Events Archive
Here is a list of the past SFN events starting with our first event in 2012
18th January 2012, Burlington House, London
This symposium was organised by the Royal Society of Chemistry, and helped lead to the formation of the Solar Fuels Network. This symposium has become an annual event, now organised by the SFN. This first symposium was aimed at bringing together the growing, interdisciplinary UK research community addressing the challenge of utilising sunlight to drive the synthesis of molecular fuels. The meeting included both photoelectrochemical and bio-inspired approaches to solar fuel production.
PG Symposium at ISACS12: Challenges in Chemical Renewable Energy
3rd September 2013, St John’s College, Cambridge
This one-day workshop gave PhD students and postdocs attending the main ISACS12 conference the opportunity to present their work on addressing the challenge of utilising sunlight to drive the synthesis of fuels. Organising Committee: Dr Christine Caputo, Dr Ahu Gumrah Dumanli, Dr Erwin Reisner (University of Cambridge), Dr Anna Reynal, Dr Steph Pendlebury, Prof James Durrant (Imperial College).
2nd UK Solar Fuels Symposium
14th January 2014, Foresight Centre, Liverpool
Researchers from all over the UK meet at the University of Liverpool’s Foresight Centre for the 2nd UK Solar Fuels Symposium. We’d like to thank Dr Alex Cowan and Prof Anthony Harriman for their excellent organisation of this exciting meeting. During lunch and coffee breaks, poster sessions provided lively discussions about current research and previous talks in an informal setting. A wide range of research topics were discussed during this one-day event, ranging from metal oxide photoanode materials, CO2 reduction, biological water splitting, electro-catalytic water splitting and large-scale solar fuel production.
Joint SFN-SOFI Workshop
24th January 2014, Gordon Conference: Solar Fuels, California
This workshop was convened with the aim of initiating discussions between SOFI/SFN members on potential collaborative projects. Attendees were encouraged to start planning joint research proposals for SFN/SOFI funding during the workshop.
“Challenges and Opportunities for Solar-Driven Fuels Synthesis: Materials & Molecular Design” workshop
3rd April 2014, Imperial College, London
The workshop is was organised with the support of the Royal Society of Chemistry in recognition of the award of three RSC prizes in 2013 to academics working in the field of solar fuels. This event complemented the RSC’s “Chemistry in Energy” Awards Symposium. Speakers: James Barber (Imperial College; Interdisciplinary Prize 2013); Robert Crabtree (Yale University; Centenary Prize 2013); Toni Llobet (ICIQ); Chris Pickett (University of East Anglea); Erwin Reisner (University of Cambridge); Mike Wasielewski (Northwestern University; Environment Prize 2013).
“Materials for Solar-Driven Fuels Synthesis” satellite meeting to the Royal Society’s Global Artificial Photosynthesis Project Kavli Meeting
7th July 2014, UCL, London
This satellite meeting provided an opportunity for a wider audience to hear talks by some of the international speakers invited to the Kavli meeting, as well as those from leading UK researchers. International speakers included: Daniel Nocera (Harvard University); Can Li (Dalian Institute for Chemical Physics); Peidong Yang (UCL Berkeley); Kyung Byung Yoon (Sogang University); Lianzhou Wang (University of Queensland).
UK-Japan Bilateral Solar Fuels Meeting
18th September 2014, British Embassy, Tokyo
This first UK-Japan bilateral meeting aimed to connect UK and Japanese academics/researchers interested in developing bilateral collaborations. Organised by Prof Kazunari Domen, Dr Junwang Tang and Prof Erwin Reisner, this workshop was held in Tokyo, 16-17 September 2014, with financial support from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. There will be a follow-up meeting in 2015.
UK Solar Fuels Research Priorities Workshop
7-8th January 2015, Burlington House, London
The Solar Fuels Vision statement document was drafted during this workshop, aimed at external stakeholders. The aim of this workshop was to identify what the UK solar fuels research community considers to be key challenges and opportunities for UK Solar Fuels research. We will work with external stakeholders (including the EPSRC, DECC, BIS, industry, EU and international bodies etc) to meet these challenges and opportunities.
19-20th January 2015, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh
Chaired by Profs Mercedes Maroto-Valer (Heriot-Watt University) and Richard Cogdell (University of Glasgow), with organisational support from Claire Osborne and Dr Steph Pendlebury, these symposia brought together students, early-career and established researchers in the field of solar fuels.
20th January 2015
Anna Hankin developed and delivered this webinar, comparing ‘electrolyser–powered–by–photo–voltaics ’and ‘photo–electrochemical’ systems for H2 production by splitting H2O with solar energy. The slides and webinar recording are available to download.
1st April 2015, Imperial College, London
Chaired by Prof Andrew Mills from the UK & Ireland Semiconductor Photochemistry Network, and Prof Jason Riley from the Solar Fuels Network. This symposium brought together members of the two networks to listen to talks from established and early-career researchers, and take part in lively poster discussions. Thanks to Prof Peter Robertson for stepping in to fill the Plenary slot at the last minute, and to Junwang Tang for giving a talk at the very last minute!
