Commission activities 2026

Sustainability of Heritage Materials and Buildings at IUCr2026 

At the IUCr2026 Congress in Calgary, the microsymposium MS066 – Sustainability of Heritage Materials and Buildings, chaired by Miguel Delgado and Klaudia Hradil and sponsored by the IUCr Commission on Crystallography in Art and Cultural Heritage, brought together research addressing the preservation of cultural heritage under increasingly challenging environmental conditions. The presentations explored different aspects of heritage sustainability, from understanding material degradation and the effects of environmental and climatic factors to developing effective and more sustainable approaches to conservation. Particular emphasis was placed on how detailed knowledge of the composition, crystalline phases and transformation processes of historic materials can help assess their vulnerability and guide appropriate conservation strategies. The session demonstrated the important role of crystallography, together with complementary materials-analysis methods, in linking fundamental understanding of degradation processes with practical solutions for safeguarding historic materials, monuments and buildings for the future.

Change in the membership of the CrysAC commission

At the IUCr2026 meeting, the Executive Committee as well as the General Assembly considered the proposal forwarded by the chair of CrysAC. After the approval of the IUCr General Assembly, the members and consultants of the Commission on Crystallography in Art and Cultural Heritage (CrysAC) for the period 2026-2029 are:

MEMBERS
Koen Janssens (University of Antwerp, Belgium) - Chair
Silvie Švarcová (Czech Academy of Sciences, Czech Republic) Vice-chair
Karla Balzuweit (University of Minas Gerais, Brazil)
Sebastian Bette (Max-Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Germany)
Joseph Bevitt (ANSTO, Australia)
Marine Cotte (ESRF, France)
Salvador Domínguez-Bella (Universidad de Cádiz, Spain)
Klaudia Hradil (TU Wien, Austria)
Yong Lei (Palace Museum, Beijing, P.R. China)
Antonella Scherillo (ISIS Neutron and Muon Source STFC, UK)
Elena Tereschenko (Russian Academy of Sciences, Russian Federation)

CONSULTANTS
Gilberto Artioli (Italy)
Petr Bezdička (Czech Republic)
Jean-Marc Castera (France)
Miguel Delgado (Venezuela)
Victor Gonzalez (France)
Alicja Rafalska-Lasocha (Poland)
Patric C. Ravines (USA)
Frederik Vanmeert (The Netherlands)

We warmly welcome new members aboard CrysAC and extend our sincere thanks to former members for their cooperation!