ESCG2 and ECCG6

European Conferences on Crystal Growth (ECCG) and the satellite European Schools on Crystal Growth (ESCG) are organized every three years under the supervision of the European Network of Crystal Growth (ENCG) and local key representative organizations in the field. They are also supported by the International Organization on Crystal Growth.

ESCG2 and ECCG6, which took place at the Riviera Holiday Club, Varna, Bulgaria, from 13 to 20 September 2018, were organized by Bogdan Ranguelov, Michail Michailov and Vessela Tsakova (Institute of Physical Chemistry, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria) together with Andrea Zappettini (IMEM, Parma, Italy) and Pierre Müller (CINaM, Aix-Marseille University, France). The two scientific events were dedicated to the famous Bulgarian scholar Iwan N. Stranski. Professor Stranski (1897–1979) played a crucial role in the last century in setting up the theoretical fundamentals of nucleation and crystal growth phenomena.

The lecture topics of ESCG2 and the scientific program of ECCG6 were structured in a way that included diverse aspects of crystal growth, crystallization and crystallography too, trying to cover the mutual interconnection between these important subjects, and thus encouraging the multidisciplinary approach to scientific problems closely related to the demands of society in different areas of modern life.

ESCG2 lectures included Classical Approach of Crystal Growth (Andrey Milchev, Institute of Physical Chemistry, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria), Statistical Physics and Mechanisms of Crystal Growth (Pierre Müller, CINaM, Aix-Marseille University, France), Bulk Growth Methods (Roberto Fornari, University of Parma, Italy), Protein Crystallization (José Gavira, National Research Council CSIC, Granada, Spain), Multiscale Modelling of Crystal Growth (Daniel Vizman, West University of Timisoara, Romania), Fundamentals of Vapour Growth and Epitaxy (Geoffroy Prévot, Paris Institute of Nanosciences, France) and Monolayer Material Growth (Matteo Bosi, IMEM-CNR, Parma, Italy).

ESCG2 lecturers.

The total number of ESCG2 participants was 59. Fifteen young researchers/PhD students who took part in both the school and conference received IUCr grants to partially cover travel and/or accommodation expenses.

The ECCG6 scientific program took place over 11 sessions that covered all contemporary aspects of crystal growth science: Fundamentals of Nucleation and Crystal Growth (Chairs: Dimo Kashchiev and Elias Vlieg); Bulk Crystal Growth (Chairs: Thierry Duffar and Daniel Vizman); Surfaces, Interfaces, Epitaxial Growth, Thin Films (Chairs: Knut Deppert and Michal Leszczynski); Structural Defects and Impurities in Crystalline Materials (Chairs: Andreas Danilewsky and Bogdan Ranguelov); Crystal Growth and Characterization of Nanostructures, Low-dimensional and Confined Systems (Chairs: Vladimir Dubrovskii and Michail Michailov); Crystallization of Inorganic Materials (Chairs: Alberta Bonanni and Linda Pastero); Crystallization in Organic and Biological Systems (Chairs: Giuseppe Falini and Stéphane Veesler); Industrial Crystallization, Technologies and Process Control (Chairs: Heike Lorenz and Kevin Roberts); Novel Materials and Structures (Chairs: Raffaella Lo Nigro and Dorota A. Pawlak); New Methods and Techniques for Crystal Growth (Chairs: Christiane Frank-Rotsch and Evgeny Zharikov); and Advances in Observation and Characterization Methods (Chairs: Florinda da Costa and Ionut Enculescu).

Altogether, two plenary talks, 26 invited lectures, 35 oral talks, two memorial lectures and more than 200 poster presentations were included in the ECCG6 program. The total number of ECCG6 participants was 260. Ten young researchers/PhD students (not involved in ESCG2) received IUCr grants to partially cover travel and/or accommodation expenses. Thus, 25 IUCr grants were given in total.

IUCr-supported ESCG2 participants.