Announcements
10 June 2026
Applied Sciences Webinar | Biohydrogen Production, 29 June 2026
Welcome from the webinar Chair:
On behalf of the organizing committee, it is my pleasure to welcome you to this webinar on “Biohydrogen Production”.
I am Prof. Benoît Schoefs, the chair of the webinar. With me, I have Dr. Justine Marchand, who is an Assistant Professor in Molecular Biology at the Research Unit for Biology of Organisms, Stress, Health and Environment at Le Mans University, France, and Dr. Erwan Nicol, Professor of Chemistry and Physico-Chemistry of Polymers at the Institute of Molecules and Materials at Le Mans University.
Thank you for taking the time to join us and for your interest in this important and rapidly evolving area of research.
During the webinar, four speakers will present their latest research on biohydrogen production by microalgae. I will first briefly introduce the scope and objectives of the webinar. Afterwards, Dr. Sergey Kosourov (University of Turku, Finland) will provide an overview of strategies developed to overcome the main bottlenecks and enable algal cells to operate as efficient and sustainable biocatalysts. Then, Dr. Gabriel Giannini Beillon (Le Mans University, France) will discuss the effect of microalga immobilization in hydrogels on their biohydrogen production capacity. This will be followed by Dr. Szilvia Tóth (HUN-REN Biological Research Centre, Szeged, Hungary), who will present on the advantages of molecularly engineered microalgae for biohydrogen production. The final talk will be delivered by Dr. Mariana Titica (Nantes University, France), who will discuss scaling-up and the engineering of biohydrogen production by microalgae.
Each talk will be followed by an open Q&A session, and I strongly encourage you to use that time to ask questions about the topic.
Once again, thank you for joining us. We look forward to your participation and to your contributions to this webinar.
Date: 29 June 2026 at 9:00 a.m. CEST | 3:00 p.m. CST Asia
Landing page: https://sciforum.net/event/ApplSci-28?subscribe
Register now for free!
Program:
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Speaker |
Presentation Title |
Time in CEST |
Time in CST Asia |
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Prof. Dr. Benoît Schoefs |
Chair Introduction |
9:00–9:10 a.m. |
3:00–3:10 p.m. |
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Dr. Sergey Kosourov |
From nutrient deprivation to solid-state cell factories: harnessing green algae as biocatalysts for H₂ photoproduction |
9:10–9:40 a.m. |
3:10–3:40 p.m. |
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Q&A Session |
9:40–9:50 a.m. |
3:40–3:50 p.m. |
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Mr. Gabriel Giannini Beillon |
Immobilization of Microalgae in a Microstructured Hydrogel: Application to the Production of Biohydrogen |
9:50–10:20 a.m. |
3:50–4:20 p.m. |
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Q&A Session |
10:20–10:30 a.m. |
4:20–4:30 p.m. |
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Dr. Szilvia Z. Tóth |
Sustained Photoautotrophic H2 Production in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii via Calvin-Benson Cycle Limitation and pgr5 Mutation |
10:30–11:00 a.m. |
4:30–5:00 p.m. |
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Q&A Session |
11:00–11:10 a.m. |
5:00–5:10 p.m. |
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Dr. Mariana Titica |
Toward Pseudo-Continuous Biohydrogen Production: Process Engineering Approaches in Controlled Photobioreactors |
11:10–11:40 a.m. |
5:10–5:40 p.m. |
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Q&A Session |
11:40–11:50 a.m. |
5:40–5:50 p.m. |
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MDPI Speaker |
Overview of Submission Process |
11:50–11:55 a.m. |
5:50–5:55 p.m. |
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Prof. Dr. Benoît Schoefs |
Closing of Webinar |
11:55–12:00 a.m. |
5:55–6:00 p.m. |
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information on how to join the workshop. Registrations with academic institutional email addresses will be prioritized.
Unable to attend? You can register anyway and we’ll let you know when the recording is available to watch.
