Researchers from a wide range of disciplines met from November 8 to 10 for the international conference “Advanced Materials Safety 2023” on the campus of Saarland University to shed light on the topic of safety and sustainability of new materials from their respective perspectives. The conference is being organized by the Leibniz Research Alliance Advanced Materials Safety in cooperation with the INM – Leibniz Institute for New Materials in Saarbrücken.
Advanced materials make a significant and often invisible contribution to a wide range of applications, from the production of green hydrogen to catalysis, energy storage and biomedicine. They are therefore of crucial importance for the development and use of important future technologies. In advanced materials, various nano- or microscale building blocks are combined to form hierarchically structured hybrid materials. The use of different components and the many possible combinations result in a complex hazard potential that must be considered over the entire life cycle.
Andreas Fery, co-organizer of the conference and spokesperson for the Leibniz Research Alliance Advanced Materials Safety, explains: “The functionality of the materials, their effects on humans and the environment as well as the acceptance of new technologies are central topics during the conference. With the meeting, we want to bring together researchers with relevant competences and identify common interests for joint research projects that will allow us to investigate such complex challenges.”
During the three-day event, experts present their research findings in their specific areas of expertise to answer questions such as how the production of safe materials can be planned, what effects material components have on the environment and human health, what therapeutic applications are possible and how we can better predict the effects of such materials through computer-aided modeling. In addition, communication experts will present techniques and tools that help to present and convey complex issues. In a seminar on research data, participants will also exchange ideas on how to make better use of their data.
