PLENARY SPEAKERS// (Confirmed so far. More in progress.)
Dr. David Clases is Associate Professor of Analytical Chemistry at the University of Graz. He studied chemistry at the University of Münster and subsequently held research and teaching positions at the University of Technology Sydney, first as Postdoctoral Fellow and later as independent lecturer. In 2021, he joined the University of Graz as Assistant Professor and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2024. He established and leads the NanoMicroLab, where his research focuses on the development of new single particle methods, hyphenated analytical approaches, and multimodal strategies for the characterisation of particles, structures, and chemical heterogeneity at the nano- and microscale. He has published 77 peer-reviewed papers and was recently awarded ERC Starting and Proof of Concept grants. His work has been recognised by several distinctions, including the JAAS Emerging Lectureship Award, the Mattauch-Herzog Award, and the Bunsen Kirchhoff Award.
Detlef Günther studied Chemistry in Halle-Wittenberg (Germany) and completed his PhD in Analytical Chemistry in 1990. Subsequently he joined the Institute of Plant Biochemistry in Halle. In 1994 he became Postdoc at Memorial University Newfoundland (Canda) and in 1995 he worked on elemental analysis in minerals and fluid inclusions at the Institute of Isotope Geology and Mineral Resources at ETH Zurich. Appointed Professor at the Department of Chemistry (Laboratory of Inorganic Chemistry of ETH Zurich) in 1998, Detlef became Associate Professor in July 2003. In February 2008 he was promoted to Full Professor for Trace Element and Micro Analysis and his research is focused on instrument and method development for trace element analysis and isotope ratio determinations. He and his group published more than 500 research articles in a wide variety of journals. He received various awards and since 2014 he is a member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.
From 2010 until 2012 he served as chair of the Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences at ETH and from January 2015 until 2020, he has been Vice President for Research and Corporate Relations and from 2021-2022 Vice President for Research at ETH Zurich. within this function he supported the foundation of various centers of excellence and innovation (e.g. AI Center, Swiss Polar Institute, Innovation Park Zurich, The LOOP – medical research center Zurich). During his terms of VP Research more than 160 spin-off companies have been founded at ETH Zurich.
Frank Vanhaecke received a PhD from Ghent University (UGent) in 1992. He carried out postdoctoral research at UGent and at the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Germany. Currently, he is Senior Full Professor in Analytical Chemistry at UGent, where he also leads the ‘Atomic & Mass Spectrometry – A&MS’ research group that is specialized in the determination, speciation and isotopic analysis of (ultra)trace elements via ICP-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). His group studies fundamentally-oriented aspects of the technique and develops methods for solving challenging scientific problems in interdisciplinary contexts. So far, Frank has been (co)author of >500 papers in peer-reviewed journals and has been the promotor of >50 successfully defended PhDs. For the realizations of his team, he received a ‘European Plasma Spectrochemistry Award’ in 2011, a ‘Lester Strock Award’ from the Society of Applied Spectroscopy SAS in 2017, a ‘Theophilus Redwood award’ from the Royal Society of Chemistry RSC in 2023, and a Brazilian EspeQ award in 2025. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry RSC and the Society of Applied Spectroscopy SAS. Frank is a member of the advisory boards of Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry – JAAS and of Spectrochimica Acta – SAB. He was chair of the editorial board of JAAS from June 2012 to June 2016. At UGent, Frank is currently vice-Chair of the Department of Chemistry, member of the Executive Board of the university and chairman of the Business Development Center ChemTech.
Joanna Szpunar graduated from the Warsaw University of Technology in 1986 and obtained, subsequently, her Ph.D (1992) and D.Sc. (habilitation) (2000) from at the University of Warsaw (Poland). She was post-doctoral fellow (1992-1994) at the University of Antwerp (Belgium) and, in 1995-1996, at the University of Bordeaux (France). Since 1997 she has been working at the French National Research Center (CNRS). She is an honorary professor at the East China University of Technology (Nanchang, China).
In 2007 Joanna Szpunar was awarded the title of professor of chemistry (Poland) and admitted fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (UK). Her field of expertise is bio-inorganic speciation analysis with a focus on the identification and quantification of trace element species in biological systems and in the chemistry of metal-biomolecule interactions. She is the author or co-author of one book and more than 200 scientific publications in peer-reviewed international journals. She has given over 60 invited lectures, supervised 15 Ph.D. theses and several post-doctoral fellows. She is member Advisory Boards of JAAS and Metallomics journals.
Joanna Szpunar was the chair of the 2013 European Winter Conference on Plasma Spectrochemistry (Cracow, Poland). She is the laureate of the 2013 Analytical Chemistry Committee of the Polish Academy of Science Fijalkowski Award and of the 2017 European Award for Plasma Spectrochemistry.