Webinar Chairs and Keynote Speakers:
- Prof. Dr. Benoît Schoefs, Le Mans University, Le Mans, France;
- Dr. Justine Marchand, Le Mans University, Le Mans, France;
- Prof. Dr. Erwan Nicol, Le Mans University, Le Mans, France;
- Dr. Sergey Kosourov, University of Turku, Turku, Finland;
- Mr. Gabriel Giannini-Beillon, Le Mans University, Le Mans, France;
- Dr. Szilvia Z. Tóth, HUN-REN Biological Research Centre, Szeged, Hungary;
- Dr. Mariana Titica, Nantes Université, Saint‑Nazaire, France.
Relevant Section:
“Applied Biosciences and Bioengineering”
9 June 2026
Meet Us at the 41st ICROS Annual Conference, 1–3 July 2026, Daegu, Republic of Korea
8 June 2026
Interview with Dr. Mansoor Hayat—Applied Sciences Outstanding Reviewer Award Winner
We are pleased to announce that Dr. Mansoor Hayat is one of six winners of the Applied Sciences Outstanding Reviewer Award. The Applied Sciences Outstanding Reviewer Award is given annually to recognize reviewers who generously contribute their time to reviewing papers and display thoroughness, professionalism, and timeliness while doing so. Winners will be chosen from all the previous years’ reviewers and revealed by the end of March each year. As a winner, Dr. Mansoor Hayat will receive CHF 500 and a certificate. All winners were chosen by the Award Committee Chairman (Prof. Giulio Cerullo).
1. Congratulations on being an outstanding reviewer of the year 2025! Could you briefly introduce yourself to our readers and share a bit about your research interests?
My name is Mansoor Hayat. I completed my PhD at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand, and I am currently working as a postdoctoral research fellow at the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manitoba, Canada. My research interests mainly focus on image processing and large language models. I work on topics such as classification, segmentation, registration, and super-resolution, particularly for video and image processing applications in medical sciences.
2. What motivated you to become a reviewer?
Voluntarily working for the community is something that truly motivates me. One of the main reasons I chose a research career was the opportunity to contribute to humanity and serve the community. Working as a reviewer allows me to use my expertise to prove myself and to support scientific progress and contribute positively to the research community.
3. How do you approach the peer review process to ensure fairness and constructive feedback?
I try to stay very active with the review invitations I receive and usually follow the process from the initial invitation through to the paper’s acceptance. The way MDPI communicates with reviewers and authors throughout the entire process is very impressive. The regular updates and transparency contribute to a fair and professional review environment. When reviewing manuscripts, I aim to provide constructive and balanced feedback that can genuinely help authors improve their work.
4. What are the biggest challenges you face as a reviewer, and how do you handle them?
Most of the review invitations I receive are closely related to my research expertise, but sometimes authors introduce completely new methodologies or terminology that can be challenging to fully understand at first. In such cases, I consult additional literature and other reliable resources to better understand the topic before making an evaluation. I believe that continuous learning is an important part of being a reviewer.
5. What is your experience with our service from the point of view of a reviewer?
My overall experience has been very positive. Beyond receiving recognition such as this award, I particularly appreciate the reviewer rewards system. The vouchers and rewards provided after successful reviews are helpful to me because they allow me to support students under my supervision from countries such as Pakistan, India, and Thailand, where APCs can be difficult to afford. These rewards help them publish their research and continue developing their academic careers.
6. What advice would you give to aspiring researchers looking to make a meaningful impact in their fields?
My advice would be simple: stay consistent, work hard, and focus on contributing to humanity and the scientific community, and meaningful results will follow.
7. Applied Sciences is an open access journal. How do you think open access publishing benefits authors and the broader research community?
I believe open access journals have a higher impact because they make research easily accessible to everyone. Researchers can quickly access the latest findings and technologies without financial barriers. Many researchers, especially in developing countries, cannot afford access to subscription-based journals, so open access publishing is a better way to support equal access to scientific knowledge and accelerate research progress worldwide.
8. Do you have any suggestions on how our journal could further support researchers and the academic community?
One important area would be additional APC support for researchers from developing countries. Many talented students and researchers work in environments with limited funding, and publication costs can be a major obstacle. It would be extremely beneficial if the journal could further support outstanding research from underdeveloped or less developed regions through discounts or APC waivers for highly exceptional submissions.
8 June 2026
Interview with Dr. Shoujin Wang—Winner of the Applied Sciences Young Investigator Award
1. Congratulations on your award! Could you briefly introduce yourself to our readers and tell us a little bit about yourself and your fields of interest?
