MüSIM 2026 – A Resounding Success

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On Wednesday, 24^th of June 2026, the Collaborative Research Centre 1459 Intelligent Matter hosted the fifth installment of the Münster Symposium on Intelligent Matter, one of the highlights of our scientific calendar. The event brought together a vibrant mix of researchers—early career scientists, senior experts, and industry partners—from universities and institutes across Germany and abroad.

The highlights included a closing keynote by Nobel Laureate Ben Feringa – an inspiring, forward looking talk that served as a fitting finale to the symposium and sparked lively discussions among the audience.
Additional invited talks that showcased breakthrough research and offered fresh perspectives on Intelligent Matter.
Dynamic panel discussions addressing the latest developments and future challenges in the field.
Poster sessions featuring 29 high quality contributions, displayed throughout the symposium.
Numerous networking opportunities that fostered new collaborations, mentorship connections, and informal exchanges of ideas.
The enthusiasm of the participants, the depth of scientific exchange, and the presence of a Nobel laureate at the symposium’s close made MüSIM 2026 a memorable milestone for CRC 1459.

We thank all speakers, poster presenters, and attendees for their contributions and look forward to building on this momentum at future events.

MüSIM 2026 Awards & Prizes

The MüSIM Young Researcher Award is awarded annually (prize € 500) and is open to early‑career scientists—PhD candidates, post‑doctoral researchers, and habilitands—who are first authors of an outstanding paper published within the last 12 months in Chemistry, Physics, Biology, or Computer Science and that advances the theme of Intelligent Matter.

This year, the selection committee received a large number of excellent applications, each supported by impressive CVs. After a thorough review, one submission distinguished itself as truly exceptional.

Accordingly, this year’s Young Researcher Award is presented to David Urban of MiNaLab at SINTEF Digital (Oslo, Norway) for his paper :
Directional flows using capillary assembly of photo‑deformable colloidal particles at water‑air interfaces
published in Nature Communications 17, 1004 (2026).

David presented a short talk on his contribution during the MüSIM 2026 symposium, sharing his insights with the community.

MüSIM 2026 Poster Prizes – Winners

The poster competition attracted a vibrant array of submissions. The three highest scoring contributions are:

Self-regulating Soft Materials: Feedback Mechanisms for Coupling Photochemical Reactivity and Thermoresponsive Properties
By Zugeng Cong, Florian Friedmann, Kai Zeng, Michael Hardt, Björn Braunschweig, and Line Næsborg of University of Münster

Light-based Bacterial Cell-Cell Communication
By Tarek S. Elsayed, Matthew E. Allen, Xiaoran Zheng, and Seraphine V. Wegner of University of Münster and

From Responsive Molecular Photoswitches to Tunable Excited-state Processes: A Computational Study
By Sabine Käfer and Johannes Neugebauer of University of Münster

Congratulations!

We extend our heartfelt congratulations to all winners of the MüSIM 2026 Young Researcher Award and the MüSIM 2026 Poster Prizes. Your outstanding work enriches the field of Intelligent Matter and inspires the entire CRC 1459 community.