Science meets community: highlights from DPI spring Meeting 2026

A meeting of minds and ideas

The energy in the room was palpable as researchers, industry leaders, and visionaries exchanged ideas, challenged assumptions, and sparked new collaborations. Highlights included:

• AI in polymer science, where the quality of output is only as good as the data used for its training 
• Innovative reactor engineering, like applying cosmological models (via the Barnes Hut Galaxy simulator) to fouling simulations on particle level, compared with a phenomenological reactor model which was tested versus experimental data. 
• High-Temperature Field Flow Fractionation (HT Treff) for the analysis of complex polyolefin structures. 
• Sustainable solutions for PFAS-free materials, demonstrating that when science and industry join forces, optimism for a sustainable future is well-founded. 

Celebrating outstanding contributions with the DPI Awards

Once more, we celebrated the excellent work of our researchers with a Poster and a Presentation Award. The first was won by Dr. Petronella Zabesuthu Ndlovu and Thandekile Nelly Siwela from Stellenbosch University, who wowed the audience with their poster on the HITT-Advanced project. Their work, applying the high-temperature thermal field-flow fractionation technique, is paving the way for a pilot set-up ready for commercial development in the global polyolefin industry.

Jiuke Chen from Maastricht University, in her turn, won the Presentation Award with a standout presentation on the PET-PLA project. Her work on “Recycling solutions for mixed waste streams of PET and PLA” offers innovative ways to reduce polymer contamination and drive sustainability forward.