Special Speakers

Florian CAVODEAU

Assistant Professor since 2022 at the University of haute Alsace (UHA) and member of the CPCP team of the LPIM. Defended his PhD in December 2015 in Chemistry & Physical Chemistry of Polymers (C2MA-Mines Alès). Author of 8 papers, 3 patents, and with two additional papers under submission process. His current research includes surface characterization, coatings, synthesis of monomers, modification of molecules, fire retardants, biobased monomers/oligomers/polymers, structural characterization, polymer reactivity and formulation. Has experience in academic/industrial collaboration with significant companies (Soprema, L&L Products, TotalEnergies, ARC France…) mainly in the field of adhesives, coatings and monomer synthesis. His main current projects focus on the modification of biobased molecules extracted from wastes and biomass to obtain reactive monomers for polymerization, photopolymerization, to form biobased plasticizer and to develop new categories of flame retardants. His research activities also include an expertise in all related characterization techniques on monomers, polymers, materials and durability.

Gaëlle FONTAINE

Gaëlle Fontaine is Professor at Centrale Lille and researcher at the UMET laboratory. She holds a PhD in organic chemistry (University of Caen, 1998) and earned her Habilitation to Direct Research (HDR) in chemical engineering in 2013. Her research focuses on reaction and resistance to fire. She coordinates and manages national and international research programs, as well as industrial projects. Her work has led to over 110 scientific articles and four patents. To date, she has supervised 23 PhD theses and participated in 30 national and international juries. Currently, she is Associate Editor for the journal Polymer for Advanced Technologies and a Visiting Professor in Wuhan, China (2023–2026). Since 2024, she has also served as Director of Sustainable Development at Centrale Lille.

Jaime C. GRUNLAN

Dr. Jaime Grunlan is the Leland T. Jordan ’29 Chair of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University. He holds joint appointments in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and the Department of Chemistry. His research focuses on thermal and transport properties of polymer nanocomposites. He is a world leader in super gas barrier layers and environmentally-benign, flame retardant nanocoatings. He holds 18 issued U.S. patents, published more than 200 journal papers (with more than 30,000 citations), and graduated 32 PhD students. He is an Editor of the Journal of Materials Science and Progress in Organic Coatings, and Associate Editor of Green Materials. In 2018, Prof. Grunlan was awarded a doctorate honoris causa from the University of South Brittany (Lorient, France). In 2023, he became a Fellow of the American Chemical Society (FACS). In 2024, he became a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (FNAI).

NAKAMURA Yuji

Dr. Yuji Nakamura is the Professor of Energy Conversion Engineering Laboratory at Toyohashi University of Technology, Japan. He has an expertise in fire dynamics in extreme environment especially in space fire and has also led various research projects on fire and combustion science utilizing the scale modeling concept. Prof. Nakamura received his degree from the Nagoya University in 2000 and previously worked at NIST as guest researcher, and Hokkaido University as Associate Professor in his early career, and became full professor since 2017. He is an Associate Editor of Fire Technology, Editorial Board of Fire Safety Journal, Editor-in-Chief of Progress in Scale Modeling; An International Journal, and awarded 2025 class of Fellow of Combustion Institute. He served a Management Committee Member (2021-2023), Trustee (2023-2026 and 2026-2029 (elected)) of International Association for Fire Safety Science (IAFSS) and international scientific expert in IEC TC89 and ISO TC61_SC4.

NAKASHIMA Erika

Rosica MINCHEVA

Dr. R. Mincheva, obtained her PhD in Polymer Science in 2006. Her thesis aimed at the synthesis of novel nanomaterials for biomedical applications from natural polymers and derivatives. In 2007 she moved to a postdoctoral stay at the University of Mons where she is now an associate professor and the leader of the NRE-BIOPOL group. Her current research covers macromolecular chemistry and engineering, physicochemical and thermomechanical characterization, preparation of micro- and nanostructured materials by different methods including reactive melt processing and solid-state modification of sustainable-by-design polymer materials for health, engineering and flame-retardant applications. She has also in supervising and co-coordinating national and regional projects, programs with industries and European Projects (H2020, FP7). She has more than 80 peer-reviewed scientific publications (including 7 book chapters), more than 100 personal communications at conferences, and is coinventor in 1 patent.

Rodolphe SONNIER

Serge BOURBIGOT

Professor Serge Bourbigot is a leading expert in fire science and polymer materials. After earning his PhD in 1993, he joined Centrale Lille Institut, where he became Full Professor in 2003. His internationally recognized research focuses on the reaction and resistance to fire of polymeric materials, with applications ranging from batteries and hydrogen fires to microgravity environments. He is the recipient of two prestigious European Research Council grants — an ERC Advanced Grant (FireBar Concept, 2.5 M€) and an ERC Synergy Grant (FireSpace, 14 M€) — reflecting the scientific impact of his work. Elected Fellow of the Institut Universitaire de France (IUF) in 2020 and renewed in 2025, he continues to advance knowledge in fire behavior, materials processing (formulation, nanocomposites, reactive extrusion), and modeling (scale reduction, kinetics, pyrolysis).