Thanks for the invitation to this interview. It is my great pleasure to be here to share my experience, and I also appreciate receiving the Young Investigator Award from Applied Sciences.
Currently, I am a Lecturer in data science and AI at the University of Technology Sydney in Australia.
My research interests are focused on general data science and machine learning, especially applications in recommender systems, which we can utilize for many downstream tasks in the real world. For example, we can utilize recommender systems on online shopping platforms to promote products, and we can also use them to recommend videos on streaming media platforms such as YouTube.
I also work on some applied research in different sectors, mainly healthcare and agriculture. In healthcare, we utilize AI for patient modeling, treatment strategies, and drug recommendations for patients. We also utilize machine learning models to predict livestock growth.
2. How did you hear about this award, and how supportive might this kind of award be for researchers?
I actually have a long-term engagement with the journal Applied Sciences. I think in 2022, I was invited by the Managing Editor of the journal to organize a Special Issue. I think we did quite well because we attracted around 20–30 submissions, with 14 accepted papers. While organizing the Special Issue, I regularly checked the journal website, and then I found the award opportunity for the Young Investigator Award, so I decided to apply. I think it is a very good recognition for my research achievements, and I really appreciate the award.
For early career researchers, it is very difficult for us to get recognized through major or mainstream platforms, so I think this is a good opportunity, on one hand, to showcase our achievements and make us more visible in the community, and on the other hand, to recognize our achievements and motivate us to conduct even more excellent research in the future.
3. Do you have any suggestions for improving the visibility of these awards?
I have already noticed your LinkedIn page promoting different activities. I think it would be good if you could organize more activities to promote these awards more broadly across the MDPI platform. For example, you could create a dedicated page specifically for journal awards where all award information could be collected.
For the Applied Sciences website, you could also have a dedicated page containing a collection of all awards.
4. Do you have any other suggestions on how our journal could further support young researchers and the academic community?
I think that Applied Sciences already provides some support to young researchers. For example, there are Best PhD Thesis Awards and Travel Awards for early career researchers. I think these are very good initiatives.
Applied Sciences could also lead initiatives to build forums, workshops, or similar activities to gather interested young researchers, where they could discuss how to better plan their academic journeys through online communication. That could help improve communication among young researchers from different regions around the world.
5. Do you have any advice for aspiring young researchers looking to make a meaningful impact in their respective fields?
Young researchers should find ways to build forums or organize small online communities where they can join special interest groups and communicate, either formally or informally, to discuss how they can better plan their academic journeys.
Additionally, I think young researchers should proactively seek support and collaboration opportunities within the community, especially with senior academics. Senior researchers can provide valuable suggestions and stronger support in terms of career progression.
4 June 2026
Open Access, Broadly Recognized: 363 MDPI Journals Receive CiteScores for 2025
3 June 2026
Meet Us at the 43rd International Symposium on Automation and Robotics in Construction (ISARC 2026), 22–26 June 2026, Singapore
1 June 2026
MDPI INSIGHTS: The CEO’s Letter #35 – 30 Years of Open Science, Open Access Policies, Spain Summit, MMCS 2026 & Antibiotics 2026
Welcome to the MDPI Insights: The CEO's Letter.
In these monthly letters, I will showcase two key aspects of our work at MDPI: our commitment to empowering researchers and our determination to facilitating open scientific exchange.
Opening Thoughts
30 Years of Open Science, Built Together
This month, we officially launched MDPI’s 30th Anniversary campaign and dedicated anniversary website, marking an important milestone in our journey as an open access publisher. What began in 1996 with a single journal and the simple belief that scientific knowledge should be shared openly and freely has grown into a global publishing organization supporting more than 500 journals, 68,000 Editorial Board Members, and millions of researchers worldwide.
The anniversary page, entitled 30 Years of Open Science, Built Together, reflects on the people, milestones, and partnerships that have shaped MDPI over the past three decades. It includes a retrospective of our development, key moments in the evolution of open access, landmark research articles, journal anniversaries, an interview with the CEO, and perspectives from colleagues and partners who have contributed to our success.
Looking back, one of the most striking aspects of our journey is not simply our growth, but the broader transformation of scholarly publishing itself.
