Invited Speakers

Barbara Bonechi, University of Manchester

Barbara Bonechi is a volcanologist and experimental petrologist, currently a Research Associate at the University of Manchester. Her research integrates experiments, analytical techniques, and numerical modelling to investigate magma dynamics across multiple scales. With four years of postdoctoral experience, she has contributed significantly to the understanding of volcanic degassing, eruption dynamics, magma crystallization, trace element partitioning, and magma viscosity under high-pressure, high-temperature conditions. Her work involves extensive use of HP-HT experimental devices to simulate magmatic processes, focusing on magma generation, evolution, storage, and eruption. Her long-term research goal is to unravel how crystallization and vesiculation processes interact to control eruption intensity, with the broader aim of enhancing volcanic hazard assessment and risk mitigation in densely populated regions.

Craig Bull, ISIS Neutron and Muon Source

Craig Bull is an instrument scientist and group leader of the Crystallography Group at the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source. He earned his PhD under Professor Richard Catlow at the Royal Institution of Great Britain and held postdoctoral positions at UCL and the University of Edinburgh, where he began developing expertise in materials under high pressure. Craig is also a Visiting Professor at the University of Edinburgh’s School of Chemistry.

His research focuses on the structure–property relationships of solid-state materials under extreme conditions. He was recently awarded a UKRI Individual Merit Fellowship for pioneering contributions to high-pressure chemistry, and continues to advance neutron scattering techniques while exploring novel materials through academic and industrial collaborations.

Leonardo del Rosso, Institute of Applied Physics “Nello Carrara” of the National Research Council

Leonardo del Rosso is a Researcher at the Institute of Applied Physics “Nello Carrara” of the National Research Council, Italy. After receiving his PhD in Physics by University of Florence with a work focused on hydrogen-water mixtures at high pressure, he worked as post-doc scientist for the development of innovative neutronic instrumentation to be installed at the European Spallation Source (S). His current interest is mainly devoted to the study of gas-hydrate compounds and ice polymorphism, from their high pressure synthesis, obtained by customized gas compression systems, to their structural and dynamical characterization by means of Raman and neutronic techniques.

David Dunstan, Queen Mary University of London

David Dunstan is a solid-state physicist whose work spans optical spectroscopy, high-pressure experimentation, and theoretical modelling. He has made significant contributions to understanding luminescence in amorphous silicon and the mechanical behaviour of strained semiconductor structures, including extensions to critical thickness theory. His innovations in high-pressure techniques have supported advances in optoelectronic materials. Dunstan also collaborates with industry, notably designing optical-fibre lighting for museums and heritage sites, including the Hope diamond display at the Smithsonian.

Simo Huotari, University of Helsinki

Simo Huotari is a professor in experimental materials physics and the Head of the Department of Physics at the University of Helsinki, Finland. His research focuses on development and utilisation of novel x-ray and synchrotron inelastic x-ray scattering and spectroscopic methods to study electronic structure of materials in operando and in-situ conditions, including materials in extreme conditions. After receiving his PhD in 2003, he worked for seven years at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in the inelastic x-ray scattering programme, before returning to University of Helsinki to his current position. Huotari's contribution in high-pressure studies includes work on water in liquid and solid phases, strongly-correlated solid state materials, electron momentum densities in metals, and spin crossover transitions in 3d metals.

Tetsuya Komabayashi, University of Edinburgh

Tetsuya Komabayashi is a Reader in theoretical petrology and high-pressure mineral physics at the School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh. After receiving a Ph.D., Tetsuya took several positions including assistant professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology (now the Institute of Science Tokyo) and Chancellor’s Fellow at the University of Edinburgh. His research focuses on the origin and evolution of solid Earth and other planets by establishing high-pressure and -temperature thermodynamic models for geomaterials including mantle silicates and core iron alloys based on his own experimental data.

Francisco Javier Manjón, Universitat Politècnica de València

Francisco Javier Manjón is Full Professor of Applied Physics and principal investigator of the EXTREMAT research group at the Universitat Politècnica de València (Spain). His interest is the joint experimental and theoretical study of the physical and chemical properties of materials under extreme conditions of pressure and temperature. Recently, he has developed the unified theory of multicenter bonding which describes the origin and formation mechanisms of electron-rich and electron-deficient multicenter bonds. This theory provides a more comprehensive understanding of chemical bonding in materials and aims at placing the two multicenter bondings on equal footing as classical covalent, ionic, and metallic bondings.

Helen Maynard-Casley, ANSTO

Helen Maynard-Casely is a Principal Instrument Scientist at the Australian Centre for Neutron Scattering, ANSTO, and her research interest centre about the structures of materials relevant to the dwarf planets of our solar system. Her journey to exploring these icy worlds began with her degree in Planetary Sciences from University College London, and was followed by her PhD in high-pressure physics undertaken at the University of Edinburgh. Moving to Australia first to a post-doctoral position at the Australian Synchrotron, she moved to the Australian Centre for Neutron Scattering in 2013 to work on the High Intensity Diffractometer (known as Wombat). When not working on Wombat, Helen also enjoys promoting crystallography and science to as wide an audience as possible, and is one of the co-ordinators of the Bragg Your Pattern project (braggyourpattern.com), was the 2019 Australian Institute of Physics ‘Women in Physics’ Lecturer and published her first children’s book (I heart Pluto) in 2020.

Judith Peters, Univ. Grenoble Alpes

Judith Peters graduated in Physics at the University Joseph Fourier Grenoble 1 and received her PhD in Theoretical Physics in 1988. She then had a post-doctoral position at the University of Heidelberg working on molecular dynamics simulations. After one year as exchange scientist at the University of St. Petersburg, 7 years as assistant professor at the University of Applied Sciences in Berlin and 10 years as scientist at the Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin, she holds now a professorship of Physics at Université Grenoble Alpes. Her research interests comprise dynamical studies of biosystems by neutron scattering techniques, particularly under high pressure conditions.

Alex Soldatov, Yanshan University

Alexander Soldatov is Changjiang Chair Professor of Physics at Yanshan University’s Center for High Pressure Science (CHiPS) in China. He earned his PhD in low temperature physics from Kharkiv, Ukraine in 1995 and held research roles across Sweden, Germany, and Harvard University.

Before relocating to China in 2021, he was Professor of Applied Physics at Luleå University of Technology, Sweden, and a visiting scientist at HPSTAR, Shanghai. His research focuses on molecular and nanostructured systems under extreme conditions, particularly novel materials derived from carbon precursors under high pressure.

Prof. Soldatov received the Shubnikov Prize in 1997 and has held visiting positions across Europe. He has served on committees for EHPRG and AIRAPT, and contributed to advisory boards including Sweden’s MAX IV Synchrotron Radiation Facility.

Robin Turnbull, University of Valencia

Dr Robin Turnbull is a researcher at the University of Valencia whose work focuses on the synthesis and structural characterisation of semiconducting materials with optical bandgaps, formed under extreme pressure and temperature conditions. He specialises in high-pressure crystallography, and vibrational and absorption spectroscopy, with a particular interest in structure–property relationships in complex materials.