Events

Nature as an supplier of polysaccharides, a raw material platform for a wide range of applications

IUT Béthune from the University of Artois are organizing a workshop on Thursday, 20 November 2025: Nature as an supplier of polysaccharides, a raw material platform for a wide range of applications.

Please find the program here: http://www.epnoe.eu/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Programme-Seminaire-20-novembre-2025.pdf

EPNOE Workshop at ACS Spring 2026: When Renewable Polymers Act as Colloids?

Save the Date: 22-26 March, 2026! Professor dr. Luigi Gentile from the Università degli Studi di Bari is co-organizing a session at the ACS Spring 2026 Conference: “When Renewable Polymers Act as Colloids?”

Please find the information on how to join here:

https://www.acs.org/meetings/acs-meetings/future-meetings.html

IMP-Days: 3rd Edition Soft Polymer Networks and Gels

IMP lab (https://imp-umr5223.cnrs.fr/) organizes the 3nd edition of IMP-Days from April 7 th to 10 th 2026 on the La Doua Lyon Tech Campus (Lyon-Villeurbanne).

IMP Days are a series of conferences organized every other year which feature current and prospective research in polymer science, including the research covered at IMP.

The 2026 IMP Days edition will be dedicated to Soft Polymer Networks and Gels.

In 2026 IMP Days edition, selected talks by international experts will cover the major topics related to Soft Polymer Networks and Gels, including polysaccharide-based hydrogels.

Further information will be soon available at: https://imp-days-2026.sciencesconf.org/

We look forward to welcoming you in April 2026!

RRB 2026: 22nd International Conference on Renewable Resources and Biorefineries

https://rrbconference.com/

The 22nd edition of the International Conference on Renewable Resources & Biorefineries will take place in Leuven, Belgium from Monday 1 June until Wednesday 3 June 2026, organised by Ghent University and KU Leuven, Department of Chemical Engineering and the Department of Microbial and Molecular Systems. Based on the previous RRB conferences, this conference is expected to welcome about 300 international participants from over 30 countries.

Delegates from university, industry, governmental an non-governmental organizations and venture capital providers will present their views on industrial biotechnology, sustainable (green) chemistry and agricultural policy related to the use of renewable raw materials for non-food applications and energy supply.

The overall theme of this Leuven edition is “Innovating Today for a Sustainable Tomorrow”, reflecting the conference’s focus on forward-looking solutions that combine innovation with long-term sustainability. The conference aims at providing an overview of the scientific, technical, economic, environmental and social issues of renewable resources and biorefineries in order to give an impetus to the biobased economy and to present new developments in this area.

The conference will provide a forum for leading political, corporate, academic and financial people to discuss recent developments and set up collaborations.
This three day international conference will consist of plenary lectures, oral presentations, poster sessions and an exhibition. Companies and research organizations are offered the opportunity to organize a satellite symposium.

The 7th International EPNOE Junior Scientist Meeting

The 7th International EPNOE Junior Scientist Meeting, or EPNOEJunior2026, will take place from September 16th, until September 18th, 2026 in Málaga, Spain.

EPNOEJunior2026 is co-organized by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC). More information to follow soon. Save the date!

The 10th International Polysaccharide Conference

From Bioeconomy to Global Transformation: The Rise of Polysaccharides

The 10th edition of the EPNOE Conference will be held from September 5th, until September 9th, 2027 and is co-organized by KU Leuven.

More information to follow soon.

Save the date!

EPNOE International Polysaccharide Conferences

The EPNOE International Polysaccharide Conferences are held every two years and are jointly organized with other professional societies, including the Cellulose and Renewable Materials Division of the American Chemical Society (ACS) and the Cellulose Society of Japan. The programmes consist of multiple parallel sessions, each on specific topics, and are designed for researchers from academia and industry to present and discuss their latest results.

9th EPNOE International Polysaccharides Conference
25-29 August 2025, Sundsvall (Sweden)

8th EPNOE International Polysaccharides Conference
18-22 September 2023, Graz (Austria)

7th EPNOE International Polysaccharides Conference
11-15 October 2021, Nantes (France)

6th EPNOE International Polysaccharides Conference
21-25 October 2019, Aveiro (Portugal)

5th EPNOE International Polysaccharides Conference
20-24 August 2017, Jena (Germany)

4th EPNOE International Polysaccharides Conference
19-22 October 2015, Warsaw (Poland)

3rd EPNOE International Polysaccharides Conference
21-24 October 2013, Nice (France)

2nd EPNOE International Polysaccharides Conference
29 Aug – 2 Sep 2011, Wageningen (Netherlands)

1st EPNOE International Polysaccharides Conference
21-24 September 2009, Turku/Abo (Finland)

Junior Scientists Meetings

The meetings are held once every two years, alternating with the international conference. They are designed to offer young researchers (MSc, PhD students and early-stage postdocs*) the opportunity to present their work via lectures and posters, and also network among themselves. Senior staff from academia and industry are welcome to attend and offer the benefit of their knowledge and experience. The meetings also serve as a platform for senior staff to identify potential recruits among the emerging talent.