Open access has moved from a niche concept to a widely adopted publishing model, helping make research more accessible, discoverable, and impactful for researchers, institutions, policymakers, and society.
MDPI has been part of this transition and continues to invest in the people, technology, partnerships, and research integrity infrastructure needed to support high-quality open science at scale.
While anniversaries naturally encourage reflection, they are also an opportunity to look ahead. The challenges facing scholarly publishing today, including research integrity, artificial intelligence, accessibility, and global participation in science, will require continued collaboration across the research ecosystem. As we celebrate 30 years of publishing, our focus remains on supporting researchers, strengthening trust in open science, and helping shape the future of scholarly communication together.
I encourage you to visit the anniversary page, explore the milestones, and take a moment to reflect on the role each of us has played in contributing to MDPI’s story.
Thank you for being part of this journey.
Impactful Research
Highlights from MMCS 2026 in Beijing (14-17 May)
From 14–17 May, MDPI hosted The 5th Molecules Medicinal Chemistry Symposium (MMCS 2026) in Beijing, China, bringing together academia and industry to explore advances in chemical biology, medicinal chemistry, and drug discovery.
The conference hosted more than 230 attendees from 37 countries and regions, alongside 257 submissions and 145 accepted abstracts. With a significant increase in attendance – up by 100 participants compared with the previous edition – the popularity of MMCS continues to grow in terms of its international profile and scientific relevance within this rapidly evolving field.
The scientific program covered seven themes:
- Chemical Biology for Drug Discovery
- Medicinal Chemistry Research Progress
- Natural Products in Drug Discovery
- AI-enabled Drug Discovery
- GPCR & Ion Channel Targeted Drug Development
- Innovative Proximity-Based Drug Modalities
- Biocatalysis for Natural Product & Drug Synthesis
The event featured three plenary speakers, 14 keynote speakers, 35 selected oral presentations, and 98 poster presentations, creating opportunities for open scientific exchange and collaboration. Conference Chair Prof. Dr. Diego Muñoz-Torrero described this edition as one of the most successful MMCS events to date.
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Thanks to our Sponsors
MMCS 2026 secured sponsorship support from 12 industrial partners, 11 of which set up on-site exhibition booths. Covering biopharmaceutical R&D, life science supplies, pharmaceutical experimental instruments, and industrial service sectors, exhibitors were able to connect their businesses directly with attendees and make connections at the conference.
30th Anniversary Celebration of Molecules
During the conference, we also celebrated the 30th anniversary of Molecules, one of MDPI’s flagship journals. The celebration brought together Section Editors-in-Chief, Editorial Board Members, MDPI leadership, and editorial colleagues to reflect on the journal’s development, achievements, and continued future growth.
Events such as MMCS 2026 highlight the important role conferences play in creating scientific exchange and collaboration, and in connecting our research communities in person.
They also reflect the continued development of MDPI’s conference portfolio and our commitment to supporting academic engagement beyond publishing alone. Thanks to everyone involved in organizing and contributing to the success of this event.
Inside MDPI
Open Access Policies Continue to Accelerate Globally
One of the clearest indicators of the continued momentum behind open access is the growing number of national and institutional policies supporting, and increasingly requiring, open dissemination of research.
Around the world, governments, funding agencies, and universities are building their open access mandates, with increasing focus on transparency, rights retention, and public accessibility of publicly funded research. While these policies vary across regions, the broader direction is clear: expectations around openness and compliance continue to accelerate.
For researchers, navigating these evolving requirements can be complex and time-consuming. Supporting the research community therefore means not only publishing high-quality open access content but also helping stakeholders better understand changing requirements and emerging opportunities. At MDPI, we see this as an important part of our role within scholarly communication.
“Expectations around openness and compliance continue to accelerate”
Through the MDPI Blog, our Content team continues to publish monthly articles overviewing different countries’ relationships with open access, exploring their histories, policies, opportunities, and statistics. All this information is centralized into an article which contains brief summaries of each country, with links to all the full articles, and is updated monthly.
Recent Policy Developments
South Africa
In 2026, South Africa’s Department of Science and Innovation introduced the South African Open Science Policy. The policy states that: “Open access shall be required for publications arising from publicly funded research, and desirable for research from all sources of funding.”
