The Macromolecular Materials Gordon Research Conference (formerly "Polymers West") has a long-standing tradition as a GRC that features a breadth of the most exciting and state-of-the-art aspects of macromolecules. This tradition will continue in the 2015 Conference and discussion of new macromolecules that are stimuli responsive and even made from sulfur will be highlighted. Macromolecular assemblies, biomaterials and even textiles will be considered. The invited speakers represent a variety of disciplines from chemistry, physics and engineering who will consider macromolecular material synthesis, processing, properties, characterization and theory and simulation. An emphasis of topics considered in this meeting will be rheological properties and processing of macromolecular materials.

All aspects of molecular magnetism, from materials preparation, physical characterisation and theory, will be considered and among them the following main topics:

• Molecular nanomagnets
• Switchable magnetic materials and optical magnets
• Photo-induced magnetism
• Conducting magnets
• Molecular routes to nanostructured magnets
• Modelling and theory
• Materials processing
• Devices and applications
• New materials
• Instrumentation
• Molecular routes to magnetic nanoparticles
• Molecular nanoscience
• Molecular spintronics
• Molecular electronics

Nanoscale Spintronics with Magnons, Phonons, and Photons

Spintronics is a leading contender for future nano-scale, "beyond Moore", data storage, processing, and transmission technologies. In particular, magnetism-based spintronics has enormous largely unexplored potential given its two particular features: (i) the extreme robustness of the magnetic order parameter against elevated temperatures and nanoscale confinement, and, (ii) the power-efficient spin-torque manipulation of the magnetic order by electric currents. As researchers are probing deeper into the spin dynamics of nanostructures, new physics and associated functionalities are being discovered at a dazzling pace. The 2nd Gordon Research Conference and 1st Gordon Research Seminar on "Spin Dynamics in Nanostructures" will provide an important stage for the main players in the field (and those who want to joint them) to present and discuss new results and future plans, in theory, computation, simulation, and experiments.

The conference will touch many issues of modern spintronics and magnetism that challenge conventional wisdom. Magnetism occurs in metals and insulators, in the form of ferro-, ferri- and antiferromagnetic ground states, all with specific dynamical properties. Elementary spin wave excitations (magnons) can be excited and controlled by external stimuli such as magnetic fields, heating, electric currents, light (photons) and sound (phonons). The magnetization field may contain topological defects such as domain walls, vortices, and skyrmions that are especially susceptible to perturbations. The spin-orbit interaction is an essential ingredient to access, excite and stabilize magnetic textures and their dynamics. As structures approach the nanometer scale, new challenges arise due to the increased role of internal interfaces and contacts to the outside world and novel emerging quantum effects. Moreover, studies on the femtosecond to picosecond time-scales provide insights into regimes which defy established wisdom.

We invite starting and expert researchers from academia and industry with backgrounds in experiment, theory, and computation of magnetism, optics, mechanics, electronics and thermoelectrics to participate in these meetings. The goal of these meetings is to exchange ideas and to discuss the most recent progress and most challenging problems. Of special welcome are junior scientists working on or interested in the field. At the preceding 1st Gordon Research Seminar in magnetism they will receive briefings from leading researchers as well as present and extensively discuss their work among themselves in order to maximally profit from the subsequent conference.

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RTNSA-2 topics:

• Â Preparation and characterization of magnetic / spintronic materials and nanostructures
• Â Magnetic hysteresis in nanomagnetic materials
•  Magnetoresistance, magnetoimpedance, spin  angular momentum transfer
•  Spin accumulation and spin injection in  nanostructures
• Â Spincaloritronics and spin-orbit effects
• Â Spin waves in patterned films and magnonics
•  Spin excitations and dynamics of magnetic  vortices, skyrmions and domain walls
•  Micromagnetic, multiscale and atomistic  simulations of nanostructures
• Â Applications of nanostructures: nanosensors, Â spintronic devices etc.

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IWMW-7 topics:

• Â Magneto-transport properties (Giant magneto-impedance, Giant Magnetoresistance)
•  Magnetization process and domain wall  dynamics of thin wires
• Â New wire-shaped materials (Heusler-type, Â Magnetocaloric, granular)
•  Applications (sensors, electromagnetic  shielding)
• Â Metamaterials (especially based on thin wires)
• Â High-frequency properties of thin wires

Smart Chemistry, Better Life

IUPAC 48th General Assembly 6-13 August 2015 and 45th World Chemistry Congress 9-14 August 2015

Conference Topics

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• Physical Chemistry
• Molecular Synthesis
• Advances in Inorganic Chemistry
• Materials for Energy and Environment
• Analytical Chemistry & Environment
• Macromolecular Science and Technology
• Chemistry of Life
• Nanoscience and Materials
• Open Innovation for Enlightening Chemistry Education
• Green Chemistry for World Needs
• Chemistry for Industry Innovation
• Women in Chemistry: Gaining Momentum

In keeping with our desire to continue many of the initiatives undertaken this past year, the IUCr have decided to hold an "IYCr legacy" conference in lieu of a "Closing" ceremony for the International Year of Crystallography. This conference is aimed at reviewing all the activities associated with IYCr - all that has been (and is being) done, what was successful, what was not so successful, etc. - and discussing how to transform the activities into long-term sustainable actions.

