Jonathan Nitschke received his bachelor's degree from Williams College (USA) in 1995 and his doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley in 2001 under the supervision of T. Don Tilley. He then undertook postdoctoral studies with Jean-Marie Lehn in Strasbourg under the auspices of a US NSF fellowship, and in 2003 he started his independent research career as a Maître-assistant (fixed-term independent PI) in the Organic Chemistry Department of the University of Geneva. In 2007 he was appointed University Lecturer at Cambridge, where he now holds a Professorship. He is the recipient of the Izatt-Christensen Award in Supramolecular chemistry (2022), a Wolfson Research Merit Award of the UK Royal Society (2017), the International Award for Creative Work of the Japan Society of Coordination Chemistry (2016), the Bob Hay Lectureship of the Royal Society of Chemistry (2013), the Cram Lehn Pedersen Prize in Supramolecular Chemistry (2012), the Corday-Morgan Prize of the Royal Society of Chemistry (2011), the Dalton Transactions European/African Lectureship (2011), the Werner Prize of the Swiss Chemical Society (2007) and the European Young Chemist Award at the first EuCheMS Congress (2006). He won an ERC Starting Grant (2011-2016) and an ERC Advanced Grant (2017-2021). His research program investigates the self-assembly of complex, functional structures from simple molecular precursors and metal ions. These research pathways are realized in the Nitschke Group at the Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge (UK).

Prof. David Écija is the founder and head of the Nanoarchitectonics on Surfaces Group at IMDEA Nanoscience. He is an expert in condensed matter physics, surface science and molecular science, focused on the design of functional nanomaterials on surfaces amenable to scanning probe microscopies and photo-electron spectroscopies. His research comprises the engineering of novel organic, inorganic, metal-organic or organo-metallic compounds and nanostructures on surfaces, trying to unravel complex physico-chemical phenomena at interfaces. He is particularly focused on the design and understanding of nanomaterials for optoelectronics, quantum nanoscience, nanomagnetism, sensing and catalysis. In addition, he is also keen on introducing novel chemical reaction pathways on surfaces, while deciphering unique reaction mechanisms, thus developing the field of on-surface synthesis. He also pays strong attention to the valorization of small molecules on surfaces, targeting to rationalize energy-related chemical reactions. Immediately after obtaining a double "Licenciado" degree in Physics, he enrolled at the Research & Development department of Telefónica, where he acquired fundamental knowledge about the prospection of high-technologies. Simultaneously, he pursued a Ph. D. degree in Physics at Miranda´s lab centered on the fabrication and inspection of inorganic ferromagnetic nanoarchitectures and organic-charge transfer complexes. After receiving a competitive Marie-Curie Fellowship, he moved to Barth´s laboratories at the Technical University of Munich, where he learnt and pioneered the fundaments of molecular self-assembly on surfaces during a five year period. From January 2014 to December 2018 he held an independent tenure-track position at IMDEA Nanoscience, being promoted to tenured Professor in May 2019. Notably, he is the recipient of a Ramón y Cajal fellowship 2012 and of the prestigious ERC Consolidator Grant 2018, being involved in numerous regional, national and international scientific and technological projects. Since January 2022 Prof. David Écija is the coordinator of the ultra-high vacuum facilities at IMDEA Nanoscience.

Since 2021, I have been an assistant professor at Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands. I received an ERC Starting Grant to establish my own research group, aiming to develop novel methods for controlling antiferromagnets on ultrafast timescales and to interconvert femtosecond pulses into ultrashort spin-wave pulses.

Sandrine Heutz is a professor in Functional Molecular Materials. In 2008 she was awarded the IOM3 Silver Medal. She has represented the UK in the Materials Science and Engineering Expert Committee (MatSEEC) of the European Science Foundation, and is currently the Chair of the Physical Science Strategic Advisory group at EPSRC. Sandrie is also the Academic Champion for SPIN-Lab, a cross-institution facility to study spin-based phenomena and their interaction with light.  Since April 2020 she is the Imperial co-Director of the London Centre for Nanotechnology.  She is also the co-Director of the CNRS - Imperial IRC for Transformational Science and Technology.  Since October 2022, she is the Head of the Department of Materials. Her current research directions are focused on optoelectronic, magnetic and quantum properties of molecular thin films, spintronic applications, novel fabrication methods for oxides, detailed structural characterisation of films and interfaces, and nanowire devices.