6th EPNOE international Junior Scientist Meeting,
4-6 September, 2024, Vienna (Austria)

5th EPNOE international Junior Scientist Meeting,
8-9 September, 2022, Aveiro (Portugal)

4th EPNOE International Junior Scientists Meeting, 3-4 February 2021, Online Meeting

3rd EPNOE International Junior Scientists Meeting, 14-15 May 2018, Maribor (Slovenia)

2nd EPNOE International Junior Scientists Meeting, 13-14 October 2016, Sophia Antipolis (France). Download Book of Abstracts.

1st EPNOE International Junior Scientists Meeting, 19-20 January 2015, Wageningen (Netherlands). Download Book of Abstracts.

Early-stage postdocs are defined as those who obtained their PhD within the previous three years.

Workshops

Workshops are small-sized events centered on individual topics, directed towards both research and industry, and are designed to allow for discussions and exchange of information.

Opportunities for Cellulose Nanomaterials in Packaging

From 8 until 11 July, 2025, Ass. Professor Joice Kaschuk from Wageningen University & Research and Assoc. Professor Marc Delgado-Aguilar from the University of Girona, together with professor dr. Julian Bras from Grenoble INP-UGA, will give a workshop: ‘Opportunities for Cellulose Nanomaterials in Packaging’: ‘If you’re working at the intersection of biobased materials, nanotechnology, and sustainable packaging, this workshop is for you!’.

The workshop takes place during the 2025 International Conference on Nanotechnology for Renewable Materials in Girona, Spain. Please register via the link: https://events.tappi.org/event/nano/home.

Summer schools

PAST

Polysaccharides as Sweet Spot for Innovation
17-18 September 2018, KU Leuven (Belgium).
More information

Towards flame retardant biopolymers and biocomposites: current research strategies, scientific barriers and perspective applications
16-17 OCtober 2018, Centre des Matériaux d’IMT MINES Alès (France).
More information

Modern analytical approaches in biopolymer characterization
26-27 February 2020, BOKU Vienna (Austria)
More Information

Challenges and opportunities to promote circular bio-economy

23-24 November 2021, online

Aerogels for Biomedical Applications

Training School – Leuven, Belgium

7 June 2022 – 10 June 2022

EU Cost Action

Training School Aerogels Leuven 2022 – Program

Polysaccharides In Drug Delivery – On The Road to Innovation!

27-28 October 2022, Rome

Seminar on Computational Resources

Driven by the idea that in today’s landscape, molecular modeling extends far beyond the confines of academia and that computational tools wield significant influence in diverse domains, the EPNOE Working Group on Computational Resources organised a seminar for both industry and academia representatives. The EPNOE seminar on Computational Resources took place online on Thursday, 13 June, from 14:00 to 16:00 (CET).

Access exclusively granted to EPNOE Members.

Agenda:

Jeff Sanders – Schrödinger: ”Exploring Ingredient Binding and Encapsulation by Starch Using Molecular Simulation.”
Yu Ogawa – Cermav CNRS: ”Flexing cellulose at the nanoscale: A molecular dynamics study.”
Q&A Session

Summer Course Glycosciences

17th European Training Course on Carbohydrates

The Summer Course Glycosciences, 17th European Training Course on Carbohydrates took place from 11 to 15 June 2023, in Wageningen, The Netherlands.

Organised by VLAG Graduate School, Wageningen University and Research, University of Groningen and Leiden University Medical Center, this course combined general introductions in the field of carbohydrates and glycoproteins with in-depth sessions, giving participants the opportunity to focus on specific interests without losing the broad perspective. In addition, interactive elements were part of the programme (e.g. poster sessions, interviews with lecturers).

For more information, read here.

Congresso Nazionale Societa’ Italiana Biomateriali 2023

The Societa’ Italiana Biomateriali Congress (SIB) took place on 3-6 July, in Camerino (Italy).

The event has been sponsored by EPNOE and aimed to enhance the development of innovative platforms based on biomaterials derived from innovative and sustainable resources. All the aspects of the biomaterial science are covered ranging from novel production methodologies, complex assembly, biomaterial derivatisation, pharmaceutical and clinical application.

