28th International School on Low Temperature Plasma Physics: Basics and Applications

List of teacher of the 28th International School on Low Temperature Plasma Physics and its Master Class 2025

  • Luís L. Alves (Lisbon Technical University, Portugal)
  • Jan Benedikt (Kiel University, Germany)
  • Annemie Bogaerts (University of Antwerp, Belgium)
  • Marc Böke (Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany)
  • Jean-Paul Booth (Ecole Polytechnique, France)
  • Diederik Depla (Ghent University, Belgium)
  • Richard Engeln (ASML, The Netherlands)
  • Pietro Favia (University of Bari, Italy)
  • Olivier Guaitella (École Polytechnique, France)
  • Ante Hecimovic (Max-Planck-Institut für Plasmaphysik, Germany)
  • Dirk Hegemann (Empa St.Gallen, Switzerland)
  • Sylvain Iséni (GREMI Orléans, France)
  • Holger Kersten (Christian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel, Germany)
  • Friederike Kogelheide (SkinLove Ruhr GmbH)
  • Stephanos Konstantinidis (University of Mons, Belgium)
  • Ondřej Kylián (Charles University, Czech Republic)
  • Tony Murphy (CSIRO, Australia)
  • Marina Prenzel (Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany)
  • Nevena Puač (Institute of Physics Belgrade, Serbia)
  • François Reniers (Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium)
  • Vincent Roucoules (Institut de Science des Matériaux de Mulhouse, France)
  • Rony Snyders (University of Mons, Belgium)
  • Damien Thiry (University of Mons, Belgium)
  • Achim von Keudell (Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany)

Luís L. Alves (Lisbon Technical University, Portugal)

Luís L. Alves was born in Lisbon, Portugal. He is a full professor at the Department of Physics of IST, and the Head of the group N-Plasmas Reactive: Modelling and Engineering (N-PRiME) of Instituto de Plasmas e Fusão Nuclear (IPFN) with IST. His research focuses on the modelling and simulation of low-temperature plasmas, using a research methodology that involves the problem formulation, the development, verification and benchmarking of numerical tools, and the validation of the physical models by comparison with the experiment. Over the years he has developed many different numerical codes, extending from the numerical solution of the electron Boltzmann equation to the development of multi-dimensional dynamic models for reactive gas/plasma systems of interest for material science, biological and environmental applications. He is responsible for the development of the LisbOn KInetics (LoKI) simulation tools for plasma chemistry. Currently, he is member of the Scientific Council of IST and an Associate Editor of Plasma Sources Science and Technology.


Key publications:
  1. A reaction mechanism for oxygen plasmas. T C Dias, C Fromentin, L L Alves, A Tejero-del-Caz, T Silva, V Guerra, Plasma Sources Sci. Technol. 32 084003 (2023)
  2. The LisbOn KInetics Boltzmann solver. A Tejero-del-Caz, V Guerra, D Gonçalves, M Lino da Silva, L Marques, N Pinhão, C D Pintassilgo, L L Alves, Plasma Sources Sci. Technol. 28 043001 (2019)
  3. Foundations of modelling of nonequilibrium low-temperature plasmas. L L Alves, A Bogaerts, V Guerra, M M Turner, Plasma Sources Sci. Technol. 27023002 (2018)

Jan Benedikt (Kiel University, Germany)

Jan Benedikt is a full professor at Kiel University in the field of atmospheric and low-pressure non-equilibrium plasma physics with focus on plasma diagnostic, plasma-surface interaction including the field of plasma medicine and interaction with liquids, and on synthesis of nanoparticles, nanomaterials, and thin films especially with respect to understanding of growth mechanisms and plasma-chemistry pathways. He studied physics, and especially plasma physics, at the University of West Bohemia, Plzen, Czech Republic, and obtained his PhD at the Eindhoven University of Technology (2004). He was awarded Hans-Werner-Osthoff Plasma Physics Prize in 2009 and John Coburn and Harold Winters Student Award in Plasma Science and Technology at AVS conference in 2003. He is author of eighty-five peer-reviewed articles including four review articles, and has been invited more than forty times to give an invited conference talk or lecture course.


Key publications:
  1. Summarizing results on the performance of a selective set of atmospheric plasma jets for separation of photons and reactive particles. S Schneider, F Jarzina, J-W Lackmann, J Golda, V Layes, V Schulz-von der Gathen, J Bandow, J Benedikt, J. Phys.D: Appl. Phys. 48 (2015) 444001
  2. Quadrupole Mass Spectrometry of Reactive Plasmas. J Benedikt, A Hecimovic, D Ellerweg, A von Keudell, J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 45 (2012) 403001
  3. Plasma-chemical reactions: low pressure acetylene plasmas. J Benedikt, J. Phys. D 43 (2010) 043001

Annemie Bogaerts (University of Antwerp, Belgium)

