![\"Programme](\"https://www.epfl.ch/campus/art-culture/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/LES_CULTURELLES_1920x1080_programme_complet.png\")
\r\n\r\nIn 2026, EPFL named Professor Konstantin Novoselov its first-ever EPFL Fellow, a newly created honorary title recognising scientific personalities of exceptional international stature.
\r\n
\r\nEPFL is delighted to host a public lecture to celebrate this nomination of one of the most influential physicists of our time.
\r\n
\r\nKonstantin Novoselov was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2010 and is globally renowned for his pioneering work on graphene and two-dimensional materials. By isolating graphene for the first time, a sheet of carbon just one atom thick, he opened an entirely new field of research, with profound implications for electronics, energy and quantum technologies.
\r\n
\r\nPicture this: it was from the graphite of an ordinary pencil lead that this \"super-material\" was first isolated. Using nothing more than a piece of adhesive tape to peel away a layer a single atom thick, Konstantin Novoselov revealed to the world a material with extraordinary properties. A million times thinner than a human hair, 200 times stronger than steel and remarkably conductive, graphene pushes every limit. From the lead of your pencil to the batteries of tomorrow, join us to discover how a deceptively simple gesture set off a genuine technological revolution.
\r\n
\r\nThis Campus Lecture offers an introduction to that revolution: how a two-dimensional material is transforming our understanding of matter and how today's fundamental discoveries become tomorrow's technologies.
\r\n
\r\nAbout Konstantin Novoselov
\r\nKonstantin Novoselov is a physicist specialising in condensed matter and nanotechnology. He conducted his Nobel Prize–winning research at the University of Manchester, where, together with Professor Andre Geim, he isolated graphene for the first time. He has held academic positions in the United Kingdom as well as internationally and is currently based at the National University of Singapore. Widely recognised as a leading figure in the study and application of two-dimensional materials, he has received numerous honours for his contributions to science.
Thanks to a donation from the Claude Latour Foundation, the Pôle Culture (VPI) is organizing a master class followed by a public concert based on the Verbier Festival archives, which are being digitized at EPFL by the EPFL Cultural Heritage & Conservation Platform (CHC).
\r\n
\r\nDuring the masterclass, the selected students are invited to create a musical piece lasting no more than 5 minutes in the style, aesthetic, and genre of their choice (jazz, rap, rock, metal, classical, etc.). At the end of the day, the pieces will be presented to the public, accompanied by comments from a panel of experts.
\r\n
\r\nPROGRAM:\r\n
\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nWeekly BioEngineering Talks (Lunch Provided)
\r\n
\r\nINVITED SPEAKER:
\r\n
\r\nDe novo design of light-responsive proteins
\r\nDr. Alexander Hilditch, EPFL Laboratory of Protein Design & Immunoengineering
\r\nHost: Prof. Bruno Correia
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\r\n
\r\nBioEngineering Talks mandatory EDBB Seminar Attendance (1st-Year PhD Students)\r\n
Biological systems have already paved several routes for bioinspired materials, e.g., for structural colours, wetting, adhesion, and mechanical properties. They have largely involved equilibrium or kinetically trapped properties. By contrast, biological systems allowing multifunctional properties are characteristically dissipatively and dynamically adaptive and incorporate homeostatic feedback mechanisms to regulate the dynamic states. They also typically use signal transduction to mediate the signal from the sensory elements to the responsive sites, unlike the classic man-made stimuli responsive materials. These concept suggest avenues towards more complex life-like functions in soft matter. Herein, optically driven hydrogel systems are presented to drive homeostatically controlled thermal oscillations and to mediate signal transduction via thermal intermediate signalling (1). On the other hand, biological magnetoreception in elasmobranch organisms involves electromagnetic induction (EMI) and suggests avenues for bioinspired electrical signal transductions. We show magnetic profile recognition of translocated magnetically encoded soft matter objects using electrical intermediate signaling by EMI and decoding the magnetic information with machine learning (2). Combination of high stiffness and promoted dynamics for self-healing has turned challenging to combine. Self-healing hydrogels, still combining high tensile stiffness close to that of skin were shown by using polymers upon nanoconfinement in 2D-nanosheet layered confinements (3). Finally, we show trainable actuations in bilayer gel actuators (4). Ever more complex responses can be created, such as mimicking the Pavlovian classical conditioning (5), all paving ways for growingly life-like functions for soft robotics and interfacing with biology.
