13 Nov 2025
The School of Science (SCI) at Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU) is proud to announce the successful conclusion of the International Conference on Advanced Materials, co-hosted by the university and held in Ningbo from October 20 to 22, 2025.
The success of the conference was also supported by the active participation of the School of Science at XJTLU. Terentia Jia, General Manager of the International Affairs Department at Flink Production Chain Ltd., acknowledged Professor John Moraros, whose guidance and encouragement greatly strengthened the School’s international engagement. She also expressed appreciation for Dr Lifeng Ding , noting his active collaboration and steadfast support throughout the organization of the event.
Organized by Flink, the conference served as a global platform for leading minds in materials science. Our faculty members — Dr. Ankit Garg, Dr. Akhil Garg, and Dr. Filippo Boi — were at the forefront, delivering impactful keynote speeches that showcased the School’s expanding research influence.
Dr Ankit Garg、Dr Filippo Boi and Dr Akhil Garg receiving a Certificate for delivering a keynote report at the International Conference on Advanced Materials
The conference has gathered over 400 materials science and technology elites from more than 30 countries. It focuses on cutting-edge breakthroughs and industrial transformation of new materials, strives to build a transnational collaborative innovation network, and promotes green and sustainable development. Centering on the concept of green and sustainable development, the conference has set up 7 major themes: 2D Materials and Future Devices, Green Composite Materials, Bio-based Materials, Green Agriculture, Biomedical Materials, Green Recycling of Polymer , and Energy Materials.
The conference, themed "New Materials Linking the Future, Jointly Building a Win-Win New Silk Road", deepens global cooperation through three core dimensions.Gathering of top intellectual resources: It has attracted global authoritative experts, including 15 academicians from China and abroad, and more than 10 recipients of the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars.
In-depth linkage of diverse entities: It collaborates with multiple international business groups, top scientific research institutions, leading enterprises in the industry and relevant government departments. It also pioneered a topic convening mechanism composed of authoritative experts from 30 countries to ensure the cutting-edge nature and global perspective of technical dialogues.
Efficient transformation of full-chain achievements: It has established a service system integrating technology demonstration, international business negotiations and cross-border transformation to accelerate the transaction and application of scientific research achievements.
Three of our distinguished academics took to the stage to present their pioneering work. Dr Ankit Garg from the Department of Health and Environmental Science introduced a novel framework for deducing the wilting point in plants, a significant breakthrough at the convergence of unsaturated soil mechanics and plant physiology. From the Department of Chemistry and Materials Science, Dr Akhil Garg captivated the audience with his presentation on AI-driven topology optimization for Battery Design and Manufacturing, while Dr Filippo Boi unveiled his discoveries on high-spin ferromagnetism within nanowires encapsulated inside carbon nanotubes (CNTs), presenting also results on confinement of antiferromagnetic phases and exchange-bias phenomena recently published in Carbon (I.F.11.6) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carbon.2025.120932 and Diamond and Related Materials (I.F.5.1) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.diamond.2025.112948.
Beyond presenting their research, our speakers effectively highlighted the innovative academic programmes and dynamic research environment within the SCI. The conference was also a fertile ground for building international partnerships. The faculties at XJTLU held a fruitful discussion with Academician Professor Seeram Ramakrishna, a Chair Professor at Tsinghua University and Director of the iWearables Centre. They explored exciting possibilities for future collaborations in critical areas of sustainability between XJTLU and leading international institutions. Dr Filippo Boi discussed possible collaborative opportunities in the areas of biomagnetism and nanomagnetism with Dr Stefania Della Penna, Associate Professor from the University of G. D’Annunzio Chieti-Pescara and with Dr Di Wei, Professor at the Beijing Institute of Nanoenergy and Nanosystems, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
“This spirit of collaboration is strongly championed by the Dean of the SCI, Professor John Moraros, who has provided extensive support and consistently encourages high-quality research, as well as international and cross-disciplinary initiatives.”Terentia Jia.
This international feature is another compelling evidence of the growing impact of academic research at SCI, which has already published more than 250 high-quality papers in the last academic year. The research excellence of the faculty of SCI is further validated by recent accolades; both Dr Ankit Garg, Dr Akhil Garg, including 6 other faculties have been listed among the world's top 2% most-cited scientists in a prestigious list released by Stanford University, and Dr. Ankit Garg has been honoured with the "Wiley Excellent Author Program" Award for 2025.
Content by Terentia
Review by Professor John Moraros、Dr Ankit Garg、Dr Filippo Boi
13 Nov 2025