Read the full programme here.

For more information, please read here.

The 8th EPNOE International Polysaccharides Conference

The 8th International Polysaccharide Conference took place from 17 to 22 September 2023, at the Graz University of Technology (Graz, Austria).

The main goal was to gather academia and industry stakeholders and encourage a conversation about polysaccharide-related R&D and applications. Through the years, this occasion has become one of the largest events in the field of polysaccharides, bringing together researchers from all over the world.

The 5th International Cellulose Conference

The International Cellulose Conference (ICC) is held by the Cellulose Society of Japan every five years since 2002.

The last one took place at the International Conference Center Hiroshima (Hiroshima, Japan), from 26 to 28 September 2023.

This face-to-face meeting was a great opportunity for scientists seeking new concepts and networking opportunities across the borders.

For more information, please visit this webpage.

XXVIII Conference of the Polish Chitin Society

The XXVIII Conference of the Polish Chitin Society “New Aspects on Chemistry and Application of Chitin and its Derivatives” was held at the Hotel Orle Centrum Konferencyjne, in Gdańsk (Poland), from 25 to 27 September, 2023.

Click here for more information.

XXI B-MRS Meeting

The XXI B-MRS Meeting took place at the Ruth Cardoso Cultural and Exhibition Center in Maceió-Alagoas (Brazil), from 1 to 5 October 2023. Among the symposia, the Polysaccharide-based Materials Symposium aimed to address timely topics within the Polysaccharide-based materials area.

Click here for more information.

Bioeconomy Innovation Day: Advancing Resource Efficiency and Value Creation in Europe

The Bioeconomy Innovation Day – Advancing Resource Efficiency and Value Creation in Europe – was organised in cooperation with the Swedish research collaboration platform Treesearch, FinnCERES materials bioeconomy Flagship from Finland, and the B2BE facilitator, a matchmaker in the Flemish bioeconomy.

The event took place on 16 November, 2023, at 9:00-18:00 (CET) in Brussels, at the Marriott Hotel Grand Place.

For more information, please refer to this webpage.

EPNOE Research Roadmap 2040

Launch Event

EPNOE Research Roadmap 2040 launch event took place on 31 January 2023, from 13:30 to 17:00 (CET) at the Thermotechnisch Instituut, Kasteelpark Arenberg 41, 3001 Heverlee (Leuven, Belgium).

The venue

Agenda

13:30 – Coffee and Registration

13:50 – Welcome to KU Leuven

14:00 – Presentation of EPNOE Association

Pedro Fardim, President of EPNOE, Professor at KU Leuven

14:10 – Introduction of EPNOE Research Roadmap 2040

Karin Stana Kleinscheck, VP EPNOE Research, Professor at TU Graz, Austria

14:20- Presentation of EPNOE Research Roadmap 2040 by Chairs and Co-Chairs:

Materials and Engineering

Anna Roig, Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC), Spain

Magnus Norgren, Mid-Sweden University, Sweden

Food and Nutrition

Gleb Yakubov, Nottingham University, UK

Biomedical Applications

Már Másson, University of Iceland, Iceland

Basic Sciences- Chemistry, Biology and Physics

Tanja Wrodnigg, TU Graz, Austria

Olli Ikkala, Aalto University, Finland

Skills

Tiina Nypelö, Chalmers, Sweden

15:00 – Future Perspectives of Circular Bioeconomy in Europe – Round-Table Discussion

Roman Brenne, European Commission, Brussels

Harry Raaijmakers, Royal Cosun, The Netherlands

Brigitte Hasewend, European Sustainable Energy Alliance (ESEIA), Brussels

Karin Stana Kleinschek, EPNOE Association, TU Graz, Austria

Moderator: Katariina Torvinen, EPNOE Association, VTT, Finland

16:00 – Networking Reception – All Attendees

17:00 – End of the Day

The 27^th Austrian Carbohydrate Workshop (ACW 2027) 15-16 February, 2024, Graz University of Technology (Austria)

The Training School on ”Technical, commercial and societal innovations on aerogels towards circular economy” took place on 29-31 May, 2024, at the University of Udine (Italy).

Organised by the ECO-AERoGELS CIG and the Food Technology groups from the University of Udine with the partnership of EPNOE, it featured a thought-provoking roundtable discussion moderated by Carmen Freire (Aveiro University/EPNOE Vice-President of Conferences and Workshops). The panel includes Anastasia Panfilova (IFF Pharma Solutions), Vincenzo De Tata (Barilla), and Carlos García-González (University of Santiago de Compostela). The titles of the presentations are available here.