The policy envisions a coordinated and broad approach to open science that will sustainably and ethically drive socio-economic development by increasing the practice of open science through policy, training, incentivization, and infrastructure.
Canada
In Canada, the Tri-Agency OA Policy on Publications was revised, removing the 12-month embargo for research that must be deposited in a repository with an open license and with author rights retained.
The Agencies argue that “societal advancement is made possible through widespread and barrier-free access to cutting-edge research and knowledge.”
Chile
Chile is a collaborative and engaged member of the global open access movement.
The National Research and Development Agency (Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo, or ANID) is Chile’s main funding agency for R&D. It mandates that all beneficiaries must deposit the final version of their published scientific output, with an embargo period of up to 12 months, into a repository.
ANID also supports the InES Open Science funding program, which allows universities to request funding for capacity and infrastructure building. Further, Chile is an active participant in various international initiatives, such as Redalyc, SciELO, and Red de Repositorios Latinoamericanos.
Openness Beyond Research
At MDPI, openness remains one of our core values, ensuring that research outputs are freely accessible to anyone. This commitment also extends to sharing knowledge about the scholarly publishing landscape itself, which we practice on the MDPI Blog through various topics, including open access, recent advances in science, and opportunities for researchers.
As the open access landscape continues to evolve, helping researchers, institutions, editors, and partners navigate these changes will remain an important priority for us.
Thank You
I would like to thank Jack McKenna (Senior Content Specialist, MDPI) from our Content team for his ongoing work on the MDPI Blog series covering global open access policy developments. Initiatives such as this help make complex policy discussions more accessible and useful to the wider research community.
Coming Together for Science
Reflections from the MDPI Spain Summit 2026 in Valencia (21 May)
On 21 May, we hosted the MDPI Spain Summit 2026 in Valencia.
The Summit brought together 30 Editorial Board Members and MDPI colleagues for a discussions on the future of publishing, research integrity, peer review, artificial intelligence, and the evolving research landscape in Spain.
We hosted participants from leading Spanish institutions and spoke on the importance of Spain as a major contributor to global open access (OA) research. In 2025 alone, Spain ranked among the leading countries worldwide for OA publishing, with more than 85% of publications made openly accessible. MDPI also continues to play a significant role within the Spanish research ecosystem.
MDPI in Spain
Spain remains one of MDPI's most important academic markets and a leading contributor to OA research globally. Ever since our Barcelona office opened in 2016 (Happy 10th Anniversary!), MDPI Spain has been actively supporting researchers, institutions, societies, and academic partners across the country. Today, the office plays an important role in creating engagement with the Spanish scholarly community through editorial support, partnerships, conferences, training initiatives, and outreach activities.
A cluster of high-level indicators highlight both the strength of the local research ecosystem and MDPI’s role within it:
- 43,218 total publications in Spain in 2025, of which 35,728 (83%) were open access (49% Gold OA).
- 211,200+ total publications (2021–2025), with 84% published open access.
- 13,444 MDPI publications from Spanish institutions in 2025, representing 14% of all open access publications in Spain.
- More than115,100 MDPI publications from Spanish institutions since 1996.
- More than 4,500 Editorial Board Members from Spain, including more than 150 Chief Editors and 57 Associate Editors.
- 42 institutional partners participating in MDPI’s Institutional Open Access Program (IOAP).
- Spain ranks second globally for MDPI society affiliations, with 26 affiliated society agreements currently in place.
Program Overview
What made this summit special was the openness of the discussions around the research landscape in Spain and the role MDPI plays within the market. General topics of the presentations included:
- MDPI Introduction – Stefan Tochev (CEO).
- Engagement with the Academic Community – Dr. Marta Colomer (External Affairs Lead).
- Latest Developments in the Editorial Process – Dr. Jordi Martinez (Deputy Managing Editor).
- Research integrity and Publication Ethics – Slavomir Nikodijevic (Research Integrity Specialist).
- A 360 View of Academic Publishing – Prof. Dr. Luis Angel Ruiz Fernandez (EBM of Remote Sensing).