Annemie Bogaerts was born in 1971 and obtained her PhD in Sciences in 1996 from University of Antwerp (Belgium). She is full professor in physical chemistry at University of Antwerp. She is head of the interdisciplinary research group PLASMANT, composed of chemists, physicists, engineers, biologists and biomedical researchers. Her research focuses on plasma chemistry, plasma reactor design and plasma-surface interactions (incl. solid catalysts, liquids and biomolecules), by computer modelling and experiments, mainly for applications in green chemistry (e.g., plasma-based CO2 and CH4 conversion, N2 fixation for green fertilizer production, green H2 synthesis,…) and plasma medicine (mainly cancer research). Her group counts ca. 50 members. Since 2005, she was the supervisor of 71 defended PhD theses. She published over 700 peer-reviewed papers since 1995 (and about 25 invited book chapters), with ca. 50,000 citations in Google Scholar (h-index = 110). She has about 280 plenary or invited lectures at international conferences or institutes since 1995. She is also co-inventor of 15 patent applications since 2019, and co-founder of 2 spin-off companies of her research group.


Key publications:
  1. R. Snoeckx and A. Bogaerts, Plasma technology – a novel solution for CO2 conversion? Chem. Soc. Rev. 46, 5805-5863 (2017)
  2. J. Van Turnhout, K. Rouwenhorst, L. Lefferts and A. Bogaerts, Plasma catalysis: What is needed to create synergy? EES Catalysis, 3, 669-693 (2025)
  3. A. Bogaerts, Plasma technology for the electrification of chemical reactions, Nature Chem. Eng. 2, 336-340 (2025)

Marc Böke (Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany)

Marc Böke was born in Bochum, Germany, on November 15, 1972. He received his PhD degree in Physics at Ruhr-University Bochum (RUB) with a PhD thesis dealing with Lithium atoms as probes for reactive plasmas. After his PhD he worked as executive secretary of Arbeitsgemeinschaft Plasmaphysik (APP) & Center of Excellence Plasma Science and Technology (CPST) at Ruhr-University Bochum. He is PI in several collaborative research projects at the Research Department Plasmas with Complex Interactions at RUB and works on diagnostic methods of low temperature plasmas, physics of microplasmas and plasma technology (e.g. plasma coatings on polymers). As a co-founder of a spin-off company in the field of plasma technology he was involved in the design of plasma sources for coating, functionalization or sterilization applications. Since 2001 he is responsible for the organization and the scientific concept of the school.


Key publications:
  1. Modeling and simulation of the plasma absorption probe. M Lapke, T Mussenbrock, and R P Brinkmann, C Scharwitz, M Böke, J Winter, Appl. Phys. Lett. 90, (2007) 121502, doi:/10.1063/1.2714202
  2. High Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering Discharges: Instabilities and Plasma Self-Organization. AP Ehiasarian, A Hecimovic, T de los Arcos, R New, V Schulz-von der Gathen, M Böke, and J Winter, Appl. Phys. Lett. 100, (2012) 114101, doi: 10.1063/1.3692172
  3. Space resolved density measurements of argon and helium metastable atoms in radio-frequency generated He-Ar micro-plasmas. B Niermann, M Böke, N Sadeghi, and J Winter, Eur. Phys. J. D 60, (2010) 489-495, doi:10.1140/epjd/e2010-00166-8

Jean-Paul Booth (Ecole Polytechnique, France)

Jean-Paul Booth is a CNRS research director at the Laboratoire de Physique de Plasmas at Ecole Polytechnique near Paris. In 2006-08 he took time away from CNRS to work at Lam Research Corporation in California, where he was a technical director responsible for sensors and endpoint detection applied to plasma etch reactors. Before 2000 he was a CNRS researcher at Université de Grenoble. JP Booth specialises in the experimental study of physics and chemistry occurring in plasmas in reactive gases at low pressures, and their interaction with surfaces. He long focussed on radiofrequency plasmas for materials processing in the microelectronics industry, but is now working on more fundamental questions and rigorous model validation. He has developed and applied many novel optical diagnostic techniques (one- and two-photon laser-induced fluorescence, broad-band absorption spectroscopy, cavity ring-down spectroscopy, synchrotron vacuum-ultraviolet absorption) to measure reactive species densities and kinetics, as well as electrical probes, microwave resonance techniques for plasma physics parameters, and simpler sensors for in-situ control of industrial plasma processes. He also has an interest in the physics of capacitively-coupled radiofrequency plasmas: breakdown, electromagnetic effects in VHF plasmas, tailored voltage waveform excitation for control of ion and electron fluxes and energy distributions.


Key publications:
  1. Optical and Electrical Diagnostics of Fluorocarbon Plasma Etching Processes, J.P. Booth, Plasma Sources, Science and Technology, 8, 249, (1999).
  2. Negative ions in single- and dual-frequency capacitively coupled fluorocarbon plasmas, G A Curley, D Maric, J-P Booth, C S Corr, P Chabert and J Guillon, Plasma Sources Sci. Technol 16 S87-S93 (2007).
  3. Strong Ionization Asymmetry in a Geometrically Symmetric Radio Frequency Capacitively Coupled Plasma Induced by Sawtooth Voltage Waveforms B Bruneau, T Gans, D O’Connell, A Greb, E V. Johnson and JP Booth, Phys. Rev. Lett. 114, 125002 (2015).

