The prestigious international conference Advances in Solid State Physics and New Materials, organised by the Institute of Physics Belgrade and the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, opened on Monday, 19 May 2025, at the SASA Grand Hall.
The conference, which runs until 23 May, is dedicated to recent breakthroughs and findings in the field of solid-state physics and new materials, and is being organised to commemorate a significant anniversary. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the Centre for the Solid State Physics and New Materials, which Academician Zoran Popović founded with his associates as a globally recognised centre.
The five-day conference will host lectures and workshops with contributions from both international and Serbian scholars. The entire programme takes place on the premises of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts.
On behalf of the host, Academician Zoran Knežević welcomed the attendees at the beginning of the event. He congratulated the Centre established by the Academician Z. Popović on the important jubilee. The opening also featured the Director of the Institute of Physics Belgrade, Dr Aleksandar Bogojević, who gave a brief overview of the Institute, emphasising that the Centre for Solid State Physics and New Materials had been an essential part of the Institute’s past and future. Dr Bogojević underscored that the Institute had been developing in challenging times, and in present times, it brought together a large number of relevant researchers who worked on top-notch equipment and had won the most prestigious European projects.
Dr Nenad Lazarević, the head of the Centre, talked about the Centre itself and its history, while the founder, Academician Zoran Popović, also shared his thoughts.
‘One of the tasks of the Institute of Physics, since its foundation, has always been the study of solid state physics’, he said, adding that the Centre’s researchers had participated in more than 40 international projects and published more than 800 scientific papers so far.
Dr Emil Božić presented the Hidden Phases in 2D Quantum Materials project, which allowed him to return to the Institute of Physics from the United States of America. Additionally, he spoke on international cooperation and encouragement of researchers.
‘When I visited the Centre for the first time, I was impressed by the equipment, the number of papers, the education of students and young researchers,’ said regular guest and associate Dr Rudi Hackl from the Technical University of Munich.
At the opening, the Centre’s head Dr Nenad Lazarević expressed his gratitude to the colleagues who made it possible for this event to be realised, emphasising that the conference was the crown jewel of their past work.
The conference has opened a range of important topics. The event featured two poster sessions at the SASA building, which presented numerous research results. During the conference, three accompanying workshops are to take place. They are: Advanced Materials in Cultural Heritage Protection; Bioaerosols and Nanoaerosols: Interdisciplinary Approaches in Microbiology и Computational Analysis and Modelling of Biological Materials.
The popular lecture on the history of superconductivity research titled Superconductivity: There’s Plenty of Cream at the Bottom by American physicist Peter Hirschfield, PhD, garnered a lot of attention.
Photos by: Marija Janković