Interview: M. Takahashi, President of ISGS

ISGS’s aims are both to represent the particular needs and aspirations of the international sol-gel community and to support this sol-gel community. The society’s mission is threefold:

  • to coordinate the promotion of sol-gel science and technology in the scientific and industrial community,
  • to foster communication between researchers from different fields and geographical regions through the organization of conferences and the publication and circulation of technical papers,
  • to encourage education, training, and research in the field of sol-gel science and technology.

To achieve these purposes, ISGS convenes the bi-annual International Sol-Gel Conference in many parts of the world. The next one will be held in Liège, Belgium in autumn 2017. These conferences play an important role to educate, federate, and disseminate scientific knowledge to people working in related fields. I expect a lot of researchers get together there and achieve outstanding synergetic improvements. To initiate young researchers and engineers into the Sol-Gel field, a Sol-Gel summer school is also operated by ISGS every 2 years in addition to the International Sol-Gel Conferences. The exciting school is planning to hold at Alghero, Italy in 2018. We can learn fundamentals and application of Sol-Gel based approach in addition to construct lifetime friendship between attendees in the early stage of their research carrier with nice wine and beautiful beach!

When attempting to promote ISGS presence, we need to gain international exchanges, to promote academia-industry cooperation, and to motivate young researchers in this field, all of which are basic premises. To achieve our targets, your understanding and cooperation are greatly appreciated.

Masahide Takahashi
President of the International Sol-Gel Society
president@isgs.org
https://www.isgs.org
Professor of Materials Science, Osaka Prefecture University
masa@photomater.com