Two events in April have extended SPECTRA’s reach into the materials science research community and the fresh produce industry, demonstrating the breadth of scientific and commercial contexts in which the project’s work is relevant.
ESAFORM 2026, Thessaloniki – 27 to 29 April
The annual conference of the European Scientific Association for Material Forming, ESAFORM, came to Thessaloniki in 2026, co-organised by the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and the National Technical University of Athens. Prof. Dimitrios Bikiaris of AUTH’s PolyACT laboratory represented SPECTRA at the conference, participating in the interdisciplinary scientific dialogue that ESAFORM has fostered across the materials forming community since its establishment in 1997.
SPECTRA’s presence at ESAFORM reflected the project’s engagement with polymer science as a foundation for understanding nanoplastics: how polymers are formed, processed and degraded is directly relevant to understanding how nanoplastic particles arise, what properties they carry, and how they behave in environmental and biological systems. Connecting SPECTRA’s analytical perspective with the materials science community that ESAFORM brings together creates exactly the kind of cross-disciplinary dialogue the project values.
FRESKON 2026 – April
FRESKON, the international expo dedicated to fresh fruits and vegetables and one of the key gateway events for the fresh produce sector in global markets, provided a different kind of opportunity. SPECTRA early-stage researchers Periklis Parthenidis and Androniki Rapti attended the exhibition, engaging directly with industry partners on the challenges of food safety, authenticity and the analytical methodologies that underpin them.
Their participation reflected a deliberate element of SPECTRA’s design: that early-stage researchers should not only develop analytical expertise in the laboratory but also build the capacity to communicate that expertise to industry audiences and to understand the real-world needs that their research can address. Conversations at FRESKON on food safety and authenticity challenges in the fresh produce sector fed directly into the project’s understanding of where its analytical tools can create the most practical value.
