INTEGRATE Research Lives On: from Les Houches to Goa, and on to London

The INTEGRATE project may have officially concluded with its Final Conference in Leuven last May, but the science it generated continues to travel and to make an impact on the international stage.

CNRS partner Rik Wensink and his team have been presenting key results from INTEGRATE at some of the most prestigious scientific venues in the field of soft matter and liquid crystal physics.

Invited Talk at the Les Houches School of Physics | May 2026

In May 2026, Rik Wensink delivered an invited talk at the renowned Les Houches School of Physics, as part of the international workshop "Smectics and distorted nematics: analytics, numerics, and experiments" (18–22 May 2026, Les Houches, France).

Co-organised by CNRS, Sorbonne Université, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, McMaster University, and the University of Oxford, and supported by the Wilhelm und Else Heraeus-Stiftung, the workshop brought together leading theorists and experimentalists working on the self-assembly of smectic and nematic liquid crystals, topological defects, surface patterning, and applications ranging from optics and metamaterials to solar cell production.

Wensink's presentation highlighted key results from INTEGRATE's WP1 on the analytical, numerical, and experimental study of these complex liquid crystalline systems, showcasing how the project's theoretical framework contributes to fundamental and applied soft matter science.

Contributed Talk at ISMC 2026 | May 2026

Also in May, William Fall presented part of the CNRS team's work at the 10th International Soft Matter Conference (ISMC 2026), held from 25–29 May 2026 at BITS Pilani, K K Birla Campus in Goa, India.

ISMC is one of the most important global gatherings in soft matter science, and its 10th edition brought together researchers from across the world to exchange advances in the field. William Fall's contributed talk presented results that build directly on the foundations laid within INTEGRATE, extending the project's reach well beyond Europe.

Coming Up: Thermodynamics 2026, London | September 2026

The momentum continues. Rik Wensink will present a similar contribution as a contributed talk at Thermodynamics 2026, the 29th Thermodynamics Conference, taking place at Imperial College London, 13–15 September 2026.

This biennial conference brings together researchers, industry professionals, and early-career scientists from around the globe to share advances, foster collaborations, and shape the future of thermodynamics. Wensink's participation will further disseminate INTEGRATE's WP1 results to a broad and interdisciplinary audience.

These presentations are a clear testament to a simple truth: in research, the end of a project is never really the end. The scientific contributions developed within INTEGRATE — from theoretical models to experimental validations — are now finding their place in the broader landscape of soft matter physics, liquid crystal science, and materials research.

William Fall at ISMC 2026