomacy as Member and Science Advice Working Group Co-Lead at the Global Young Academy, as well as Member of the Swiss Young Academy, European Young Chemists’ Network, and International Younger Chemists Network, connecting and supporting young scientists globally.

https://jovanamilic.com/ 

Google Scholar:  https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=7q3sExwAAAAJ&hl=el&oi=ao 

Recorded Session: https://youtu.be/gCez_g1a4pY 

Title: Semiconductor photoelectrodes and photocatalysts for solar-driven water splitting.

Abstract: TBA

Date: 2nd of December @10.00 CET

About the speaker: 

https://people.epfl.ch/kevin.sivula 

Google Scholar page: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=e0tQrsEAAAAJ&hl=en 

Recorded Session: https://youtu.be/jnwf9q8owBQ

Title: International Sign Everywhere: Towards Internationalization of Education and International Mobility of Deaf Students

Abstract: 

The inclusion of deaf students in education has been always a topic of debate and research for a long time. Deaf students experience numerous communication challenges, which is especially true for communication with those from other nationalities due to the lack of a common sign language. Further deaf students face serious difficulties to understand new technical concepts along their academic path. Fields such as engineering or geography, lack signs representing specific lexicons like nanotechnology or tropical rain belt. The University of Siegen along with EU partners and stakeholders aims to overcome these challenges through the outcomes of InSign and TechWhiz Erasmus+ projects. InSign promotes the internationalization of education and the international mobility of deaf students through the use of International Sign as an effective channel of communication between deaf and non-deaf and its implementation in higher education.  TechWhiz aims to promote equity in education by providing access to explanations of technical and scientific concepts for deaf students in sign language. Deaf students are a specific cluster in European Higher Education where they have little support that might be largely extended by InSign and Techwhiz projects. 

Date: 8th of December @10.00 CET

About the speaker: 

Omar Gamal is a researcher at the Centre for International Capacity Development (CICD) at the University of Siegen. And currently working on different EU projects related to education and inclusion of hearing-impaired people.  He is currently a Ph.D. student at the University of Siegen. In 2017, he received his M.Sc. degree in Mechatronics Engineering from the University of Siegen. He received his B.Sc. degree in Mechatronics Engineering from the Higher Technological Institute (HTI), Egypt. His research interests include artificial intelligence, robotics, and control engineering.

Recorded Session: 

Title:  Perovskite Photovoltaics enabled by 2D materials take to the field

Abstract: 

During the past decade, there was intensive research on the development of perovskite solar cells (PSCs), which have emerged as an alternative efficient energy harvester for both IoT devices and solar farms. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of PSCs has rapidly increased and is now approaching the state- of-the-art PCE of 26.1%1 obtained by crystalline-silicon PVs.  However, this impressive PCE obtained on small-area cells and in laboratory conditions should be also valid to large-area PV panels in real outdoor conditions. Interface engineering, using solution processable 2D materials (e.g., graphene and transition metal dichalcogenides) is an effective approach to increase the readiness of this technology for manufacturing. The incorporation of the 2D materials improves the charge dynamics of the interfaces and most importantly protects the perovskite layer against diffusion of external agents, such as oxygen and moisture and the metal ion migration2.  In this context, the Graphene Flagship partners University Rome Tor Vergata, BeDimensional S.p.A, Greatcell and Hellenic Mediterranean University demonstrated the validity of this technology through the entire value chain, from materials development, perovskite modules and panels fabrication and their integration in an autonomous solar farm, to outdoor field tests, and assessment of the real energy production output. The main validation of the proposed approach is the realization of an autonomous solar farm, consisting of 5m2 perovskite PV panels in the HMU campus at Crete3.  A continuous monitoring of the solar farm was performed through in-house developed maximum power point trackers, coupled with a correlation of the environmental conditions, recorded by a weather station, with the outdoor performance of farm. The assembled solar farm delivered peak power exceeding 260W, proving the scalability of the proposed technology. The energy production of the solar farm was monitored for 12 months, demonstrating a remarkable 20% reduction (T80) of the PV performance over 8 months of operation. Moreover, the solar farm’s electrical characteristics were monitored as a function of temperature and light intensity. The data analysis demonstrated that the perovskite panels enabled by 2D materials are promising for outdoor operation at elevated temperatures, such as in high-irradiance global locations.