The conference, entitled "Crystallography for the next generation: the legacy of IYCr", will focus on the achievements and problems encountered during IYCr2014 in order to determine which initiatives will be worth transforming into sustainable long-term actions with benefits for the crystallographic community. Therefore, sessions will be scheduled about:

• OpenLabs (including the IUCr initiative in Africa) for 2015 and beyond, with contributions from University rectors, professors and students who attended them and from the companies that partnered the initiative during IYCr2014;
• outcomes of the Summit meetings, to see what is going on in the three targeted regions and what to do next;
• the development of the crystallographic community, where representatives of the new countries that are starting activities in the field will be invited to describe their local situations and possibilities for international cooperation, in conjunction with the IUCr Regional Associates (ACA, AsCA, ECA, LACA);
• joint programmes between the IUCr and the large-scale facilities (e.g. Cheiron school, agreements for future partnerships, SESAME);
• crystallographic education programmes (activities for schoolchildren; new educational resources; links to educational activities of related disciplines; school and academic curricula);
• crystallography and industry (connections; opportunities for the community);
• IUCr journals and other activities of the Union (recent developments and new policies).

ICXOM23 will bring together scientists in the fields of X-ray microanalysis and those involved in optical instrumentation developments which will extend the reach of microanalysis. Although synchrotron radiation will be at the heart of the conference, since electron microscopy offers a different view of materials, the conference also welcomes contributions of recent developments in that field.

Topics Include

• Optics for microanalysis
• Scanning microscopy
• Full-field imaging
• Coherent Imaging
• PEEM
• Electron microscopy
• Microdiffraction
• Data analysis
• Detectors

Deep Sequencing Meets Structural Biology

• Deep sequencing for modeling and refinement of macromolecular structures
• Membrane protein structure and function using complementary methods
• Technological advances in XFEL, Cryo-EM, NMR, SAXS, MS, MX and macromolecular complexes
• Combining low and high resolution data and modeling for structural biology
• Synergistic use of 3D structures and deep sequencing to realize personalized medicine
• Protein design and deep sequencing
• Cancer, antibiotic resistance and drug discovery

• Cryo-EM developments for structural biology [Sponsored by FEI]
• PHENIX: Automated determination of molecular structures
• HKL3000: From X-ray diffraction images to structure determination in minutes
• Approaches to the translation of deep sequencing data into three-dimensions
• Protein expression and characterization workshop
• Proteopedia: A Scientific Wiki Bridging the Rift Between 3D Structure & Function

• Synthesis and Self-Assembly of Nanocrystals, Nanoparticles and Thin Films
• Functionalization and Size-Dependent Properties of Nanocrystals, Quantum Dots and Nanowires
• Processing and Templating of Nanotubes and Nanoporous Materials
• Tailoring of Polymeric Nanoparticles, Organic-Inorganic Nanocomposites and Biohybrids
• Nanosystems for Biological and Medical Applications
• Nanosystems for Sensing, Diagnostic, Imaging, Magnetic, Electronic and Structural Applications
• Nanomaterials for Energy and Environmental Applications
• Nanomaterials for Chemical and Catalytic Applications

Functional materials, smart materials, intelligent materials â€" whatever your chosen terminology - will be a key pillar of 21^st century technology. In recent years, nanostructured materials and nano-composites have become increasingly important because of their remarkable properties and growing areas or practical application. Various aspects of the mechanical properties of nano-materials, plus analytical and computational modelling in combination with comprehensive experimental analysis of mechanical behavior, are yet to be fully explored. In spite of the rapid progress in this field, the mechanical properties of nano-materials and composites remain terra incognita in materials science. In the field of massive and complex manufacturing we are now in need of materials, with properties, that can be manipulated according to our needs.

This conference aims to comprise a cross disciplinary summit that transcends departmental, institutional, industrial, public and private research organizations and global barriers and lends itself to the integration of research and education in the vital field of advanced materials. The conference will focus on the sectors of advanced processing, material characterization, modeling and simulation, properties, performance and device fabrication.

Topics include:

• Characterization
• Amorphous materials
• Composites
• Computation and theory
• Electronic properties
• Materials chemistry
• Mechanical properties
• Metals and alloys
• Polymers and soft materials

Join VIB at its first conference on ‘Structural dynamics in cellular communication’ that will take place in an architecturally significant venue in the heart of Europe (Brussels, Belgium) from 9-10 February, 2015.

The conference will cover the latest advances in protein science, focusing on systems structural biology, the functional role of structural dynamics, the organization of complexes and key technological advances. During four plenary sessions this first edition will handle the following topics: Â macromolecular machines and assemblages; protein network dynamics; protein fluctuations and function; and membrane proteins and complexes.

Ada Yonath, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel

Lewis Kay, University of Toronto, Canada

Sheena Radford, University of Leeds, UK

Brian T. Chait, Rockefeller University, USA

Susan Buchanan, National Institutes of Health, USA

Thomas Marlovits, Center for Structural Systems Biology, Hamburg, Germany

The annual event dedicated to the ESRF user community: learn, discuss and experience the science and cutting-edge research made with ESRF synchrotron light

PLENARY SESSION
• Keynote speakers
  - Dr Catherine McCammon, Bayreuth University
  - Prof. Tim Salditt, University of Göttingen
  - Prof. Hyotcherl Ihee, KAIST
• Young scientist award
• Annual Director’s report
• Poster session, clips and prize

USER-DEDICATED MICROSYMPOSIA
1. Novel routes for the study of strongly correlated electron systems
2. New possibilities for chemical studies
3. Hierarchical imaging of biological, bio-mimetic and bio-compatible materials
4. Structural Biology at the ESRF
    - More than crystallography
With Invited talks and tutorials ‘‘Scientists & Media’’ workshop

All users of the ESRF are invited to actively participate in the event by registering, submitting abstracts for a poster or for a talk at the scientific microsymposia (for accepted talks local costs willbe waived).