Energy, the environment and human health have emerged as strategic priorities not only in research but in all aspects of our lives. Hybrid materials have already demonstrated good promise in addressing and offering solutions in each of these priority areas. The first conference in this Hybrid Materials series attracted 922 participants, including 303 students, from 54 countries.

The main objective of this interdisciplinary conference is to bring together, at a truly international level, people with  shared interests in hybrid materials, including:

• Polymer chemists, physicists and engineers
• Biomaterials chemists, physicists and engineers
• Organic chemists
• Inorganic chemists
• Solid state chemists
• Sol-gel chemists
• Composites scientists
• Colloid chemists and physicists
• Zeolite, meso- and microporous materials scientists
• Broad nano- and materials scientists

The conference will start on Sunday 6 March at 14:00 and finish on Thursday 10 March at 16:00. Each day will start with a Plenary Lecture followed by 3 parallel symposia focusing on the following topics: Biohybrids and biomaterials; Functional hybrid nanomaterials, nanocomposites and their applications; Functional porous materials.