\r\n
\r\n1. H. Zhang, H. Zeng, A. Eklund, H. Guo, A. Priimagi, O. Ikkala, Feedback-controlled hydrogels with homeostatic oscillations and dissipative signal transduction, Nat. Nano, 17, 1303 (2022).
\r\n2. Z. Miao, X. Hu, K. Liu, S. Hu, G. Yan, H. Tan, O. Ikkala, Z. P. Lv, B. Peng, Bioinspired sensory transduction for magnetic profile recognition and encryption, Adv. Mat. 38 e15994 (2026).
\r\n3. C. Liang, V. Dudko, O. Khoruzhenko, X. Hong, Z.-P. Lv, J. Breu, O. Ikkala, H. Zhang, Stiff and self-healing hydrogels by polymer entanglements in co-planar nanoconfinement, Nat. Mater. 24, 599 (2025).
\r\n4. S. Hu, Y. Fang, C. Liang, M. Turunen, O. Ikkala, H. Zhang, Thermally trainable dual network hydrogels, Nat. Commun., 14, 3717 (2023).
\r\n5. H. Zhang, H. Zeng, A. Priimagi, O. Ikkala, Programmable responsive hydrogels with classical conditioning algorithm, Nat. Commun., 10, 3267 (2019).
Thesis Director: Prof. L. Zdeborová,
\r\nComputer and Communication Sciences doctoral program
\r\nThesis Nr. 11792
\r\n
\r\nTo take part in the public defense, please contact directly the speaker
Chirality is omnipresent in nature through a fundamental coupling between chirality and angular momentum. Despite extensive experimental evidence, the underlying mechanisms of this coupling remain debated. Here, we will explore how chiral magnetic textures can be stabilized in altermagnets, a new class of magnetism. Turning to structurally chiral magnetic molecules, we will show that chirality is directly linked to their intrinsic magnetic moments. Bringing both together, we will discuss how molecular design can control spin phenomena at hybrid chiral molecule-magnet interfaces. Our findings pave a pathway towards functional \"chiraltronic\" devices – turning a fundamental puzzle into a technological opportunity.
","image_description":"","creation_date":"2026-10-01T09:59:25","last_modification_date":"2026-10-01T10:00:49","link_label":"","link_url":"","canceled":"False","cancel_reason":"","place_and_room":"CM 1 5","url_place_and_room":"https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==CM%201%205","url_online_room":"","spoken_languages":["https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/spoken_languages/2/?format=json"],"speaker":"Prof. Angela Wittmann, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz","organizer":"Institut de Physique","contact":"vladimir.manucharyan@epfl.ch","is_internal":"False","theme":"","vulgarization":{"id":1,"fr_label":"Tout public","en_label":"General public"},"registration":{"id":3,"fr_label":"Entrée libre","en_label":"Free"},"keywords":"","file":"https://memento.epfl.ch/public/upload/files/Wittmann12oct_Bl6EtiA.pdf","icalendar_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/event/export/122008/","category":{"id":1,"code":"CONF","fr_label":"Conférences - Séminaires","en_label":"Conferences - Seminars","activated":true},"academic_calendar_category":null,"domains":[],"mementos":["https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/mementos/1/?format=json","https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/mementos/5/?format=json","https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/mementos/6/?format=json","https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/mementos/8/?format=json","https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/mementos/81/?format=json","https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/mementos/191/?format=json","https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/mementos/389/?format=json"]},{"id":72612,"title":"High-Energy Radiation and Electromagnetic Signatures in Upward Lightning: Physical Insights from Multi-band Measurements","slug":"high-energy-radiation-and-electromagnetic-signat-2","event_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/event/high-energy-radiation-and-electromagnetic-signat-2","visual_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/image/33857/200x112.jpg","visual_large_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/image/33857/720x405.jpg","visual_maxsize_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/image/33857/max-size.jpg","lang":"en","start_date":"2026-10-12","end_date":"2026-10-12","start_time":"16:30:00","end_time":null,"description":"Thesis Directors: Prof. F. Rachidi-Haeri, Prof. M. Rubinstein
\r\nPhysics doctoral program
\r\nThesis Nr. 11764
\r\n