Conferences and workshops

My first invited talk — at a series I have followed from the very start: a contributed talk at the opening edition in Strasbourg, a poster in Luxembourg, and now an invited lecture in Perugia. I spoke about how van der Waals dispersion reshapes the electron density and presented new results for pair densities. It was also nice to see dispersion densities now coming from SAPT in Bartosz Tyrcha’s talk. The programme was as broad as ever, from quantum chemistry to scanning probe microscopy and batteries. Most valuable for me were the discussions with Prof. Ángel Martín Pendás on established 2-RDM approaches, and with Dr. Christian Wagner on how experiments could probe dispersion-induced density effects at hybrid interfaces. Many thanks to Prof. Giovanni Bistoni and the organizers for the invitation.

I visited Prof. Reinhard J. Maurer’s group in Vienna, where we discussed the group’s research directions and the potential for collaboration. I spoke with all of the group members and gave a seminar on my own work. And of course I did some sightseeing — it was such a pleasure to be back in Vienna again.

The second edition of the “vdW/London Discussions” was held in Luxembourg — a home conference for me, two years on from the Strasbourg opener. It was a pleasure to meet Prof. Giovanni Bistoni, with whom I had a fruitful exchange about my work at the poster session. Beyond that, there were many brilliant talks on topics ranging from machine-learning approaches to nuclear quantum effects and crystal-structure prediction. I also had a personal mission at this edition: looking after and assisting Professor Emeritus Katharine L. Hunt throughout the conference.

The week after WATOC, I travelled on to Poland. This conference proved intellectually stimulating and productive: we heard many excellent talks on symmetry-adapted perturbation theory, high-accuracy quantum chemistry and the latest density-functional developments, each followed by sharp questions and discussion. I was honoured to receive the best-poster prize — though I missed the closing ceremony. It was my second week of conferences in a row and I was worn out, so I left a day early. The award reached me by post instead.

Another huge scientific reunion — this time for chemists. I presented a poster, and the venue was almost a labyrinth: people spent hours trying to track me down. They finally found me right at the end of the session, so we ended up staying late, and by the time we wrapped up the discussion there was literally no one else left in the hall. I guess that’s how you know you’re discussing real science! It was a pleasure to meet and talk in person with our colleagues in the vdW field, Prof. Erin Johnson and Dr. Kyle Bryenton.

This reunion was long-awaited for me — visa issues had forced me to miss the first one. It was great to be back at IPAM and Lake Arrowhead and to see some of the nicest people again. Importantly, this is where I first presented what would become my JACS paper on dispersion-induced density shifts. It was valuable to get comments from Prof. Kieron Burke and to talk through some of the details with Prof. Éric Cancès.

This was a summer school run under the DTU Active programme, which funded my PhD. It brought people together for genuinely interdisciplinary discussions of living systems, centred on energy, information and evolution. Although my own research sits fairly far from these topics, it was instructive to get a pedagogical glimpse of fields like active matter, cellular metabolism and the origin of life. It was also a pleasure to hang out with my DTU peers and meet new people from all over Europe. And the setting in Cargèse was simply beyond all expectations — one of the best conference experiences overall.

After the workshop I stayed on for another week, on a research visit to the groups of two outstanding UChicago professors. I had dozens of discussions and heard about an enormous range of topics — from many-body Green’s-function techniques for defects in solids to advanced excited-state quantum-chemistry methods for molecules. It was also rewarding to give a seminar on my own research and answer questions from such a diverse audience. I am deeply grateful to Prof. Giulia Galli and Prof. Laura Gagliardi for welcoming me into their groups and for their time.

Spring visits to Chicago were becoming another tradition. This workshop gave a state-of-the-art view of how machine-learning techniques can speed up electronic-structure calculations and improve their accuracy. I learned a lot and picked up several ideas for future research. I also connected really well with some of the participants — not only in discussing science but in hanging out beyond conference hours, and I caught up with a few of the IPAM guys again.

This time I attended the DPG Spring Meeting — the largest physics conference in Europe. It was smaller than APS but similar in spirit, and, happily, I had a bigger audience in the room. Giving the talk was nerve-wracking, though: right before I went on stage my laptop froze and simply wouldn’t respond! Luckily, one of the later speakers offered to swap slots with me and the chair wisely agreed, so my talk was pushed to the end of the session — but it happened! The lesson I took away: always carry a memory stick with a backup of your slides, just in case.

I was originally supposed to present a poster, but three days before the conference I received an email saying a talk slot had opened up — and I gratefully took it, since my poster wasn’t ready yet. This meeting was a success and marked the start of what became the biennial “vdW/London Discussions”. It was held in Strasbourg — a beautiful city with a rich history, and I loved strolling around it, taking in the architecture and the surroundings.

Here I presented my JCTC paper on universal vdW potentials for the first time in its full form — and it was very encouraging to get positive feedback from the audience! A number of excellent talks on non-covalent interactions, density-functional theory and quantum chemistry made this one of the most useful and interesting meetings for me. Among the highlights was a visit to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s house with Alex and Igor. On the way back to Luxembourg I stopped in Vienna — a lovely city that instantly became my favourite.