Diederik Depla (Ghent University, Belgium)

D. Depla has received his Master Degree in Chemistry in 1991 at Ghent University (Belgium). In 1996 he promoted with a PhD thesis in Solid State Chemistry on spray drying of precursors for superconductors. After a short period as senior scientist in the Department of Solid State Sciences, he became in 1999 Professor at the same department. His research focuses on the fundamental aspects of reactive magnetron sputter deposition. He has shown the importance of ion implantation on this process, and explained the discharge voltage behavior during reactive sputter deposition. In this way, his continuous research in this area resulted in several publications. He is now as full professor head of the research group “Dedicated Research on Advanced Films and Targets” (DRAFT). Under the guidance of D. Depla, the research group has distinguished itself from this rather technological approach, and has set an own course seeking for answers on fundamental questions related to film growth and process control. The unique approach of the research group to tackle these fundamental questions, has propelled the research group to the forefront of the thin film community and we are today recognized as one of the world leading groups in reactive sputtering. A simple “google.com” search on “reactive sputter deposition” immediately shows a few links to the research group or the PI. The American Vacuum Society recently acknowledged the work of D. Depla through the “Bill Sproul Award 2022” “for his persistence to unravel the fundamental processes during reactive magnetron sputter deposition”.


Key publications:
  1. Tutorial : Hysteresis during the reactive magnetron sputtering process, K. Strijckmans, R. Schelfhout, D. Depla, Journal of Applied Physics 124 (2018) 2411011.
  2. Reactive Sputter Deposition, D. Depla, S. Mahieu (editors), Springer Series in Materials Science, Springer Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, 2008, ISBN 978-3-540- 7666-9
  3. Magnetrons, reactive gases and sputtering, D. Depla, ISBN 978-1-304-34781-7 (also available in a Chinese version : 阴极，反应气体和磁控溅射).

Richard Engeln (ASML, The Netherlands)

Richard Engeln is a principal researcher at ASML, a Dutch company that produces lithography machines for the semi-conductor industry. He is also full professor (part-time) at the Eindhoven University of Technology, where he worked for 22 years before going to ASML. His research focuses on unravelling the chemical kinetics and dynamics in processing plasmas, by developing and employing optical, especially laser-based, diagnostic techniques that can measure densities of plasma species both at high temporal and spatial resolution. At present the main focus of his research is on (EUV-induced) hydrogen-containing plasma, as this type of plasma is present in the latest lithography machines of ASML.


Key publications:

Olivier Guaitella (École Polytechnique, France)

Olivier Guaitella is a researcher of the Non Thermal Plasma group from Laboratory of Plasma Physics in Ecole Polytechnique near Paris. He has received is PhD degree in Physics in 2006 at École Polytechnique, member of Paris Saclay University. His main research interests are focus on plasma surface interactions and their influence on non-equilibrium plasma kinetics at elevated pressure. This work finds applications for indoor air treatment, Plasma/catalyst coupling, plasma in liquids, plasma jets and more recently CO2 recycling after spending a one year secondment in the group of Richard Engeln at Eindhoven University of Technology in 2014. He has also a strong interest in the development of new diagnostics techniques and has especially an expertise in infrared absorption techniques. He is member of the steering committee of the french non thermal plasma network since 2013.


Key publications:
  1. Experimentally obtained values of electric field of an atmospheric pressure plasma jet impinging on a dielectric surface. A Sobota, O Guaitella, E Garcia-Caurel Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics 46 (37), 372001
  2. Modes of underwater discharge propagation in a series of nanosecond successive pulses. I Marinov, O Guaitella, A Rousseau, SM Starikovskaia, Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics 46 (46), 464013
  3. Oxidation of isopropanol and acetone adsorbed on TiO 2 under plasma generated ozone flow: Gas phase and adsorbed species monitoring. C Barakat, P Gravejat, O Guaitella, F Thevenet, A Rousseau, Applied Catalysis B: Environmental 147, 302-313

Ante Hecimovic (Max-Planck-Institut für Plasmaphysik, Germany)

Ante Hecimovic received his PhD in Plasma Physics from Sheffield Hallam University (UK) in 2009. After that, he joined Ruhr-University Bochum (under Prof. Jörg Winter) where he established a lab for plasma diagnostics of high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS), a plasma vapour deposition method for production of thin films. The scientific findings have been assembled in a book that he co-authored entitled High Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering - Fundamentals, Technologies, Challenges and Applications (Elsevier 2020). In 2017 he was one of the scientists that established the plasma for gas conversion (P4G) group at IPP, and took over the position of group leader of the P4G group. He is interested in using plasma diagnostics to develop an understanding of the dominant dissociation pathways of abundant molecules enabling the formation of value added chemicals. This knowledge is applied to tune the efficiency of molecular splitting using various plasma sources, aiming to contribute to the future chemical energy storage landscape.


