AERC 2014: Annual European Rheological Conference in Karlsruhe

The Annual European Conference was organized by the group of Prof. Wilhelm (ITCP) and Prof. Willenbacher (MVM). It took place from 8th of April to 11th of April 2014 in the conference center in Karlsruhe, the Stadthalle.

The conference was visited by about 500 participants and visitors, the presentations (252) were organized in 6 parallel sessions and complemented by 3 pleanary lectures. In addition, there was a poster session with more than 170 posters and a industrial exhibition with 14 exhibitors including all major rheological companies.

All photos presented here are copyright by the ITCP or the MVM.

Welcome in the conference center

The conference started with a welcome reception in the foyer of the "Stadthalle" at Tuesday evening. The foyer offered also plenty of space for the reception, the coffee breaks and the industrial exhibtion (14 exihibitors) during the conference allowing the participants discussions or information about new technologies in a comfortable environment.

Scientific program

We achieved a new record in participants (441), in addition there where many short-time visitors from industry and people from the organising group resulting in about 500 people. The oral presentations (255), also a high number for a annual european conference, were organized in six parallel sessions. Plenary lectures werde given by Stephan Herminghaus (MPI Göttingen), Erich J. Windhab (ETH Zürich) and Dimitri Vlassopoulos (FORTH, Greece). The conference was opened on Wednesday morning by the president of the ESR (European Society of Rheology), Mats Stading (Photo1), the two conference chairs (Prof. Wilhelm and Prof. Willenbacher, Photo 2+3) and the mayor of the Karlsruhe and the vice-president of the Karlsruhe Institut of Technology (KIT), J. Löwe.

Poster Presentation

In addititon to the oral presentations, there was a poster presentation with over 170 posters. It took place in an additional room in the conference center where the poster were available during whole the conference. On Wednesday evening, there was two hours time for the poster session offering plenty of time for scientific discussions in a relaxed atmosphere. Three of the posters were selected for the poster award sponsered by the scientific journal EPL.

Conference Dinner

One of the highlights was the conference dinner taking place in the ZKM, the wellknown museum for media technology in Karlsruhe. It started with a concert of the KIT chamber orchestra before the dinner takes place in the foyer of the ZKM.

ZKM

After the dinner, all participants had the chance to view the unique media art exhibition of the ZKM