Lucia Balejčíková (born Melníková) graduated in Chemistry (Bachelor level) with a specialization in Biochemistry (Master level) at the Pavel Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, Slovakia, in 2011. She earned a PhD degree in the condensed matter physics field in 2015 for studies on modified ferritin systems. She completed several working stays in Russian Federation (JINR), Poland (AMU), Germany (DESY), Hungary (BNC) and France (ILL, JMU) for deepening her knowledge. In 2018 she moved from the Institute of Experimental Physics of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAS) to the Institute of Hydrology of SAS. Currently, she is dealing with environmentalism. She connected studying water resources and decontamination technologies development with her previous research theme. Several SAS awards for young scientists and advancement to the finals of the prestigious competition L'Oréal UNESCO For Women in Science in 2018 are evidence of the research quality and social impacts of her contribution to Science.
Karel Saksl is head of the Division of Metallic Systems and a member of the scientific board at the Institute of Materials Research, Slovak Academy of Sciences. He focuses on the characterisation of highly disordered materials. As an expert on X-ray diffraction, X-ray absorption spectroscopy and mathematical modelling of disordered structures, he was awarded honour acknowledgements at the Scientist of the Slovak republic competition in 2007, 2008, and 2009. As a member of the international research team, he contributed to the breakthrough discovery of saturated absorption on aluminium, published in the journal Nature Physics in 2009. In 2015 his work was awarded by the Metallurgy and Materials Society of CIM by the 2015 MetSoc Light Metals Best Paper Award. He is the official representative of the Slovak Republic in the Council of the European XFEL, user consortia Serial femtosecond X-ray crystallography and the Integrated Biology Infrastructure Life-Science Facility at the European XFEL. He is also a member and scientific secretary in the commission for activities coordination in the ESFRI projects. Up to now, he has educated six PhD students and supervised four current PhDs students.
Jozef Kovac graduated in Physics with a specialization in Solid State Physics at the Pavel Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, Slovakia, in 1972. He earned a Ph.D. degree in the condensed matter physics field in 1989 for studies on amorphous metallic alloys. Since 1977, he has focused on the magnetic properties investigation of amorphous and nanocrystalline metallic alloys, permeable magnets based on rare earth, high-temperature superconductors, and magnetic nanoparticles at the Institute of Experimental Physics SAS. He participates in international cooperation with the Research Institutes of the Hungarian and Polish Academy of Sciences and Research Institutes or Universitas in France and Spain. During his scientific activity, he has received several awards from the Slovak Academy of Sciences for the development of the research infrastructure of the institute.
Anne Martel followed cell biology and physiology studies at Universite Joseph Fourier (Grenoble, France) and Ecole Normale Superieure (Lyon, France) before earning her Ph.D. at Universite Joseph Fourier and European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (Grenoble) in the field of structural biology for the study of silk fiber formation. She was officiated as a beamline scientist on BL4-2 at Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Facility (Menlo Park, California) before her post-doc at Institut de Biologie Structurale and Laboratoire des Ecoulements Geophysiques et Industriels (Grenoble). Currently, she is an instrument scientist on D22, a SANS instrument of Institut Laue Langevin (Grenoble), and studies membrane-protein interactions, as well as amyloid fibrillation.
Vasyl Haramus (Professional name Vasil M. Garamus) graduated in Physics (Bachelor level) with specialization in Molecular Physics (Master level) at the Kyiv University, Kyiv, Ukraine (1992). He earned a Ph.D. degree in Ph.D. (Physics and Mathematics) at Kyiv University, Measurements of the Properties of Surfactant Micellar Solutions by Small-Angle Neutron Scattering (1995). During his career, he was responsible for neutron and X-ray scattering in Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon (formed named Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht and GKSS Research Centre) on the PETRA III synchrotron source and FRGI reactor. Currently, he deals with condensed matter physics and material science, focusing on the development and characterization of metallic implant material with drug-device function to prevent infections and nanocarriers loading with drugs for controlled and targeted release. The application of scattering methods (X-rays and neutrons) for the structure-function relationship determination of devices is focused on the “biology-inspired concepts” such as the capsules for drug delivery and medical diagnostics.
Prof. Dr. Mikhail V. Avdeev graduated from the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute, Russia. In 1995 majoring in solid-state physics and received his Ph.D. (2002) and D.Sc. (2012) from the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR), Dubna, Russia. His research interests focus on various areas of structural research and the application of neutron scattering and corresponding instrument development. The research includes small-angle neutron scattering (from magnetic fluids, nanocarbon materials, biological solutions), neutron reflectometry (from liquid-containing interfaces), and the development of neutron scattering experiment design (JINR). Currently, he is a senior researcher, head of the Neutron Optics Sector of the Department of Neutron Investigations of Condensed Matter, Frank Laboratory of Neutron Physics at JINR. Dr. Avdeev is the author of more than 180 publications and several lecture courses on applications of neutrons in Moscow State University, St.-Petersburg State University, and State University ‘Dubna’. Member of the editorial board of the ‘Coatings’ journal.
Dr. Viktor Petrenko is an Ikerbasque fellow at BCMaterials, Basque Center for Materials, Applications, and Nanostructures, Spain. He graduated in Physics with a specialization in Molecular Physics and Medical Physics at the Kyiv National Taras Shevchenko University, Ukraine, in 2005. He earned a Ph.D. degree in the molecular physics field in 2008. A Doctor of Science diploma was granted to him in 2017 for his studies of complex magnetic nanosystem by neutron scattering. He completed several scholarship stays in Slovakia (IEP), Hungary (BNC), and Germany (Geestacht) for deepening his knowledge. Currently, Viktor Petrenko is working at BCMaterials, Spain, and is dealing with neutron scattering techniques for nanoscale characterization of various multicomponent systems. He has received several awards for Young scientists during his career.
László Almásy studied physics at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest. He received his Ph.D. in physical chemistry at Université Paris 6 Pierre et Marie Curie in 2003, while he prepared his thesis at the Laboratoire Léon Brillouin (CEA/CNRS), France. He carried out post-doctoral research at Helsinki University of Technology and Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland in the neutron scattering field. From 2017 to 2019 he was a guest professor at the Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang, China. He has worked as a senior scientist at the Centre for Energy Research in Hungary since 2020. His research interests focus on materials science and soft condensed matter. His expertise lies in the application of radiation scattering methods in colloid science and nanomaterials.
Peter Kopčanský is a leading scientific worker at the Institute of Experimental Physics, Slovak Academy of Sciences. He graduated from Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, Slovakia, in nuclear physics with specialization in the behaviour of elementary particles in an applied external magnetic field. His PhD thesis, entitled "Electrical transport properties in disordered systems", was defended in 1985 at the same University in the condensed matter physics field. He was the head of the Centre of excellence, Cooperative and phase phenomena in condensed matter physics and Centre of excellence NANOFLUID. He has received 15 patents. He has been the chair and organizer in professional communities, over 30 international conferences, presentation over 60 invitations to give plenary and invited talks. He is a member of the International steering committee of Magnetic fluids society. During the periods 1990–2016 and 2015–2019, he was the director of the Institute of Experimental Physics Slovak Academy of Sciences.
