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2022 FEMS Master Thesis Award final

22 Jul 2022

The 5th FEMS Master Thesis Award final took place on 21 July at FEMS Junior EUROMAT 2022

4 finalists from France, Greece, Portugal and Spain, all winners of their respective finals, gave a 10-minute presentation in front of a full audience on their chosen topics ranging from optoelectric devices and metallic nanostructures to hybrid 3-D manufacturing and zirconia-zirconia-based materials for dental applications.

Narea García de Albeniz from SOCIEMAT won first place for her presentation on Laser-assisted surface modification of zirconia-based materials to guide osteoblast response for dental applications. Her thesis is aimed at improving the osseointegration of zirconia dental implants. Laser treatment approach was employed to engrave a microgroove pattern on the surface of dental zirconia, which enhanced mesenchymal stem cell adhesion and promoted cell elongation and alignment. Moreover, advanced characterization techniques were employed to characterize the surface damage and microstructural changes after the laser processing. On her win Narea said, ‘it has been a real pleasure to attend FEMS Junior EUROMAT Conference, even more to be one of the finalists and winner at the FEMS Master Thesis Award. There were really excellent research works and I am sure that we demonstrated the importance that material science has on everyday life’.

After running virtually for 2 years, the event was held as in-person during FEMS Junior EUROMAT 2022 in Coimbra, Portugal. Professor Eric Le Bourhis, Immediate past President of FEMS and Chair of the judging panel said, ‘I was very impressed by the FEMS Master Thesis finalists’ level and achievements so far in their research’.

Second place went to Ivânia Trêpo of SPM for Transparent and flexible ECoG electrode arrays of metallic nanostructures for neural recordings, third place to Yann Bami-Chatener (SF2M) for Elaboration of super-hydrophobic bio-inspired surfaces by hybrid 3D-manufacturing and fourth to Chrysoula Aivalioti (HSSTCM) for Nanostructured doped nickel oxide thin films made by rf sputtering as hole transfer layers for transparent optoelectric devices.

The FEMS Master Thesis Award recognises the best Master Thesis on Materials Science and Engineering and is presented annually by the FEMS Member Societies.

For more information and to enter, visit https://www.fems.org/fems-masters-thesis-award