After the long parenthesis caused by the pandemic, SOCIEMAT has finally been able to hold its XVI National Materials Congress, CNMAT, in Ciudad Real. Organized by the Castilla-La Mancha University, under the presidency of Prof. Gloria Rodríguez Donoso, we have enjoyed a fantastic congress surrounded by friends and colleagues, with the participation of almost 400 attendees and more than 350 papers presented.

The congress was structured in the following Symposia: Functional Materials, Structural Materials, Nanostructured Materials, Polymers, Reinforced Polymers and Composites, Biomaterials, Construction Materials, Additive Manufacturing, Laser Processing, Advanced Powder Processing and Sintering Methods, Processing Technologies and Microstructural Control, Improved Sustainability through Corrosion Resistance, Surface Science and Technology (CyTeS) for Sustainability and Health Challenges, Young Researchers Contest and Education in Materials Science and Technology.

During the event (June 28th to July 1st), four plenary conferences were offered:

•    Prof. Javier Gil Mur, International University of Catalonia (SOCIEMAT Award "Best Scientific Career in Materials Science and Engineering" 2020), From bioinert to bioinstructive dental implants.
•    Prof. Alicia Durán, Ceramics and Glass Intitute-CSIC (SOCIEMAT-Spanish Chapter of the American Ceramic Society (ACERS) Award for Scientific Career in Ceramic and Vitreous Materials), Welcome to the age of glass.
•    Prof. Agustín R. González-Elipe, Institute of Materials Science of Seville-CSIC (SOCIEMAT Award "Best Scientific Career in Materials Science and Engineering" 2014), Geometry, symmetry and acoustic activation for the nanostructural control of thin layers with chemical functionality.
•    Prof. Rodrigo Moreno Botella, Ceramics and Glass Intitute-CSIC (SOCIEMAT Award "Best Scientific Career in Materials Science and Engineering" 2022), The role of rheology in the design of ceramic microstructures.

Fort the first time, this year SOCIEMAT presented the Symposium of Young Researchers. The symposium was planned in the context of a competition with the purpose of giving young researchers the presence they need in their early stages of their career. In this first edition, the winner was Javier Castillo, from the Institute of Materials Science of Seville, ICMSE – CSIC, for his work Sculptural fabrication of perovskite nanostructures by thermal evaporation deposition at glancing angles. 

Parallel to the congress, several activities that attracted strong interest were held.

Just before the CNMAT, SOCIEMAT ran ALESCORR, the 1st. High Specialization Course on Corrosion CSIC-SOCIEMAT.

Finally, the 1st. edition of the National Congress of Materials Science Communication, MATERDIVULGA, was held. This activity was carried out in the framework of the FECYT Materland Project, in which a wade number of SOCIEMAT members have participated. The great significance of this event is having situated SOCIEMAT at the forefront of organising activities dedicated to science communication in its area of competence. Hopefully this will be a model to be followed by other scientific societies.

The congress progamm was built around several activities such as the lectures presented by prestigious scientists/disseminators (Amador Menéndez, Jordi Díaz, José Ygnacio Pastor, Nuria Salán, Cristina Rojas and Gloria Rodríguez), a conference given by a prestigious science influencer, Deborah García, who spoke about The art matter (talk available at https://youtu.be/3kJ7dFW1zls) and a colloquium headed by Prof. María Vallet with young women researchers. Last, but not least the exhibition “MATERLAND, the Materials around us” was inaugurated at the Ciudad Real State Public Library.