Key publications:
  1. A. Hecimovic, C.K. Kiefer, A. Meindl, R. Antunes, U. Fantz, Fast gas quenching of microwave plasma effluent for enhanced CO2 conversion, Journal of CO2 Utilization 71, 102473, (2023), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcou.2023.102473.
  2. A. Meindl A Hecimovic, U Fantz, Spatially resolved TALIF investigation of atomic oxygen in the effluent of a CO2 microwave discharge, Plasma Sources Sci. Technol. 33 (2024) 045013, https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6595/ad3c36
  3. A. Hecimovic, M.T. Mayer, L.G.J. de Haart, S. Gupta, C.K. Kiefer, A. Navarrete, A. Schulz, U. Fantz, Benchmarking microwave-induced CO2 plasma splitting against electrochemical CO2 reduction for a comparison of promising technologies, Journal of CO2 Utilization 83 (2024), 102825, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcou.2024.102825.

Dirk Hegemann (Empa St.Gallen, Switzerland)

Dirk Hegemann heads the Plasma & Coating group at Empa, the Swiss federal research institute for materials science and technology. He studied physics and received his PhD in materials science from TU Darmstadt, Germany, in 1999. After a research stay at the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology in Stuttgart, Germany, he moved to Empa in St. Gallen, Switzerland, in 2003. Dirk Hegemann specialized in physical and chemical plasma deposition and etching processes as well as plasma-chemical gas phase processes. He published more than 140 peer-reviewed papers (H-index: 50; overall citations ~7500) and is ranked among the Top Scientists in the field of Materials Science in Switzerland. His team focuses on the plasma functionalization of flexible polymeric materials and their implementation in industry as well as environmental aspects of plasma technology. Dirk Hegemann is a member of the board of the female leadership (fem-LEAD) program of the ETH domain, the Swissvacuum Society and the International Plasma Chemistry Society (IPCS) and serves as Editor-in-Chief for the journal Plasma Processes and Polymers.


Key publications:
  1. Plasma treatment of polymers for surface and adhesion improvement. D. Hegemann, H. Brunner, C. Oehr, Nucl. Instr. Meth. Phys. Res. B 208, 281-286 (2003)
  2. Plasma-controlled surface wettability: Recent advances and future applications. C. Ma, A. Nikiforov, D. Hegemann, N. De Geyter, R. Morent, K. Ostrikov, Int. Mater. Rev. 68, 82-119 (2023)
  3. Plasma polymerization of hexamethyldisiloxane: Revisited. D. Hegemann, E. Bülbül, B. Hanselmann, U. Schütz, M. Amberg, S. Gaiser, Plasma Process. Polym. 18, e2000176 (2021)

Sylvain Iséni (GREMI Orléans, France)

Sylvain ISÉNI was born Gien, France, on October 17th 1988. He graduated from the University of Orléans (France) with a Master of Science and an engineering diploma in 2011. The same year he spends six months as an ERASMUS student in the group of Prof. P. Bruggeman at TU/e Eindhoven (The Netherlands). Starting from 2012, he was a PhD candidate at the Leib­niz In­sti­tu­te for Plas­ma Sci­ence and Tech­no­lo­gy, INP Greifswald where he received his PhD in Physics in 2015 from the University of Greifswald (Germany) with a study focusing on laser diagnostics of an atmospheric pressure plasma jet for biomedical applications. After a post-doc at the Research Group in the Energetics of Ionized Media -GREMI- in Orléans, (France), he obtain a full researcher position at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) in 2017. His research topics deal with non-equilibrium –non-thermal– plasmas and plasma processes for environmental and biological purposes. This involves the development of original micro-plasma sources and the study of elementary processes in discharges and plasma-liquid interaction. His working field is also dealing with plasma diagnostics with a strong focus on optical emission spectroscopy to study key plasma parameters (e.g. electric field, electron density, neutral gas temperature, hydrodynamics...). He is also interested in laser diagnostics method to measure absolute densities of reactive species.


Key publications:
  1. Atmospheric pressure streamer follows the turbulent argon air boundary in a MHz argon plasma jet investigated by OH-tracer PLIF spectroscopy. S Iseni A Schmidt-Bleker J Winter K-D Weltmann, S Reuter, Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics 47, 152001–152001 (2014 )
  2. Nitrogen metastable (N2(A3 Σu+)) in a cold argon atmospheric pressure plasma jet: Shielding and gas composition. S Iseni P Bruggeman, K-D Weltmann, S Reuter, Applied Physics Letters 108, 184101–184101 (2016)
  3. On the validity of neutral gas temperature by emission spectroscopy in micro-discharges close to atmospheric pressure. S Iseni, R Michaud, P Lefaucheux, G B Sretenović, V, Schulz-von der Gathen, R Dussart, Plasma Sources Sci. Technol. 28, 065003 (2019)