Date: 9th of December @10.00 CET   

About the speaker: 

Emmanuel Kymakis is a Full Professor at the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering at the Hellenic Mediterranean University (HMU) and Vice-President of the HMU Research Center. He received his B.Eng. (First Class Honors) degree in Electrical Engineering & Electronics from Liverpool University in 1999 and the Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from Cambridge University in 2003. He and Prof. Gehan Amaratunga are the inventors of the polymer-nanotube solar cell. Before joining HMU, he was a technical consultant offering engineering and consultancy services in the realization of photovoltaic and solar thermal power plants. His multidisciplinary research lies at the interface between nanotechnology and electrical engineering and is centred on the development of printed optoelectronic and photovoltaic devices. He has published more than 120 research articles, which have attracted over 10.000 citations and an h-index of 52, while he has an extensive experience in the management of research and industrial projects (6 M€ research funding, design & implementation of 67 MWp of PV parks). Ηe is also included in the list of the top 2% of scientists in their respective fields by citation impact (PLoS Biol 17(8), e3000384). He serves also as scientific evaluator and member of panels of experts of various international governmental and nongovernmental agencies, member of scientific committee of various international congresses, and have been invited to give invited talks in more than 50 occasions. He has been an honorary lecturer at UConn and a recipient of an Isaac Newton and an EPSRC studentship. He was named as a 2014 ChemComm Emerging Investigator and has received two National Excellence Awards. He has served as a member of the founding General Assembly of the Hellenic Foundation for Research & Innovation (HFRI), a member of the Engineering sectoral scientific council of the National Council for Research & Innovation of Greece (NCRI) and a member of the Engineering thematic advisory council of HFRI. He is currently the Director of the interinstitutional Post-Graduate Program “Nanotechnology for Energy Applications” and serves as the work package leader of Energy Generation of the EU FET-Flagship Initiative Graphene.

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=AWrgzokAAAAJ&hl=el&oi=ao 

Recorded Session: 

https://youtu.be/6m7P5kFeiBo

Title: Design and implementation of advanced water treatment and desalination system and advanced studies on photocatalytic activity of hybrid nanomaterials for different environmental applications.

Abstract: 

The quality of groundwater in Egypt is deteriorating rapidly due to salinization and industrial pollution. To help reverse this trend, novel batch reverse osmosis (RO) desalination for high recovery of freshwater from ground-water, and new photocatalysts to eliminate emerging contaminants from wastewater – thus allowing effective and safe recharge of aquifers, have been developed. Prof El Nazer research team members have also developed an innovative solution for the management of harmful brine from desalination plants, using it to cool agricultural greenhouses. With the overall aim of developing new technology for better protection and management of groundwater in Egypt, the specific objectives are to (a) develop novel photocatalytic materials and composites, with sensitivity to both UV and visible light, for the  removal of emerging pollutants from wastewater and groundwater, (b) develop high efficiency, high-recovery desalination technology for groundwater, based on batch reverse osmosis (RO), giving resistance to fouling by organic and inorganic species, (c) Develop a solution for management of brine rejected from groundwater desalination plants by evaporative cooling of agricultural greenhouses, (d) demonstrate the above solutions in the study areas, and disseminate the knowledge generated, through the Egyptian ministries and industrial partners involved in the project. In addition, Prof. El Nazer guest, Prof. Yasser Mahmoud (Photochemistry Department, National Research Center, Egypt), will discuss the implementation of heterogeneous nano-photocatalysts in environmental applications that have been significantly investigated in the last decade as a result of the increasing demand for the use of green approaches and through the availability of visible light source. Herein, the presented results highlight the basic concepts of nano-photocatalysis and the applications of these catalysts in various photocatalytic processes.

Date: 14th of December @10.00 CET

About the speaker: 

Prof. Hossam El Nazer is a professor of photocatalysis/Water Technology at the National Research Centre in Egypt. Prof El Nazer has excellent expertise in the applications of photocatalysis in the environment and industry and the design/implementation of water treatment and desalination systems. Dr Hossam is the principal investigator (PI) for many national and international joint venture projects concerning water treatment/desalination. Prof Hossam also supervises many MSc and Ph.D. theses. Dr. El Nazer has more than 30 publications (i.e. research articles, book chapters, and reviews). Prof Hossam has been working as visiting professor in many international universities (i.e. Saint Louis University (USA), Palermo University (Italy), Szeged University (Hungary)). Prof Hossam has two patents concerning the synthesis of new materials for solar photocatalytic water treatment applications. Prof El Nazer was also awarded many 2 prizes from the National Research Centre in Egypt (2010 & 2015) for his achievements in photochemistry.

