Bar-Ilan University’s Institute of Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials (BINA) held its internal annual conference in Haifa in February 2022. It was the first in-person conference held since the start of the COVID pandemic. There were around 300 participants from Bar-Ilan, including researchers, students, and staff. Faculties and departments represented included Engineering, Life Sciences, Chemistry, and Physics, among others.
“Hosting conferences of this nature are important for us as an Institute as it allows us to combine social and scientific activities,” said BINA’s manager, Dr. Yossi Talyosef. “This enables our people to interact with each other in a relaxed, entertaining environment and make new connections.
“BINA’s internal conferences often lead to new scientific collaborations, more groundbreaking research, and many joint publications,” he said. “The scientific success of the BINA researchers is our success too.”
Dr. Yossi Talyosef, Manager, Bar-Ilan’s Institute of Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials (BINA)
The two-day conference took place at the Dan Carmel Hotel in Haifa. Participants had been divided into several groups in advance and the first day started with outdoor social activities and games.
“The idea behind the social activities was to create a space for people who didn’t know each other well to connect. It was a great way to break the ice. Everyone had fun and we received positive feedback from the participants,” said Dr. Talyosef.
During the afternoon session, scientific lectures were given by BINA’s leading professors (heads of labs), which was followed by the posters section where researchers and students were given the opportunity to present their work. After dinner, additional social activities were held and people mingled until late that night.
Rajashree Konar, PhD candidate in the lab of Prof. Daniel Nessim, with her Nano-Art presentation
Day two of the conference started with more lectures by the professors, followed by student lectures, which were divided into specific subjects based on the functions and properties of materials, magnetism, photonics, biology, bioengineering, and more. The closing ceremony included a summary of the event and the presentation of the best lecture and poster given by the students.
A Student’s Experience – Madina Telkhozhayeva
Madina Telkhozhayeva is a fourth-year PhD student with the Department of Chemistry in the lab of Prof. Daniel Nessim. She had this to say about the conference.
Every year, BINA organizes a two-day internal conference covering the most exciting fields in nanotechnology and nanomaterials. The goal of this conference series is to present, to share the recent research work of the Institute’s members and their students, discuss hot topics in the field and enhance the mutual interactions and connections.
Despite the current pandemic crisis, the BINA 2022 Conference was held in person with all the necessary precautions to keep participants safe. The program included oral presentations and poster sessions on Functional Materials and their Properties, Magnetism and Photonics, Biology and Bioengineering, as well as social events.
I thoroughly enjoyed the conference. This is the third time I’ve attended the conference and each time, I learn something new from the speakers. Most importantly, I gain new inspiration and understand that the sky really is the limit in terms of what one can achieve in nanoscience.
Read about Prof. Nessim and Madina in this article written about their experiences with the Erasmus+ Student Exchange Program.
L-R: Noam Levi, Master’s student in the lab of Prof. Doron Aurbach and Prof. Daniel Nessim; Madina Telkhozhayeva, PhD. candidate in the lab of Prof. Daniel Nessim; Dr. Eti Teblum, projects manager at BINA; Rajashree Konar, PhD candidate in the lab of Prof. Daniel Nessim; and Michelangelo Paiardi, Master’s exchange student from Politecnico di Milano in the lab of Prof. Daniel Nessim.