Holger Kersten (Christian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel, Germany)

Holger Kersten is a Professor at the Institute of Experimental and Applied Physics at University of Kiel, Germany since 2006. Prior Professor Kersten was the head of the plasma processes group at the Leibniz Institute for Plasma Science and Technology (INP Greifswald) in Greifswald, Germany. The focus of his research includes basic studies and diagnostics on the interaction of plasmas with surfaces, complex plasmas and their applications in plasma technology. In particular, Kersten is working in plasma diagnostics by non-conventional methods as calorimetric probes and force probes for the determination of energy and momentum fluxes. Since a few years his research interest is also related to historical aspects of gas dicharges and plasma physics. In 1999, he received the Greifswald Plasma Physics Prize in recognition of his research and in 2025 the Rudolf-Jaeckel award of the German Vacuum Society. Professor Kersten was the president of the German Society for Plasma Technology from 2009 to 2013. From 2015 until 2019 and since 2025 again he is an Editor-in-Chief of the European Physical Journal D (EPJD). In 2019 Kersten was the chair of the ICPIG conference and in 2024 of the PSE conference.


Key publications:
  1. Experimental unraveling the energy flux originating from a DC magnetron sputtering source. S Gauter, F Haase, H Kersten, Thin Solid Films 669(2019), 8-18. (doi: 10.1016/j.tsf.2018.10.021)
  2. Nanoparticle forming reactive plasmas: A multidiagnostic approach. A Hinz, E von Wahl, F Faupel, T Strunskus, H Kersten, Eur. Phys. J. D 72(2018), 91. (doi: 10.1140/epjd/e2017-80372-6)
  3. Foundations of measurement of electrons, ions and species fluxes towards surfaces in low-temperature plasmas. J Benedikt, H Kersten, A Piel, Plasma Sources Sci. Technol. 30(2021), 033001. (doi:10.1088/1361-6595/abe4bf)

Stephanos Konstantinidis (University of Mons, Belgium)

Stephanos Konstantinidis was born in Athens in 1978. He is currently Research Director at the National Fund for Scientific Research (FNRS, Belgium) and professor at the University of Mons in Belgium. During his doctoral thesis (UMONS 2004), Stephanos contributed to the fundamental understanding of ionized magnetron sputter deposition technology, in particular towards the development of High-Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering (HiPIMS) processes. At ChIPS lab, he studies plasma-surface interactions and thin film deposition by combining both advanced plasma analysis and surface characterization methods. He’s also developing sputtering-based processes for the synthesis of nanomaterials.


Key publications:
  1. High power pulsed magnetron sputtering: a review on scientific and engineering state of the art, K. Sarakinos, J. Alami and S. Konstantinidis , Surf. Coatings Technol. 204, 1661–1684 (2010).
  2. Oxygen vacancy stabilized zirconia (OVSZ); a joint experimental and theoretical study. M. Raza, S. Konstantinidis et al, Scripta Materialia, 124, 26–29 (2016).
  3. Sputtering onto liquids: a critical review, A. Sergievskaya, A. Chauvin and S. Konstantinidis, Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 13, 10–53 (2022).

Ondřej Kylián (Charles University, Czech Republic)

Ondřej Kylián was born in Prague, Czechia, in 1975. After finishing his Ph.D. studies at the Charles University, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Prague, Czechia, in 2003, he spent almost five years as a postdoc at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission in Ispra, Italy. He then returned to the Charles University, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, where he worked first as an assistant professor and later as an associate professor. He is currently the head of the Department of Macromolecular Physics. Early in his career, he focused mainly on the plasma-surface interactions with emphasis on plasma-based sterilisation. Recently, his scientific interest shifted towards plasma-assisted synthesis of functional nanomaterials and their characterisation and applications mainly in biomedical field. He has published more than 150 peer-reviewed papers (H-index: 35; overall citations ~3500), is a co-author of two patents, and has been invited more than 20 times to give a conference talk or lecture at various universities. Since 2025, he has been the Czech representative in the IUVSTA - Thin Films division.


Key publications:
  1. Decontamination of surfaces by low pressure plasma discharges. F. Rossi, O. Kylián, M. Hasiwa, Plasma Process. Polym. 3, 431-442 (2006)
  2. Nanostructured plasma polymers. O. Kylián, A. Choukourov, H. Biederman, Thin Solid Films 548, 1-17(2013)
  3. Plasma-assisted gas-phase aggregation of clusters for functional nanomaterials. O. Kylián, D. Nikitin, J. Hanus et al., J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A: 41, 020802 (2023)

Tony Murphy (CSIRO, Australia)