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Panel Discussion
We also hosted a panel discussion moderated by Marta, entitled “The Future of Academic Publishing” with Prof. Luis Ruiz, Prof. Marta Feliz (EBM of the journal Catalysts), Dr. Enric Sayas (Product Owner, AI & Technology Innovation), and myself. The discussion looked at the evolving role of editors, the future of peer review, and the growing importance of maintaining trust, ethics, and research integrity in an era increasingly influenced by artificial intelligence.
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Themes from the Summit
Several themes emerged throughout the discussions, reflecting broader conversations taking place across publishing:
- The academic community values efficient publishing workflows, but expectations around scientific quality and editorial rigor continue to rise.
- Reviewer fatigue and long-term sustainability of peer review remain major challenges across the industry.
- AI is rapidly changing scholarly communication and requires transparent and responsible governance.
- Reputation and trust continue to depend on long-term engagement, transparency, and quality-focused decision-making.
“Maintaining an open dialogue with researchers, editors, reviewers, and institutions remains a priority for MDPI”
It was constructive to see the willingness of participants to engage directly and candidly with us. These conversations provide insights that help inform how we continue to develop our editorial processes, engagement activities, and support for the research community. While certain discussions included concerns, there was also recognition that open dialogue between publishers and the research community is essential if we want to improve scholarly communication together.
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Events such as this are increasingly important for MDPI. They allow us to present our perspective, to listen to the experiences, expectations, and concerns of editors, reviewers, and researchers, and to address these accordingly.
Thank You
Thank you to our Barcelona Office and all colleagues involved in organizing the summit, as well as all participants for contributing to these thoughtful and constructive discussions.
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As publishing continues to evolve, maintaining an open dialogue with researchers, editors, reviewers, and institutions remains an important priority for MDPI. Events such as the Spain Summit play an important role in helping us to build relationships, foster trust, and better understand the needs of our community.
Closing Thoughts
Highlights from Antibiotics 2026 in Barcelona (11–14 May)
This week, MDPI hosted the Antibiotics 2026 — Advances in Antimicrobial Action and Resistance conference in Barcelona, bringing together academics and industry experts to discuss one of the most important scientific and public health challenges of our time: antimicrobial resistance.
The conference welcomed 145 attendees from 42 different countries and territories, alongside 265 submissions and 127 accepted abstracts, showing the international reach of the event and the strong scientific interest in this rapidly evolving field.
Scientific Exchange on a Global Challenge
Antimicrobial resistance continues to be a global concern, creating collaboration across disciplines, institutions, and regions. The conference program focused on a range of topics including:
- Antimicrobial resistance mechanisms
- One Health approaches to antimicrobial stewardship
- Discovery of novel antimicrobial agents
- Innovation in clinical strategies and treatment approaches
- Ethnopharmacology and emerging therapies
Through keynote plenaries, invited lectures, oral presentations, and poster sessions, the conference created a platform for dialogue and scientific exchange.
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International Participation and Collaboration
One of the highlights of the event was the diversity of participation across both geography and expertise. Researchers and speakers from Europe, North America, Asia, Africa, Australia, and Latin America took part in discussions throughout the conference, highlighting the global nature of both the challenge and the scientific response.
The scientific program included:
- 2 keynote speakers
- 10 invited speakers
- 36 selected talks
- 78 posters
The conference brought together perspectives from academia, healthcare, and industry, helping facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration around future approaches to antimicrobial research and resistance management.
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The Role of Conferences in Scholarly Communication
Conferences are an important platform for collaboration, scientific exchange, and community-building. Events such as Antibiotics 2026 show the value of bringing researchers together in person to discuss emerging challenges, share new findings, and strengthen international networks across disciplines and regions.
Thank You
I would like to thank the conference chairs, speakers, participants, sponsors, and the entire MDPI conference team for their work in making this event a success. The engagement and positive feedback from attendees highlight the importance of our events in addressing some of the most pressing scientific challenges facing society today.
Chief Executive Officer
MDPI AG
27 May 2026
Meet Us at the 2026 KoSFoST International Symposium and Annual Meeting, 1–3 July 2026, Daejeon, Republic of Korea
26 May 2026
Applied Sciences Exceptional Reviewers List 2026
22 May 2026
Meet Us at the 2026 International Congress on Membranes and Membrane Processes (ICOM 2026), 18–25 July 2026, San Antonio, Texas, USA