A cosy joint retreat of three research groups — that is exactly how this conference felt. Cut off from the outside world, people threw themselves into discussion and networking even more than usual. Beyond that, the setting offered activities you don’t get everywhere: skiing, spotting reindeer, or discussing science in a Finnish sauna. Sitting beyond the Arctic Circle, Levi is still the northernmost point I have ever reached. Funnily enough, on the way in we nearly lost half our team, who got off the plane at the wrong stop — yes, in northern Finland the planes hop between small airports like buses, so you have to watch where you step out.

It almost felt like a tradition: a yearly August visit to Lausanne for a conference. Psi-k was much bigger than the previous year’s CECAM workshop, with many excellent talks, especially in materials science. It was cool to run into some of my old MIPT friends there. We travelled as a big TCP team and shared plenty of dinners and walks around the city — and, of course, yet another stroll along Lake Geneva was mandatory. The conference culminated in a huge party at a nightclub, reminding people that the Covid restrictions are over. It was wonderful to see the community socializing again.

During the IPAM program I took a side trip to Chicago for the APS March Meeting. The scale was simply gigantic: some 10,000 physicists in one place. It was a fascinating experience, though I felt a little overwhelmed, and networking at such a huge event turned out to be genuinely hard. Part of the experience, of course, is a near-empty room for your Friday-morning slot — classic. As usual, I made the most of the trip and wandered a fair bit through the concrete jungle of Chicago. I liked the city a lot and, as it happened, I celebrated my birthday there too.

This is one of the highlights of my entire PhD. The IPAM program was transformative, both scientifically and personally. Imagine bringing 40 bright minds from all over the world together in one place and letting them live and work for three months, punctuated by four one-week workshops, for which a few dozen more join temporarily — all in LA, on a beautiful campus. Sounds like a dream, right? And yet that is exactly what happened to me, and I’m deeply grateful to the organizers and to Alex for the opportunity.

There are far too many wonderful things to recount here, so I’ll mention just a few. Scientifically, my time at IPAM deepened my understanding of the QDO model and quantum chemistry, let me finish the JPCL paper on its parametrization, and laid the groundwork for building universal vdW potentials. Outside work, it still makes me smile to remember the house parties, beach runs with Stefan and Eloise, cozy bonfire nights on the Pacific coast, and the many hikes and road trips we took together. I also explored LA a lot on my own and kept a regular vlog on social media — a nice exercise in socializing and pushing past my shyness. I hope this gives a flavour of IPAM, and I invite you to scroll through the photo gallery for more.

This workshop marked a new chapter: the first after I began my PhD in Luxembourg. It also fell during Covid, so the poster session was held fully online, although we were all seated in the same room (yes, what a strange time to look back on). The conference itself was excellent and served as a great introduction to intermolecular interactions and quantum chemistry, shifting my focus from materials to molecules. Lake Geneva and the mountain views immediately found a place in my heart. One memorable moment was a 6 a.m. run with Alex and Matteo that turned out to be 12 km long — my legs were sore for two days! Last but not least, I met so many wonderful people; this workshop was easily the highlight of my first PhD year.

I registered for Elbrus 2020 at the last minute and didn’t regret it: the first “ski-mountain conference” of my career. I quickly learned that academics really know how to enjoy life. Elbrus is the highest mountain in Europe, and I almost died trying to ski down a slope without ever having learned how — a lifelong lesson! Luckily, I was not injured, and I’m still grateful to a mountain rescuer named Vovchik, who found me sprawled beside the piste and taught me to ski in an hour for about €20. It still ranks among the best investments I’ve ever made.

My first time giving a conference talk, though it didn’t feel like anything special: our session took place in the same cozy room at TISNCM where we normally had our classes.

This symposium was especially memorable — here I met my future doctoral advisor, Prof. Alexandre Tkatchenko, for the first time. The line-up of invited speakers was genuinely impressive, and the meeting offered a nice snapshot of the state of the art in computational materials science. Among the many big names, I still remember Prof. Georg Kresse cheerfully introducing himself as “Mr. VASP” at the poster session.

This workshop ran back-to-back with the previous one. Here I picked up many sampling and structure-prediction techniques, and on the weekend in between I managed to visit Venice and Ljubljana (see the photos). That gave me yet another reason to work hard in academia — the privilege of travelling and seeing the world while sharing your results with the community.

My first time abroad and what a place to start: ICTP in Trieste! I was thrilled. Although I didn’t present anything, I was so impressed by the level of science that I set myself a goal: to produce work good enough that I could one day present it at a conference like this. Beyond the great science, the venue was beautiful and the people were kind and welcoming. So, my first impression of the international atomistic-modeling community was highly positive.

This was my first time at Skoltech, then one of the fastest-growing and most dynamic universities in Russia. Coincidentally, it was also my first conference held in English — good practice before going fully international.

My very first conference! I remember presenting a poster on my Bachelor’s thesis — but, honestly, not much beyond that.