Tony Murphy was born in Sydney, Australia, too many years ago. He received a PhD in Physics from the University of Sydney and subsequently completed a postdoc at Max-Planck-Institut für Plasmaphysik in Munich. Since 1989, he has worked at CSIRO, Australia’s leading government research organisation, where he is now a Chief Research Scientist. (A prize will be awarded to all who can say what CSIRO stands for.) Tony’s main research area is thermal plasma processes, including arc welding, metallurgical applications, waste treatment, and plasma property calculation. In the past few years, he has also been active in plasma catalysis. He was a member of the team that developed the PLASCON waste destruction process and has led plasma modelling projects with several companies, including General Motors, Boeing, and China Rail and Rolling Stock Corporation. He has published over 300 refereed journal papers and has been awarded research medals and prizes by the International Plasma Chemistry Society, European Physical Society, Association of Asia-Pacific Physical Societies, Institute of Physics (UK), Australian Academy of Science, Australian Institute of Physics, NSW Government and Royal Society of NSW. He is Editor-in-Chief of Plasma Chemistry and Plasma Processing, an Associate Editor of Journal of Manufacturing Processes, and a member of the Editorial Boards of Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, Reviews of Modern Plasma Physics, Welding in the World and Plasma Science and Technology; you are encouraged to submit your best work to these journals.


Key publications:
  1. Foundations of high-pressure thermal plasmas. A B Murphy, D Uhrlandt, Plasma Sources Sci. Technol. 27 063001 (2018).
  2. A perspective on arc welding research: the importance of the arc, unresolved questions and future directions. A B Murphy, Plasma Chem. Plasma Process. 35 471–489 (2015).
  3. Thermodynamic properties and transport coefficients of arc lamp plasmas: argon, krypton and xenon. A B Murphy, E. Tam, J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 47 295202 (2014).

Marina Prenzel (Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany)

Marina Prenzel is Science Manager of the Research Department 'Plasmas with Complex Interactions' at Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RD Plasma). She received her Ph.D. in physics in 2013 on a study of reactive magnetron sputtering. For three years she worked as a Potdoc at the Max-Planck-Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion in Mülheim (Germany) and moved at the beginning of 2017 back again to RUB, where she is responsible for the scientific organisation of the RD Plasma.


Key publications:
  1. Investigation of different pre-treated multi-walled carbon nanotubes by Raman spectroscopy. P Düngen, M Prenzel, C Van Stappen, N Pfänder, S Heumann, R Schlögl, Materials Sciences and Applications 8 (8), 628-641 (2017)
  2. Formation of crystalline gamma-Al2O3 induced by variable substrate biasing during reactive magnetron sputtering. M Prenzel, A Kortmann, A von Keudell, F Nahif, J M Schneider, M Shihab, R P Brinkmann, J. Phys. D.: Appl. Phys. 46 (8), (2013) 084004
  3. Ion-induced secondary electron emission of oxidized nickel and copper studied in beam experiments. R Buschhaus et al 2022 Plasma Sources Sci. Technol. 31 025017

Nevena Puač (Institute of Physics Belgrade, Serbia)

Dr. Nevena Puač is a principal research fellow at the Institute of Physics Belgrade working in the low temperature plasma physics field - low and atmospheric pressure plasmas, expert in numerous diagnostics methods and application of plasmas in biology, medicine and agriculture. She obtained her PhD at the University of Belgrade with a part of the thesis completed at the Instituto Superior Tecnico, Lisbon, Portugal. She was a PI of national technological project (TD 23016, Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, 2008-2010), multidisciplinary project (III41011, Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, 2011-2019) and PI at several bilateral projects. Currently she is the Action Chair and coordinator of the multidisciplinary COST Action, PlAgri-CA19110, “Plasma Agriculture for smart and sustainable agriculture” and was a leader of Marie Sklodowska Curie ITN project (Nowelties 812880) at the Institute of Physics. She has published more than 70 articles in international journals and publications. Her h-index is 24 with more than 1300 citations. Most of the highly cited papers that she has published are in the field of applications of plasma in biology and medicine. Until now she has supervised several PhD and Master and Diploma theses. She was co-chair and organizer of several conferences and workshops.


Key publications:
  1. N Puač, M Gherardi, M Shiratani, Plasma agriculture: A rapidly emerging field, Plasma processes and polymers 15 (2), 1700174 (2108)
  2. C Bradu, K Kutasi, M Magureanu, N Puač, S Živković, Reactive nitrogen species in plasma-activated water: Generation, chemistry and application in agriculture, Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics 53 (22), 223001 (2020)
  3. S Tomić, A Petrović, N Puač, N Škoro, M Bekić, ZL Petrović, M Čolić, Plasma-activated medium potentiates the immunogenicity of tumor cell lysates for dendritic cell-based cancer vaccines, Cancers 13 (7), 1626 (2021)

François Reniers (Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium)

