Dear ILCS Members:

I write to encourage applications for the 2023 Facebook Reality Labs (FRL) Research-ILCS Liquid Crystal Research Excellence Awards.

The deadline for applications is November 1, 2023.

Three awards (Diamond Award of $5,000; Platinum Award of $3,500 and Gold Award of $2,500) will be given to recognize contributions involving liquid crystal research that have the potential to impact the broad field of augmented reality/virtual reality (AR/VR).

To be eligible, an applicant must be a graduate student currently enrolled in a Masters or Ph.D. program, or a postdoc in an academic research group who graduated within three (3) years from the application date (November 1, 2023). An applicant must have a proven track record of achieving significant results, as demonstrated by first-authored publications in leading research journals, or relevant conference presentations organized by ILCS, SID, OSA, SPIE, IEEE or similar. The research area of the applicants must broadly related the AR/VR field, including but not limited to optics, displays, sensing, and haptics for AR/VR purposes.

Regards
Nick Abbott
Chair, ILCS Honors and Awards Committee

I have been informed that our long-time colleague Prof Mortimer Labes of Temple University, Philadelphia, USA, passed away peacefully at his home in July this year. Mortimer was one of the founding members of the journal Molecular Crystals and Liquid Crystals and acted as its editor-in-chief for more than 50 years.

Ingo Dierking

The latest issue of Liquid Crystals Today has just been published. I hope it provides you with some interesting reading.

Web Address: https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/tlcy20/32/1

I sadly have to inform the liquid crystal community that our colleague and friend Prof Harry Coles has passed away on the 29th of May 2023 following a long illness. Harry was Professor of Molecular Materials at the Engineering Department of Cambridge University, UK, where in his active time he was also heading the Centre of Molecular Materials for Photonics and Electronics.

Ingo Dierking

I am deeply saddened to have to inform the ILCS of the passing of Prof Helmut Ringsdorf on the 20th of March 2023 at the age of 94. He was one of the leading figures in our field and will surely be missed deeply.

Ingo Dierking

It is with great sadness that I have to bring you the news the our colleague and friend Lev Blinov has passed away on the 16th of March 2023 at the age of 83. Many will have known Lev personally, the younger generation possibly rather from his book on the electro-optics of liquid crystals, but he certainly was one of the very well-known figures in our community.

Ingo Dierking

Please check our new job advertisements:

PhD Students
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Honk Kong.

PhD Position Sfeer Project
Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands.

1 Early-Stage Researcher position at TU/e (NL) within MSCA-ITN STORM-BOTS
Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands.

Post Doctoral Fellow
Trinity College Dublin, University of Dublin, Ireland.

The 16th European Conference on Liquid Crystals (ECLC2023) will be held from July 10-14, 2023 at the University of Calabria, Rende, Italy.
For more information on topics, travel, submission deadlines etc. please see the website: https://www.eclc2023.eu/

The latest issue of Liquid Crystals Today has just been published. We hope it provides you with some interesting reading.

Web Address: https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/tlcy20/31/3

Call for Applications to Host the 30th International Liquid Crystal Conference (Summer, 2026)

The following is a guide for those interested in submitting applications to host the 30th International Liquid Crystal Conference (Summer, 2026). The deadline for submissions is March 20, 2023, but people intending to submit applications are strongly urged to contact me well in advance. I will do my best to make sure that applications are in the proper format before they are sent to the ILCS Board for a vote. ILCS Board - https://www.ilcsoc.org/about/board-of-directors/

There is no form for the application, but applications should include the following information.
1. Name of city, address, and short description of the conference locations.
2. Name and address of the prospective Conference Chairman, Conference Secretary, and other members of the Organizing Committee. Name and address (also telephone, and e-mail of a person from whom further information can be requested). Please note experience in organizing conferences.
3. Description of the facilities for the conference, including available lecture rooms and capacities, space for posters, copying facilities, internet connections, dining facilities, connection to public transport, parking.
4. Description of the types of accommodation: quality, price range, location, connection by public transport with the conference site, railway, airport.
5. Social facilities and program.
6. Provisional budget: expected expenses and receipts, planned registration fee, external sponsorship. Please note that a modest loan from the ILCS is possible to help with the expenses of planning the conference.
7. Any further information that you think will support your application.

In addition, to both expedite the application process and to ensure fairness, I request that all submitted materials be electronic, suitable for sending either as a text file or as an attachment. (In the interest of simplicity, I suggest sending PDF files.) In the past, some applications have been accompanied by general brochures about the host city. Since Board members will not be able to consult these during the decision-making process, I do not believe they are particularly useful. Alternatively, a URL containing information about the host city and/or conference facilities could be consulted by Board members.

Finally, while it is both appropriate and desirable for local convention centers to assist in preparing a conference application, it is essential that there be full support from local and/or national scientific bodies. In the past, the actual application has always been submitted through such bodies.

The recipients of this news should feel free to distribute this among colleagues who might be interested in organizing the conference.

Jun Yamamoto
Vice-President, International Liquid Crystal Society
yamamoto.jun.4r(at)kyoto-u.ac.jp