Sessions and symposia

Abstract deadline extended to 31^st of March

The conference science programme will consist of four days of talks and poster sessions, with mid-conference field trips to a range of soil, geological, historical and general interest sites in the local and wider areas.  A longer pre-conference field trip to the west coast of Scotland to explore the Tertiary zeolite localities is also planned. In addition, a pre-conference workshop is designed to bring together a range of communities interested in the properties of shales and their clay minerals; and a mid-conference short course on clay polymer interactions is offered as an alternative to the one-day field trips.

Further details can be found on the Programme page.

Clay and fine particle science has always been pursued across a wide variety of traditional scientific disciplines. The sessions that contribute to the programme of Euroclay 2015 reflect this broad reach of clay science and have been aligned with three cross-cutting societal research themes: Energy, Materials and Environment and Health.

Clay science has always had close links with Energy research such as in the discovery and recovery of hydrocarbons, more relevant than ever as we strive for ever enhanced recovery and to tap unconventional sources such as clay-rich shales; also the focus of many concepts for the safe containment of nuclear waste.

As far as Materials are concerned, clay must qualify as the oldest branch of all materials science but it continues to define some of the newest material developments and probably ranks as the most important and versatile of all of man’s industrial minerals with a wealth of modern applications and uses.

Environment and Health are also key areas where clay research has much to contribute to society. Careful but innovative management of soils will be key to future food and water security as population pressures increase; and we are only beginning to make a modern exploration of the many interactions and uses of clay minerals in relation to health.

The sessions and symposia at Euroclay have been assembled with these three themes in mind and the scope of some is spread across all three. We have also endeavoured to engage related disciplines that sit around the periphery of our clay world knowing that we inevitably all profit from such interaction; layered compounds generally and zeolites in particular share many commonalities. And finally there is essentially unlimited scope for general sessions to accommodate the additional breadth and wealth of clay topics that define modern clay science.

You can browse the sessions and symposia below or download a list of them as a PDF file, additionally there will arrangements for a wide range of general sessions at the conference.