François Reniers is professor of Chemistry at the Université libre de Bruxelles - ULB (Belgium) since 1999. He obtained his M.Sc. in Chemistry in 1987, and his PhD in sciences in 1991, both from the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB). He did a post-doctoral stay at the University of California Berkeley (1996-1997) (USA). F. Reniers was also Vice-Chancellor for teaching at ULB, Vice-Chancellor for research and development, and Dean of the Faculty of Sciences. He was also, from 2011 to 2021, Vice-President of the Greenwin competitivity cluster (Walloon region), dedicated to the green technologies. He started the atmospheric plasma activities in 1999 thanks to private IP protected funding from Solvay and Cockerill-Sambre (now ArcelorMittal). His plasma group in the ChemSIN has now an average of 15 researchers per year. His research activity deals with the chemistry and physics of the (atmospheric) plasma-surface interactions, chemical reactivity of plasmas, plasma polymerization, coatings deposition, gas conversion using plasma, plasma electrolysis, plasma synthesis of molecules and nanoparticles, plasma medicine, surface spectroscopy using Auger and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, chemical and optical characterization of the plasma phase and development of new atmospheric plasma sources and reactors. F. Reniers was the President of the International Union for Vacuum Science, Technique and Application - IUVSTA (2022-2025) ; the Chair of the Plasma Science and Technology Division of the American Vacuum Society (2020). He is Fellow of the American Vacuum Society, AVS (2018) for For seminal contributions to atmospheric plasma synthesis of organic, inorganic and hybrid coatings to attain a wide variety of functional properties and dielectric barrier discharge CO2 conversion into useful molecules. He also got a Stas Award of the Royal academy of Art, Letters and Sciences of Belgium (1991), a Fulbright Award (1996), a Certificate of Merit, American Chemical Society (2005) and the first Socrate award of the Université Libre de Bruxelles, 2005 (best professor). He published >160 peer-reviewed papers, 5 book chapters, 14 patents on atmospheric plasma. F. Reniers was the Chair of the ECASIA conference, Brussels (2007) and the program chair of the IVC (International Vacuum Congress), Paris (2013).


Key publications:
  1. Merche, D., Vandencasteele, N., & Reniers, F. (2012). “Atmospheric plasmas for thin film deposition: A critical review”. Thin solid films. doi:10.1016/j.tsf.2012.01.026
  2. Thiry, D., Reniers, F., & Snyders, R. (2019). “A Joint Mechanistic Description of Plasma Polymers Synthesized at Low and Atmospheric Pressure”. In Surface Modification of Polymers: Methods and Applications (pp. 67-106). Wiley.
  3. Demaude, A., Baert, K., Petitjean, D., Goormaghtigh, E., Hauffman, T., Gordon, M.J., Reniers, F., (2022).” Simple and Scalable Chemical Surface Patterning via Direct Deposition from Immobilized Plasma Filaments in a Dielectric Barrier Discharge”. Advanced Science. doi:10.1002/advs.202200237

Vincent Roucoules (Institut de Science des Matériaux de Mulhouse, France)

Vincent Roucoules is Professor of Material Chemistry at the University of Haute-Alsace (France). He obtained his PhD in Physical Chemistry from the University of Lyon in 2000, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Durham (UK) in the group of Professor Jas Pal Badyal. He joined the University of Haute-Alsace as a lecturer in 2002, was promoted to Professor in 2014, and has served as Director of the Mulhouse Institute of Materials Science (IS2M–UMR7361) since 2018. His research focuses on low-pressure plasma processes for the synthesis of functional plasma polymers, with particular emphasis on plasma polymer morphogenesis and the fundamental mechanisms governing plasma–surface interactions. He develops advanced methodologies to tailor plasma polymers across multiple length scales, enabling the design of complex surfaces and interfaces with finely tuned properties. His work targets the precise control of adhesion, anti-adhesion, and biocompatibility for examples, as well as the creation of responsive materials capable of adapting dynamically to external stimuli such as pH, temperature, and mechanical stress. He has led and participated in numerous European, national, and industrial research projects, consistently aiming to strengthen the bridge between fundamental science and technological innovation.


Key publications:
  1. J. Bacharouche, F. Badique, A. Fahs, M.V. Spanedda, A. Geissler, J.P. Malval, M.F. Vallat, K. Anselme, G. Francius, B. Frisch, J. Hemmerlé, P. Schaaf, V. Roucoules Biomimetic cryptic site surfaces for reversible mechanoresponsive substrates ACS Nano 2013, 7, 3457-3465.
  2. M.Veuillet, L.Ploux, A. Airoudj, Y. Gourbeyre, E. Gaudichet-Maurin, V. Roucoules Macroscopic control of DMAHEMA and HEMA plasma polymerization to tune the surface mechanical properties of hydrogel-like coatings Plasma Processes and Polymers 2017, 14, e1600215
  3. S J.C. De Oliveira, M.Brioude, F. Bally-Le Gall, V. Roucoules Plasma polymerization in the design of new materials: looking through the lens of maleic anhydride plasma polymers Materials Today Chemistry, 2022, 23, 100646

Rony Snyders (University of Mons, Belgium)