Organised by the EPNOE Working Group on Safety and Sustainability Analysis the online workshop this topic took place

on 3 June, 2024.

Organised by the EPNOE Working Group on Analytics of Polysaccharides the workshop on Analytics of Polysaccharides took place at ETH Zürich (Switzerland), on 25-26 June, 2024.

With a focus on key topics such as rheology, molecular weight, and compositional analysis, this workshop was open to both EPNOE Members and Non-Members.

Check out the programme here.

APA-EPNOE-GFL International Conference on Polymers for
Advanced Technology

For more information, please refer to this webpage.

CICECO – Aveiro Institute of Materials in Portugal is organizing the CICECO Workshops from the 5th of March, 2025 until the 14th of March, 2025. The Workshops focus on proposal writing for grants and funding: How to Write a Succesful Neutron Beamtime Proposal.

The CICECO Workshops will take place at the University of Aveiro, including top facilities like ISIS Neutron and Muon Source!

Registration for the CICECO Workshops can be completed via the following link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScQDsBbI8yf7mCxCGCBHvifFKmr9pAscvduTSJfPjeykKdL0g/viewform?pli=1

EPNOE MEMBERS ONLY EVENT

We are pleased to invite you to the Kick-Off Meeting for the new EPNOE Working Group Food & Nutrition on Friday, the 7th of March, 2025 from 01:00 PM until 03:00 PM.

During this online meeting, you will get the chance to introduce yourself to your peers in the international polysaccharide community and to provide suggestions for future activities (such as webinars, conferences, workshops) in the field of food and nutrition.

There are several working groups active within the EPNOE Association, we find it important that the various fields of applications for polysaccharides are explored and that no opportunity to network and to share knowledge and expertise is lost. So please join us for the WG Food & Nutrition Kick-Off Meeting.

You can register for the Kick-Off Meeting using the following form: https://shorturl.at/ewCcv. After you have registered, we will send you the link to attend the meeting via Zoom.

TAPPI Webinar: Transitioning from Micro to Nano: Unlocking the Potential of Cellulose Nanomaterials

Dr. Marc Delgado-Aguilar, Associate Professor at the University of Girona will give a lecture for TAPPI (Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry) on Wednesday, June 4th, 2025 (10 AM – 11 AM). The title of the lecture is: Transitioning from Micro to Nano: Unlocking the Potential of Cellulose Nanomaterials. Please register via the link: https://www.tappi.org/event/calendar/all-events/transitioning-from-micro-to-nano-unlocking-the-potential-of-cellulose-nanomaterials/

VTT Summer of Changemakers

Until the 2nd of February, 2025, you can apply for the VTT Summer of Changemakers traineeship program. VTT Summer of Changemakers traineeships are paid, full-time, and typically last 3–6 months. Start dates and duration are flexible. Read about our recruitment process here.

VTT offers summer traineeships in all our three business areas: Carbon neutral solutions, Sustainable products and materials, and Digital technologies: https://www.vttresearch.com/en/summer-changemakers.

B-MRS 2025: 3rd Symposium On Polysaccharide-Based Materials

During the B-MRS Meeting 2025 (September 28th, until October 2nd, 2025), EPNOE is participating with the organization of the 3rd Symposium on Polysaccharide-based Materials.

Professor dr. Elisabete Frollini, professor dr. Pedro Fardim, dr. Carmen S.R. Freire, dr. Nicolas Le Moigne, professor dr. Karin Stana Kleinschek and professor dr. Sérgio Paulo Campana-Filho have set the scope of the 3rd Symposium on Polysaccharide-based Materials including films, composites, membranes, gels, biomedical materials, and sensors, all of which play a crucial role in advancing the circular bioeconomy.

Invited speakers a.o. are professor dr. Pedro Fardim (KU Leuven), professor dr. Pietro Matricardi (Università degli Studi di Roma) and professor dr. Patrick Martin (Université d’Artois).

Science for Sustainability 2025

The University of Helsinki and Aalto University are organizing Science for Sustainability from 30 September 2025 until 2 October 2025. The theme for the event is Bursting the Sustainability Bubble which aims to challenge sustainability myths and break down the barriers between disciplines and industries. The goal: to find solutions that pace up the sustainability transition. Please register here: https://www.helsinki.fi/en/conferences/science-sustainability-2025/registration-now-open

EPNOE Junior Week 2025

The EPNOE Junior Group is organizing the 1st EPNOE Junior Week.

Junior Representatives were asked to put together a program at their university or research institution, this for a workshop or a presentation series highlighting a certain research topic or the current research at their university or research institution.

We have gathered a nice program for the 1st week of November. Please find the overview here (click on each title to find the detailed program).