The international European Polymer Conference 2024 took place at the University Residential Center of Bertinoro, Italy from 26 to 30^th of May 2024. Organized by the European Polymer Federation (EPF) in collaboration with the Italian Association of Macromolecular Science and Technology (AIM), this year’s edition went under the theme of “Polymer Brushes”.

The development of surfaces with well-engineered properties is a significant challenge for chemists and physicists. In this context, polymer brushes, which consist of thin organic layers of polymers tethered by one end to a substrate, represent an extremely versatile tool in surface engineering. The impressive progress in precision polymerization methods, organic reactions and supramolecular strategies provide for achieving excellent control over the composition, architecture and length of tethered polymer chains, leading to an unprecedented variety of polymer brush structures.

EUPOC 2024 offered a great platform for discussing the main challenges this research field faces by bringing together worldwide scientists and students working on different aspects of polymer brushes (PB):

• Synthesis and processing of Polymer Brushes
• Advanced characterization of PB
• PB theory
• Modeling of PB Properties
• Bioinspired PB
• Responsive PB
• Cutting-edge applications of PB

Before an audience comprising mostly researchers like PhD students, postdoctoral and permanent scholars and professors as well as industry professionals committed to providing adapted responses to the new requirements, Maialen Argaiz from TEKNIKER presented an oral lecture titled “Smart leaching of essential oils from mesoporous silica nanoparticles”. It demonstrated the stimuli-responsive behaviour of polymer brushes attached into silica nanoparticles – a topic which is in the core of RELIANCE project.

The conference program comprised also lectures given by professors who summarized the latest polymer brushes updates and oral presentations delivered by researchers who updated the attendees with the most recent advances in the field of polymer brushes.

An exciting two days organized into two morning and afternoon conference sessions, featuring 30-minute plenary lecture and 20-minute oral communications, along with a separate poster session. The atmosphere was one of innovation and collaboration among a heterogeneous community of scientists from all over the world.