Rony Snyders received his PhD in Science from UMONS, Belgium in 2004. and carried out two post-doctoral stays at Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal, Canada (2004-2006) and RWTH Aachen University, Germany (2006-2007). He is now full professor at Faculty of Sciences of UMONS where he is head of the Plasma-Surface Interaction Chemistry (ChIPS) group since 2007. He is one of the Scientific Director of Materia Nova R&D, Mons, Belgium and since 2017, guest Professor at the Technical University of Tianjin, Tianjin, China. He is past-president of the Belgian Vacuum Society (2018-2021) and members of several boards: IONICS, IVT, INISMA, Materia Nova and EUNICE University. His interests are on the utilization of low pressure plasmas for the processing of materials and for the conversion of gases with a special attention to the characterization of the plasma phase during these processes. He has been promoting 24 PhD thesis and co-authored more than 250 peer-reviewed papers (H-index: 48; overall citations: 8150). At UMONS, he has been member of the Rectoral College as advisor for interregional matters (2019-2022) and is now member of the Rectoral board as coordinator of the European University EUNICE at UMONS.


Key publications:
  1. Foundations of plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition of functional coatings R Snyders, D Hegemann, D Thiry, O Zabeida, J Klemberg-Sapieha, ... Plasma Sources Science and Technology 32 (7), 074001, 2023
  2. CO2 conversion using catalyst-free and catalyst-assisted plasma-processes: Recent progress and understanding G Chen, R Snyders, N Britun, Journal of CO2 Utilization 49, 101557, 2021
  3. Recent advances in the development of nano-sculpted films by magnetron sputtering for energy-related applications A Panepinto, R Snyders Nanomaterials 10 (10), 2039, 2020

Damien Thiry (University of Mons, Belgium)

Damien Thiry has received his PhD in Science in 2013 at the University of Mons (Belgium). After, he joined the Institute of Materials in Nantes (France) where he worked in the Plasma Thin Film Group as a postdoctoral researcher during two years. In 2016, he came back at the University of Mons as a Researcher/Lecturer and became the leader of the PECVD (Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition) research axis in the ChIPS (Chimie des Interactions Plasma Surface) group. In 2018, he was awarded of the PSE (Plasma Surface Engineering) Early Career Award honoring the work made by a young researcher in the field of plasma science. In 2021, he was appointed Associate Professor at the University of Mons. His main research activity is focused in the field of plasma polymerization with the aim to enlarge the understanding of the growth mechanism of functionalized plasma polymer films. He combines plasma-based diagnostics approach and film analysis in his research. He is co-editor (with Prof. J. Pinson) of the book entitled “The surface Modification of Polymers: Methods and Applications from Wiley Edition. He is also a member of the editorial board of the journals Springer Nature Applied Sciences and Frontiers in Analytical Science. Since 2023, he is also IUVSTA (The International Union for Vacuum Science, Technique and Applications) delegate for the division Applied Surface Science Division.


Key publications:
  1. N. Vinx , P. Damman, P. Leclère, B. Bresson, C. Fretigny, C. Poleunis, A. Delcorte, D. Cossement, R. Snyders, D. Thiry: Investigating the relationship between the mechanical properties of plasma polymer-like thin films and their glass transition temperature, Soft Matter, 2021,17, 44, 10032.
  2. D. Thiry, N. Vinx, P. Damman, F. J. Aparicio, P.Y. Tessier, D. Moerman, P. Leclère, T. Godfroid, S. Desprez, R. Snyders: The wrinkling concept applied to plasma-deposited polymer-like thin films: A promising method for the fabrication of flexible electrodes”, Plasma Processes and Polymers, 2020, 17, e2000039.
  3. D. Thiry, S. Konstantinidis, J. Cornil, R. Snyders: Plasma diagnostic of the low pressure plasma polymerization process: a review, Thin Solid Films, 2016, 606, 19-44.

Achim von Keudell (Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany)

Achim von Keudell is professor for experimental physics at Ruhr-University Bochum since 2003. Before, he was staff scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics in Munich. A. von Keudell specialised in plasma and surfaces physics. His experience encompasses in-situ ellipsometry, infrared spectroscopy and treatment of surfaces with plasma discharges. His group has been the first to quantify elementary surface processes in plasma surface interactions involving hydrocarbon radicals and hydrogen atoms. These serve as model experiments for the understanding of thin film growth in glow discharges. The projects until 2010 focussed on plasma technology particularly with regard to clusters in plasmas and plasma sterilisation. Since a few years, the research on reactive microplasmas developed with the emphasis on the fundamental understanding of the reaction chemistry as well as on on reactive magnetron sputtering and HPPMS discharges.


Key publications:
  1. Direct insertion of SiH3 radicals into strained Si-Si surface bonds during plasma deposition of hydrogenated amorphous silicon films. A von Keudell, J R Abelson, Phys. Rev. B. 59, 5791 (1999)
  2. Elementary processes in plasma-surface interaction:H-atom and ion-induced chemisorption of methyl on hydrocarbon film surfaces (review). A von Keudell, W Jacob, Progress in Surface Science 26, 21-54 (2004)

eMail list

Please register here if you would like to receive emails about upcoming plasma schools:
DFN email distribution