News

GLCS Young Researcher Award — GLCC 2026
April 2026, Luxembourg
At the 52nd German Liquid Crystal Conference, held 8–10 April 2026 at the University of Luxembourg, the German Liquid Crystal Society presented the DFKG Young Researcher Award to three outstanding early-career scientists.
Best Oral Presentation
Eli Schreck (University of Luxembourg) received the award for "Inkjet-printing chiral nematic free-standing caps for colorful solar cells", combining the structural colour properties of chiral nematic liquid crystals with photovoltaic applications.
Best Poster Presentations
The poster prize was shared between two recipients. Thuy Chinh Ta (Kiel University) was recognised for "Visible-Light-Driven Actuation in Tetra-ortho-Fluorinated Azobenzene-Based Liquid-Crystalline Polymer Films", and Thomas Ducatel (University of Strasbourg) for "Interactions of Ionic Impurities with Semiconducting Alignment Layers in Liquid-Crystal Spatial Light Modulators".
The Society congratulates all three recipients on their excellent contributions.

Saupe Prize 2026 — Rudolf Zentel
April 2026, Luxembourg
The German Liquid Crystal Society presented the Saupe Prize at GLCC 2026 to Prof. Rudolf Zentel (AK Zentel, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz) in recognition of his outstanding and sustained contributions to the field of liquid crystal elastomers.
Professor Zentel's research has been foundational in shaping LC elastomers as a distinct discipline within soft matter science, spanning polymer synthesis, mechanical actuation, and the interplay between molecular order and macroscopic function. The Saupe Prize honours scientists whose work has had a lasting and defining impact on liquid crystal research.
The Society extends its congratulations to Professor Zentel.

Daniel Vorländer Lecture 2026 — Johanna Bruckner
April 2026, Luxembourg
At the 52nd German Liquid Crystal Conference, the German Liquid Crystal Society presented the Daniel Vorländer Lecture to Dr. Johanna Bruckner (University of Stuttgart), in recognition of her outstanding work on the optics and photonics of liquid crystals.
The Vorländer Lecture is awarded to researchers who have made a distinguished contribution to liquid crystal science. Dr. Bruckner's research addresses the optical and photonic properties of liquid crystalline materials — an area of growing importance for both fundamental soft matter science and practical photonic device development.
The Society congratulates Dr. Bruckner on this well-deserved recognition.

Scheduled: 53rd German Liquid Crystal Conference

The 53rd German Liquid Crystal Conference (GLCC 2027), jointly organised as a Dutch–German meeting, is scheduled to take place from 17–19 March 2027 at the University of Duisburg-Essen (Essen, Germany). The conference will be organised by Michael Giese, Albert Schenning, and Paul van der Schoot.

52nd German Liquid Crystal Conference

The 52nd German Liquid Crystal Conference (GLCC 2026) took place from 8–10 April 2026 at the University of Luxembourg.

The conference was a great success, featuring a broad and lively programme that reflected the rapid development of liquid crystal research, ranging from fundamental studies to new materials and emerging applications.

A particularly encouraging aspect was the strong participation of young researchers, who contributed many excellent talks and poster presentations and actively engaged in discussions throughout the meeting. The GLCC once again proved to be an important platform for exchange within the community.

The German Liquid Crystal Society (DFKG) would like to express its sincere thanks to Prof. Jan Lagerwall and his team for the excellent organisation and for creating an open and welcoming atmosphere that brought together participants from many countries.

An important element of this year’s conference was the discussion on the future development of the community, in particular the idea of evolving the DFKG towards a more Europe-wide liquid crystal society. The meeting in Luxembourg provided a valuable opportunity to exchange views and initiate this dialogue.

The DFKG thanks all participants for their contributions and looks forward to continuing these discussions in the future.

News from the Journal Molecular Crystals and Liquid Crystals (MCLC)

1) Expansion of the Editorial Board
The journal Molecular Crystals and Liquid Crystals (MCLC, published by Taylor & Francis, Editor-in-Chief: Prof. Francesco Simoni) is currently seeking two new Regional Editors. The desired areas of expertise are:
 a) Synthetic organic chemistry
 b) Thin organic films and two-dimensional molecular solids

Suggestions for suitable candidates are very welcome.

2) Mortimer Labes Prize: Nominations for 2025
In memory of Prof. Mortimer Labes, MCLC annually awards the Mortimer Labes Prize for the best scientific publication(s) of the year. The prize was awarded for the first time in 2024 and is featured prominently on the publisher’s website: https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/gmcl20/collections/mortimer-labes-prize Nominations for the 2025 prize are now open.
Please send your suggestions to: Prof Kitzerow hkitzero(at)mail.uni-paderborn.de

The 52nd German Liquid Crystal Conference (GLCC) is planned to take place in Luxembourg from 08–10 April 2026. Please note that the date is still provisional. Final details on the program, abstract submission, and registration will be announced soon.

Bunsen-Magazin 06/2024 features a thematic focus on liquid crystal research. Society provide insights into current national and international liquid crystal research as well as a historic perspective on liquid crystal research in Germany (https://bunsen.de/bunsenmagazin). Numerous articles of the issue are open access (https://bunsen.de/bmo).

51st German Liquid Crystal Conference 2025, will be held in March 26-28th in Göttingen, https://www.uni-goettingen.de/de/686467.html, Abstract Submission Deadline: January 31, 2025

50th German Liquid Crystal Conference 2024, will be held in March 13-15th in Essen, Link, Registration Deadline: January 31, 2024

SPIE Photonics. Europe 'Liquid Crystals Optics and Photonic Devices', will be held on April 7-11, 2024 in Strasbourg, Link, Abstract Submission Deadline: November 8, 2023

49th German Liquid Crystal Conference 2023, will be held in March 22-24 in Stuttgart, Link, Abstract Submission Deadline: January 14, 2023
Conference Registration: begins December 10, 2022

We congratulate our Laureates of the Young Researcher Award 2024:
Foteini Trigka (University of Groningen) and Florian Kolb (University of Stuttgart)