Schedule at a Glance

We will feature eight plenary lectures from international leaders in the field starting Monday evening and ending Friday morning. Tues-Thurs there will be a morning and afternoon plenary.

Monday Aug 9 - Friday Aug 13 | 4 parallel sessions each featuring 1-2 invited speakers and 2-4 contributed talks will run in the mornings and afternoons. The topics include:

active matter

biological soft matter

colloids and suspensions

fluid dynamics and rheology

glasses, granular matter and jamming

interfaces, surfaces and membranes

liquid crystals

networks and gels

polymers

self-assembly

characterization, analysis and data-driven discovery methods

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All participants are encouraged to present their research at the poster sessions that will run on the evenings of Tuesday Aug 10 and Thursday Aug 12.

We will also be featuring flash talks during lunch time Wednesday Aug 11 where all presenters give 2-min flash talks accompanied with one slide. We can accomodate 50 flash talks.

There will be award competitions both posters and flash talks that all students and postdocs are eligible to participate in.

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On Sunday Aug 8, we will host a public outreach event, lecture and welcome reception to build bridges between disparate groups, disciplines, and regions; and engage in scientific storytelling. We will also host a Banquet on Wednesday Aug 11, a Closing Celebration on Friday Aug 13, and coffee breaks Monday-Friday for attendees to network and form collaborations and partnerships.

We will host panels and workshops during lunch times Tuesday Aug 10 and Thursday Aug 12, that will focus on science communication, storytelling and public engagement as well as international societal impact, funding, and collaborations.

This 2-day event - held August 8-9, 2027, at University of San Diego is for students and postdocs working in soft matter to learn from experts and connect with peers. A theme of this event is strengthening the bridge between academia and industry.

Day 1 | Sunday August 8, 2027: participants will attend one of a selection of half-day short courses led by experts in soft matter. That afternoon, soft matter scientists, primarily from industry, will present a series of talks focused on challenges facing their industry or subfield.

Day 2 | Monday August 9, 2027: participants will form groups of 5-6 to brainstorm ideas for addressing industry-relevant challenges in soft matter. Facilitators will help to guide these discussions. Teams will then present their ideas for feedback. A final group of teams will present their ideas to all and compete for awards.

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