Conference report on the 49th German Liquid Crystal Conference

The 49 German Liquid Crystal Conference (GLCC) was held from 22 to 24 March 2023 in the prosperous and charming city of Stuttgart (south-west Germany). The event was hosted by Prof. Dr. Frank Giesselmann, Prof. Dr. Sabine Laschat and Dr. Johanna Bruckner, allowing participants from around the world to present their work and exchange ideas on current research in the field of liquid crystals. The conference was held on the campus Stadtmitte of the University of Stuttgart in the city centre, giving the opportunity to explore the capital of the German federal state Baden-Württemberg very easily by foot (Figure 1). This year, more than 80 scientists contributed to the conference with oral presentations and posters. The scientific program consisted of 4 invited lectures, 19 regular talks and 32 poster presentations. The oral presentations of the conference were sorted into 6 different sessions chaired by Prof. Dr. Matthias Lehmann, Prof. Dr. Sabine Laschat, Dr. Johanna Bruckner, Prof. Dr. Jan Lagerwall, Prof. Dr. Frank Giesselmann and Prof. Dr. Michael Giese. The invited talks, which were assigned to 4 of the 6 sessions, covered a wide range of fascinating topics in liquid crystal science and biology. After some opening remarks by Prof. Dr. Frank Giesselmann on behalf of the organizing committee, the conference commenced with Torsten Hegmann (Kent State University, Kent (OH), USA) presenting on phase, morphology and chirality control in B4-phase nanofilaments. On the second day of the conference Elda Hegmann (Kent State University, Kent (OH), USA) demonstrated how 3D porous biodegradable liquid crystal elastomers can be used to emulate native tissue. Joseph E. Machlennan (University of Colorado, Boulder, USA) summarized during his talk, scientific results on the promising class of ferroelectric nematics, as well as the recently discovered polar smectic phase. Finally, the last invited lecture was held by Laurent Douce (Université de Strasbourg/CNRS, France) on luminescent ionic materials for use as tools in biology and for physics to detect neutron radiation. The oral presentations were overall of high interest and provided stimulating scientific discussions during the coffee and lunch breaks afterwards. Various topics were discussed spanning from material investigations to theoretical considerations on complex systems. Some presentations were focused on the photovoltaic effect and also the optoelectronic properties and possible applications of liquid crystalline phases. Another central point of discussion was the synthesis and properties of novel mesogens, such as star mesogens, azulene and lactic acid derivatives, along with making dynamic and reversible covalent systems. Furthermore, new insights into the effects of elasticity and chirality in nematic phases, as well as results on ionic liquids, mesoporous materials, gels, nanoparticles and suspensions were presented. In the afternoon of the second day of the conference, the poster session took place in the foyer. Coffee and traditional german pretzel were served in the poster area, facilitating social get-together. In addition to the fascinating contributions, the evening conference dinner was held in a warm and welcoming atmosphere at Leonhardts restaurant near the Stuttgart TV tower, where excellent food and a variety of wines could be enjoyed (Figure 2).

Boulder, USA) summarized during his talk, scientific results on the promising class of ferroelectric nematics, as well as the recently discovered polar smectic phase. Finally, the last invited lecture was held by Laurent Douce (Université de Strasbourg/CNRS, France) on luminescent ionic materials for use as tools in biology and for physics to detect neutron radiation.
The oral presentations were overall of high interest and provided stimulating scientific discussions during the coffee and lunch breaks afterwards. Various topics were discussed spanning from material investigations to theoretical considerations on complex systems. Some presentations were focused on the photovoltaic effect and also the optoelectronic properties and possible applications of liquid crystalline phases. Another central point of discussion was the synthesis and properties of novel mesogens, such as star mesogens, azulene and lactic acid derivatives, along with making dynamic and reversible covalent systems. Furthermore, new insights into the effects of elasticity and chirality in nematic phases, as well as results on ionic liquids, mesoporous materials, gels, nanoparticles and suspensions were presented.
In the afternoon of the second day of the conference, the poster session took place in the foyer. Coffee and traditional german pretzel were served in the poster area, facilitating social get-together. In addition to the fascinating contributions, the evening conference dinner was held in a warm and welcoming atmosphere at Leonhardts restaurant near the Stuttgart TV tower, where excellent food and a variety of wines could be enjoyed ( Figure 2). A unique moment during the conference was the presentation of the Alfred-Saupe-Prize. This year, Prof. Dr. Agnes Buka (Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary) was honored with the Alfred-Saupe-Medal for her outstanding research in liquid crystal science (Figure 3). Being the first woman to ever win this award, Prof. Buka gave an inspiring talk on regular patterns induced by electric field in nematics, from calamitic, through bent-core to ferroelectric structures. As a successful young scientist, Nerea Sebastián (Jožef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia) was invited to deliver the Vorländer Lecture on "Polarization Patterning in Ferroelectric Nematic Liquids". Finally, the Luckhurst-Samulski-Prize for the most outstanding publication of the past year in the Liquid Crystals Journal was awarded. This went to Atsuka Manabe, Matthias Bremer and  Martin Kraska (Merck kGaA, Darmstadt) for their publication "Ferroelectric Nematic Phase at and Below Room Temperature".
Additionally, this years Young Researchers Awards by the German Liquid Crystal Society (Deutsche Flüssigkristallgesellschaft, DFKG) were given to Stella Varytimiadou from the University of Stuttgart for her presentation "First measurements of the elastic constants in a lyotropic nematic liquid crystal of rod-like micelles" and Katja Noll from the University of Würzburg for her poster contribution "Structural Control of Nucleobase Star Mesogens -Switching Bicontinuous Cubic Networks to Hexagonal Columnar Phases".
After a successful visit in Stuttgart, the next German Liquid Crystal Conference will be held in Essen (Germany) in March 2024 and will be organized by Prof. Dr. Michael Giese and his research group from the University of Duisburg-Essen. The organizers are looking forward to welcoming many participants interested in the field of liquid crystals.