6th July 2015, Imperial College London
This free one-day symposium brought together postgraduate students and post-doctoral researchers working on solar fuels research. The attendees had the opportunity to present their research in a relaxed and supportive environment. This Symposium had the same theme as the associated International Discussion Meeting – Solar Fuels: Moving from Materials to Devices. Guest Speaker: Dr Elizabeth Gibson, Newcastle University
International Discussion Meeting – Solar Fuels: Moving from Materials to Devices
7th & 8th July 2015, the Royal Society, London
Chaired by Prof James Barber FRS (Imperial College London) and co-chaired by Prof Harry Gray FRS (Caltech). This conference brought together the international artificial photosynthesis community to discuss the challenges of and possible pathways to a working solar fuels device. Presentations from world-leading researchers in this field were complemented by poster sessions, and an afternoon panel discussion with question and answer session.
22nd January 2016, University of Cambridge
The 4th UK Solar Fuels Symposium took place at St John’s College School of Divinity, Cambridge. The symposium was chaired by Erwin Reisner and Junwang Tang. The aim of the meeting was to discuss the latest advances in solar-driven fuels research and to interact with the rapidly expanding network of researchers in the UK.
13th – 14th April 2016, UCL
This two-day workshop was organised jointly by University College London and the Solar Fuels Network. The workshop was chaired by Dr Martijn Zwijnenburg from University College London. The workshop focused on polymer photocatalysts in the widest sense of the word (e.g. conjugated polymers, carbon nitride, graphene oxide) and their application in photocatalytic water splitting and CO2 reduction. The aim was to bring together people working on these materials from a wide range of perspectives and to move the field forward and discuss the challenges and opportunities offered by polymer photocatalysts.
26th – 27th January 2017, University of Newcastle
The 5th UK Solar Fuels Symposium took place at Newcastle University. The symposium was chaired by Dr Pau Farràs Costa and Prof Andrew Benniston. The aim of the meeting was to discuss the latest advances in solar-driven fuels research and to interact with the rapidly expanding network of researchers in the UK.
26 April 2017, Imperial College London
The first joint meeting between the Solar Fuels Network and the SuperSolar Supergen Hub, chaired by Profs Jenny Nelson, Erwin Reisner and Mike walls. This event brought together researchers from the Solar Fuels/Artificial Photosynthesis and PV communities, to discuss the fundamentals of solar energy conversion.
6th UK Solar Fuels Symposium
19-20 March 2018, University of York
The 6th UK Solar Fuels Symposium was held at the University of York on Monday 19 and Tuesday 20 March 2018. It was hosted by Prof Robin Perutz with organisational support from Dr Jenny Zhang, Daniel Antón-García and Dr Khoa Hoang Ly.
27 March 2019, St. John's College, University of Cambridge
on Solar Fuels, took place on the 27th March 2019 at the University of Cambridge to conclude the Doppler funding.
28-29 March 2019, St. John's College, University of Cambridge
The 7th UK Solar Fuels Symposium was held at the University of Cambridge on 28-29 March 2018. It was hosted by Prof Erwin Reisner.
SFN-Supersolar joint meeting
10th December 2019, Imperial College London
The event, chaired by Prof. Junwang Tang of UCL brought together the UK Solar Fuels and PV communities for a series of presentations with a focus on early career reserachers
1st December 2020, University of Liverpool (online)
The event, chaired by Prof. Alex Cowan was held online with fantastic representation from the world-wide community (delegates from >30 countries!). A link to the full schedule is here.
28th April 2021, Imperial College London (online)
The joint meeting was chaired byDr Anna Hankin and Dr Ludmilla Steier from Imperial College London. It was held online with fantastic representation our community. Keybnote speakers were Dr Qian Wang, University of cambridge and Dr Jon Major, University of Liverpool.
9th Solar Fuels Network Symposium, including Public Event
9th September 2021, University of Strathcylde (online)
The 9th Solar Fuels Network Symposium and Early Career Event was held on the 9th of September 2021 virtually hosted by Dr Sebastian Sprick from the University of Strathclyde. The meeting was held in the context of COP 26 which will take place from the 31st of October until the 12th of November in Glasgow. A public session that provided background on the potential role of solar fuels in tackling the climate crisis. Prof. James Durrant provided an overview over the role of solar fuels in Mission Innovation Challenge 5, Dr Pau Farràs Costa gave an overview of the SEAFUEL scale-up project and Prof. Bert Weckhuysen provided background information on the SUNERGY initiative. The presentations were followed by a panel discussion with questions from the public covering a wide range of topics. A recording of the Public Event can be found here.
14th and 15th July, Northumbria University, Newcastle
The 10th Solar Fuels Network Symposium and Early Career Event was held on the 14th and 15th July hosted by Dr Shafeer Kalathil, Northumbria University, Newscastle. The meeting allowed member to re-connect and interact with researchers across the UK. Speakers inlcuded Professor Julea Butt (University of East Anglia), Professor James Durrant (Imperial College London), Dr Anabel E. Lanterna (University of Nottingham), Dr Seb Sprick (Strathclyde University) and Dr. Jenny Zhang (University of Cambridge). Full programme can be found here.