Athens Conference on Advances in Chemistry (ACAC 2026) report

The 5th Athens Conference on Advances in Chemistry (ACAC 2026) (https://www.acac2026.gr/) was held at “Aristotelis” Conference Centre, located on the campus of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (UoA) from June 24–26, 2026. Organized by the Department of Chemistry of NKUA. ACAC has become a well-established international scientific event bringing together approximately 200 professionals across academia and research from all around the world to discuss the latest advancements in Inorganic Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Analytical Chemistry, Physical Chemistry, Industrial Chemistry, Food Chemistry, Environmental Chemistry and Biochemistry. In the opening ceremony, the Vice President of UoA Council Professor N. Thomaidis, and the Chairman of the Department of Chemistry Prof. E. Lianidou welcomed all participants. A welcoming address was also delivered on behalf of the Association of Greek Chemists highlighting the contribution of the Association to the advancement of chemical research, education, and professional development in Greece.

Key Highlights from ACAC 2026

During the three-day conference, participants had scientific discussions and networking activities. The scientific program consisted of 8 plenary lectures, 16 invited lectures, and 24 oral presentations by prominent researchers. Students’ sessions gave the opportunity to 24 young scientists to present their latest achievements. Poster sessions were highly attended, 117 posters were presented, and three Poster Awards, were awarded to Young Researchers following evaluation by the members of the International Scientific Committee.

Plenary Lectures: The scientific program featured eight prominent keynote speakers, presenting on the latest advances in their field: Lutz Ackermann, Professor, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany, Mike Makrigiorgos Professor, Harvard Medical School, USA, Evangelos Giampazolias, Group Leader, CRUK Manchester Institute, United Kingdom, Petros Koutrakis, Professor, Harvard TH Chan, USA, Andeja Rajkovic, Professor, Ghent University, Belgium, Jean-Francois Lutz, Research Director, University of Strasbourg, France, Wolfgang Parak, Professor, University of Hamburg, Germany, and Johannes V. Barth, Professor, Technical University of Munich, Germany.

Oral presentations and Poster Awards: Following evaluation by the members of the International Scientific Committee, three Oral presentation and three Poster Awards, were awarded to Young Researchers in recognition of the quality and scientific excellence of their work.

Publishers’ session and Special Issue: The conference featured a session by WILEY held by Dr. Essam Hebishy, discussing on “How to publish your research” and AI issues. Following the conference, the ChemistryOpen (Wiley) began curating a special collection derived from presentations and topics introduced at the conference.

Social events: Special social events like the Reception Cocktail and the Faculty Dinner gave the opportunity for social gathering and new collaborations to be established.

We would like to thank all speakers, and participants for their valuable contributions towards a successful conference, and all the sponsors for their generous support (https://www.acac2026.gr/sponsors).

Selected Photos

Opening Ceremony

Plenary sessions

Poster sessions

POSTER AWARDS

ORAL PRESENTATION AWARDS

Welcome Reception