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=sWMTolUAAAAJ&hl=en 

Recorded Session: https://youtu.be/EXokH9E3DT0 

Title: Advanced electromagnetic wave control with chiral and parity-time symmetric metamaterials.

Abstract: TBA

Date: 16th of December @10.00 CET

About the speaker: 

Maria Kafesaki is an Associate Professor in the Dept. of Materials Science and Technology of the University of Crete and an Adjunct Researcher at the Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser (IESL) of Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas (FORTH). She obtained her Ph.D. in 1997, at the Physics Department of the University of Crete, Greece, on elastic wave propagation in complex media. She has worked as post-doctoral researcher in the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas in Madrid, Spain, and in IESL of FORTH (1997-2001). Her current research is on the area of electromagnetic wave propagation in periodic and random media, with emphasis on photonic crystals and metamaterials, where she has large theoretical and computational experience. She has more than 110 publications in refereed journals (with more than 6500 citations and h-index=42, according to Web of Science), and more than 70 invited talks at international conferences and schools. She has participated in many European projects and in the organization of many international conferences and schools. She is Fellow of the Optical Society of America

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=gtFssuEAAAAJ&hl=el&oi=ao 

Personal webpage: http://esperia.iesl.forth.gr/~kafesaki/ 

Title: Explainable Argumentation-based Decision Making as a Service

Abstract: 

Argumentation is an emerging technology that has matured enough to produce practical applications for the industry. Start-up companies, like Argument Theory, and argumentation technology centers, like ARG-tech, are working on real-life applications using argumentation-based decision making and argument mining techniques.

Gorgias is a structured argumentation framework where arguments are constructed using a basic (content independent) argument scheme that associates a set of premises with the claim, or position, of the argument. Gorgias is being used for automated decision-making or decision-support in real-world systems development. The dialectical argumentation reasoning within the Gorgias framework gives, besides an admissibly supported Position, an internal representation of the argumentative reasoning that leads to this. This representation can be manipulated by applications to produce case-based human readable explanations. 

Gorgias Cloud offers a web-based integrated application development environment that facilitates the development of argumentation-based systems over the internet for providing human-readable explanations. These explanations can assist both in the development and in the validation of the theory capturing the knowledge of an application. 

This talk will introduce argumentation technology and then show how Gorgias Cloud offers Explainable Argumentation-based Decision Making as a Service and how applications can benefit from it.  

Date: 5th of May 2023 @10.00 CET. 

About the speakers: 

Nikolaos Spanoudakis holds a Teaching Assistant position at the Applied Mathematics and Computers Laboratory of the School of Production Engineering and Management of the Technical University of Crete. In the latter, he has the additional role of Director of the Life-Long Learning Centre of the University. Moreover, Nikolaos is a co-founder of the Argument Theory start up in Paris/France. Argument Theory uniquely offers argumentation-based automated decision making as a service. 

He has a PhD in Informatics from the Paris Descartes University (now Paris City University). He also has a Master in Science in the field of Organization and Management from the Technical University of Crete and a Diploma in Computer Engineering and Informatics from the University of Patras. He has experience as lecturer, information systems architect, designer and developer, technical manager, project manager and Information Technology and Services consultant.

His main research interests are in Engineering Multi-agent Systems, and Applications of Argumentation. His main scientific results are on one hand the ASEME methodology and the Gaia2JADE process for the development of multi-agent systems (the outcome of his PhD), methods that have been used by third-parties to develop their own real-world systems and have been referred to in surveys in the domains of Agent-Oriented Software Engineering, Software Engineering for the Internet of Things, Model-driven approaches to Robotic applications development. On the other hand, his scientific work concerns a methodology and tools for developing applications of argumentation by non-specialist users. Nikolaos has worked on 15 research projects, has published 13 journal papers and more than 50 papers in conference/workshop proceedings with reviewers. He has co-authored one book and has led a robocup robotic soccer team. 

He is a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), member of the European Association for Multi-Agent Systems (EURAMAS, currently member of the board with the role of the secretary), the Hellenic Artificial Intelligence Society (EETN, currently member of the board), the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and the Technical Chamber of Greece (TEE-TCG). 

For more information visit https://users.isc.tuc.gr/~nispanoudakis/

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Ldn3i_QAAAAJ&hl=el&oi=ao