Steven Ray, Ph.D. is currently an Associate Professor of Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry, at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Steven received his B.S. in Chemistry from Hope College (Holland, MI), and Ph.D. from Indiana University under the direction of Professor Gary Hieftje. He worked as the Senior Mass Spectrometrist for Indiana University and as an Associate Research Scientist in the Laboratory for Spectrochemistry at IU. Dr. Ray has published more than 95 manuscripts and book chapters, and holds 9 patents. Dr. Ray is the 2025 President of the Society for Applied Spectroscopy (SAS), and a founding member of the International Atomic Spectrometry Association (IASA). He has also served as the governing board chairperson of the Federation of Analytical Chemistry and Spectroscopy Societies (FACSS). He currently serves on the editorial advisory boards of the Applied Spectroscopy, Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry, Spectrochimica Acta, Part B, Applied Spectroscopy Practica, Atomic Spectroscopy, and Spectroscopy. Dr. Ray was the recipient of the 2014 Lester Strock Medal from the Society for Applied Spectroscopy, the 2021 Edward Steers Memorial Award for Best Manuscript, the 2016 Young Plasma Spectrochemist Award, the 2015 ‘Best Paper’ Award given by Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry, the 2013 Ron Hites Award given by the American Society for Mass Spectrometry for the best paper in the Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry, and a 2011 R&D100 Award. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and a Fellow of the Society for Applied Spectroscopy. His research interests involve novel aspects of analytical chemistry and instrumentation, including atomic spectroscopy, time-of-flight mass spectrometry, distance-of-flight mass spectrometry, ambient mass spectrometry, microwave plasma spectrochemistry, and metallomics methodologies.
Prof. Maria Montes-Bayón holds a bachelor in Chemistry, a master in Analytical Chemistry (ERASMUS at University of Plymouth, UK) and a PhD (University of Oviedo; awarded) degree. From more than 2 years she joined the research group of Prof. Joseph A. Caruso at the Department of Chemistry at the University of Cincinnati (Ohio, USA) as Postdoctoral Fulbright Fellow. After this period, she got a Ramón y Cajal Senior Researcher contract at the University of Oviedo for five years. Later, in 2008, she obtained a position as Associate Professor and in 2017 as Full Professor of Analytical Chemistry at the University of Oviedo (Department of Physical and Analytical Chemistry). She has broad experience at employing single-cell mass spectrometry approaches for the study of metallodrugs with clinical relevance. Thus, her main research interests are: a) Development of quantitative strategies for determination of molecular biomarkers of clinical relevance at the single cell level based on the use of stable isotopes and ICP-MS; b) Evaluation of encapsulated metallodrugs for their potential use in chemotherapy using mass spectrometry: a focus on cellular resistance mechanisms; and c) Analytical tools to study biomedical aspects of nanoparticles: biogenic nanoparticles and metal nano-debris from metallic implants.
Heidi’s scientific career of over twenty-five years of experience on elemental and speciation analysis started with the award of a PhD from Oviedo University, Spain. This was followed up by a Postdoctoral Research fellowship at the University of Antwerp, Belgium. Currently, she is a Science Fellow of LGC. She is also the Chief Scientist and Director of Chemical Metrology of the National Measurement Laboratory hosted by LGC. Her team research interests mainly lye in trace element speciation analysis, metal-omics/protein research, the characterisation of nanomaterials, quantitative bio-imaging and the characterisation of reference materials and standards. Heidi is chair of the Editorial Board of the RSC Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry. She is the UK representative at the Inorganic Analysis Working Group of the international Consultative Committee for Metrology in Chemistry (CCQM). She is the LGC representative at ISO TC 24 (Particle characterisation). She is the EURAMET representative for inorganic analysis at the CCQM Key Comparison Working Group and the LGC representative at the EURMET TC MC Strategy group. She is the leading author of over a 185 scientific research papers and 9 book chapters. Heidi was awarded the 2020 Lester W. Strock Award from SAS, the 2023 European Award for Plasma Spectrochemistry and the 2026 Honorary Membership Award from SAS. Heidi is a visiting Professor at Strathclyde University, UK and Honorary Senior Research Fellow of the University of Liverpool, UK.
Bin Hu is a professor of Chemistry at Wuhan University. He received his PhD from Wuhan University in 1992 and was a visiting scholar/postdoc research associate at Clemson University during 1996-1997. He is a member of the Advisory/ Editorial Boards of Analytical Chemistry, Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry, Spectrochimica Acta Part B, Applied Spectroscopy Review, Journal of Chromatography A, International Journal of Environmental Analytical Chemistry, and Environmental Pollutants and Bioavailability. He has published over 400 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals as well as 2 books, and several book chapters. His research interests are mainly focused on ICP-MS based strategies for biomedical analysis, hyphenated techniques for elemental speciation, sample pretreatment techniques, metal-containing nanoparticles detection and their biosafety. He received numerous scientific awards including the Natural Science Prize and New Century Excellent Talents from MOE of China, and Natural Science Prize and Outstanding Young Scientist Prize from Hubei Province, China.
Professor Jörg Feldmann is Chair of Analytical Chemistry and Head of the Institute of Chemistry at the University of Graz (Austria), and Honorary Professor at the University of Aberdeen (UK). His research focuses on elemental and molecular speciation, plasma-based mass spectrometry and emerging contaminants, particularly PFAS. He has published more than 350 peer-reviewed papers and is a recipient of the European Award for Plasma Spectrochemistry.
