Gateway to Nanoscience: The convergence of disciplines
Brussels, 3 October 2006 -- The "European Forum on Nanosciences", organised by the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) with the support of the European Commission, the European Parliament, the European Science Foundation (ESF) and the ERA-NET Consortium on Nanoscience in the European Research Area will take place on 19 and 20 October in the Charlemagne Building of the European Commission. The event will gather some 400 experts from all across Europe; making it the first high-level conference on nanoscience being held.
What are Nanosciences?
Nanosciences explore what happens on the "nanometric" scale and thus in a dimension, where our understanding of rules gained on "macro" scale, has to be revised. Nanosciences, being primarily the extension of existing sciences into the realms of the extremely small, are now advancing rapidly thanks to the strong synergy among disciplines, encouraging connections with biotechnology and biomedicine, information technology and computing science as well as with cognitive science and cognitive neuroscience.
European Forum
The main aim of the "European Forum on Nanosciences" is to explore the wide range of new possibilities, underlining the international and interdisciplinary character of this field. In this context many issues will be addressed: How can nano scale research improve the quality of life? Will future energy problems be powered on nano-scale? How will converging nanosciences transform information society? And finally how can we better structure the research community to answer these questions? High-level experts are invited to present recent scientific achievements in nanosciences. By integrating societal and environmental aspects the urgent need for a broader perspective is demonstrated.
To achieve these aims, COST invited leading scientists from relevant fields to present keynote talks, to give their opinion to different issues and to participate in discussions. The European Commissioner for Science and Research, Janez POTOCNIK, will give a key note speech to emphasize the need of research in this field. The conference will be officially opened by Francesco Fedi, President of the COST Committee of Senior Officials; Martin Grabert, COST Director; Philippe Busquin, MEP and Ian Halliday, President of ESF.
Further the forum provides the unique chance to interview outstanding scientists, such as: - Tomasz DIETL, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warszawa (PL): he has been awarded the Agilent Technologies Europhysics Prize (2005) and will be speaking about "The Emerging Nano-Materials World". - Ruth DUNCAN, Cardiff University (UK): as leading researcher in Nanotechnology in Medicine, she will summarise the latest achievements "Towards improved Diagnosis and Treatment" - Gцran HERMERЙN, Lund University (SE), President of the European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies will reflect on "What are the ethical issues around the perceived risks of nanoscience?" - John Ryan , Professor of Physics and Director of the Bionanotechnology Interdisciplinary Research Centre at Oxford University. His current research ranges from single molecule studies of membrane proteins to hybrid bio-nano devices and applications in nanomedicine.
These experts are available for one-to-one interviews. Just reply by e-mail and inform us if you will attend the Forum and whom you would like to speak to.
Where & When:
European Forum on Nanosciences : A Converging Approach Across Disciplines, 19-20 October 2006 Venue: Charlemagne Building, Rue de la Loi 170, room CHA S3 Brussels, Belgium
