The University of Petroleum and Energy Studies (UPES) campus was abuzz with the presence of renowned experts from academia, industry and other fields who had gathered there to participate in the two-day long international conference on advanced materials, energy and environmental sustainability which concluded on the weekend.
The event organised jointly by the Department of Chemistry and Department of Physics of the School of Engineering, UPES was sponsored by SERB-India, CSIR-India, USERC and Namami Gange. Professor Prashant V Kamat from University of Notre Dame inaugurated the conference as the chief guest in the presence of Uttarakhand State Council for Science and Technology (UCOST) director general Rajendra Dobhal, UPEs chancellor SJ Chopra and others. Sharing the details of the event, the conference convener Shailey Singhal informed that over 300 participants attended the conference which consisted of international participation from 18 countries, included four plenary talks and 120 oral/invited talks and over 100 poster presentations.
Addressing the gathering, professor PV Kamat shared his insights on the next generation photovoltaics with semiconductor nano structures while professor Wolfgang H Binder-research director at Martin Luther University, Germany, emphasised on chemical designing of self-healing materials.
The plenary talks were preceded by six sessions of invited and oral talks by the researchers from foreign universities, IITs, CSIR Labs and Central/State Universities on the inaugural day of the event.
Briefing the media, the university’s public affairs senior director Arun Dhand informed that the entire two-day long conference was a thought-provoking venture aimed at sustainable research with beneficial outcomes for future generations.
“The conference was an excellent platform for the young participants, researchers and faculty alike to update themselves with the current developments in the sphere of advanced materials, energy and environmental sustainability,” he said.