What’s happening at SCL? Here’s an overview of group news, media coverage, events, and activities.
2027
Upcoming event: May 23-27, Workshop: Exploring the Universality of Hyperuniformity Across Disciplines.
2026
December — Serim is speaking at the Princeton Center for Theoretical Science (PCTS) Workshop Hidden Order in Disorder: The Expanding Landscape of Hyperuniformity in the USA.
Upcoming event: October, the launch of the 'Focus Collection on Extreme Nonequilibrium Soft Matter: Frontiers in Activity, Topology, and Non-reciprocal Interactions' in the Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter.
October — Congratulations to Ruhr University Bochum and TU Dortmund for succeeding in the Excellence Strategy competition!
The German Science and Humanities Council has announced that the joint consortium Ruhr Innovation Lab will be funded as "Consortium of Excellence" from January 2027 on.
As one of the main research columns, Engineering Complexity, as well as the Center for Complex Interactions will be key players in this vision of joint and transdisciplinary research.
Please find the official announcements of the Ruhr Innovation Lab, Ruhr University Bochum and TU Dortmund.
July — Serim is speaking at the Self-organized Hyperuniformity in and out of Equilibrium workshop in Italy.
June — Serim is speaking at the CECAM Flagship workshop Disordered Hyperuniformity in China.
May — Simon is speaking at the colloquium of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology (ETIT) of RUB.
May — Serim is speaking at the Gordon Research Conference (GRC): Oscillations and Dynamic Instabilities in Chemical Systems in Switzerland.
April — Center for Complex Interactions (CCI) is launched!
January — Prof. Janina Fasano of CNEA & Universidad de Cuyo, Centro Atòmico Bariloche, Argentina, visited SCL and delivered a seminar.
2025
November — Prof. Daniel P. Lathrop of the University of Maryland visited SCL and delivered a seminar.
October — Simon is speaking at the SHIFT conference, Spain.
October — Sibel is speaking at the Navigating the Frontier of Non-Equilibrium Systems and Collective Phenomena workshop.
October — SCL organised a workshop on Navigating the Frontier of Non-Equilibrium Systems and Collective Phenomena.
June — Lab renovations are finished, and we are kickstarting the efforts to set up the labs!
May — Seleme has successfully defended her PhD.
April — New publication: Ultrafast Laser Synthesis of Zeolites in Advanced Materials (PDF).
April — Serim, Sibel, Selcen, Seleme, and Özgün are attending and speaking at the APS Global Physics Summit, USA.
March — Prof. Marcus Suta of the Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany, visited SCL and delivered a seminar.
March — Abdullah attended the Gordon Research Conference (GRC): Quantum Biology in Italy.
2024
July — Sibel, Özgün, and Abdullah attended the Gordon Research Conference (GRC): Oscillations and Dynamic Instabilities in Chemical Systems in Switzerland.
June — Özgün attended the Gordon Research Conference (GRC): Image Science in USA.
May — Selcen and Özgün attended the Hands-on Machine Learning for Fluid Dynamics in von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics in Belgium.
March — Serim launched a Focus Issue on Hyperuniformity: Exploring Hidden Patterns Across Disciplines in the Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter.
March — Prof. Janina Fasano of CNEA & Universidad de Cuyo, Centro Atòmico Bariloche, Argentina, visited SCL and delivered a seminar.
March — RUB’s feature article highlighting Serim’s ERC StG.
February — Özgün has successfully defended his PhD.
January — Serim is elected as an associated faculty member at the Faculty of Physics and Astronomy of RUB.
January — Serim is speaking at the International Society of Optics and Photonics (SPIE), USA.
2023
December — Serim is speaking at the Cluster of Excellence Living, Adaptive and Energy-autonomous Materials Systems (livMatS), Germany.
October — Serim is speaking at the Faculty of Physics and Astronomy of RUB, Germany.
October — Mathworks highlighted our disordered hyperuniformity work in an article When Order Hides in Plain Sight.
July — We are honoured to welcome Consul General Taylan Özgür Aydın and his team from the Turkish Consulate General in Essen.
July — Serim is speaking at the Cluster of Excellence RESOLV, Germany.
June — Serim is elected to the Board of the Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter.
June — Nominated by the European Women Rectors Association (EWORA), Serim is elected as a Member of the Mediterranean Science Team.
May — Serim is speaking at the Center of Excellence in Life-Inspired Hybrid Materials (LIBER) in Finland.
April — Serim is speaking at the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation - Humboldt Kolleg in Ankara University, Türkiye.
March — Serim is speaking at the YAE 10-year seminar series.
February — Michäel is speaking at the İzmir Yüksek Teknoloji Enstitüsü (IZTECH).
January — Serim is speaking at the Materials Chain Seminar Series, Research Center Future Energy Materials and Systems (RC FEMS), Germany.
January — Simply Complex Lab moved to RUB, Germany.
2022
November — Michäel and Sezin are speaking at the National Nanotechnology Research Center (UNAM) of Bilkent University.
October — Serim is speaking at the International Materials Research Congress (IMPC) in Mexico.
October — New publication: Book chapter The universality of self-organisation – a path to an atom printer? is published (PDF).
September — Ghaith is speaking at the EGI Open Ecosystem for Research and Innovation in the Czech Republic.
September — Serim received the “International Special Honour” Prize from the Turkish Physical Society.
August — Serim is speaking at the 16th Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Conference (NanoTR 16), Türkiye.
August — Serim is speaking at the Turkish Physical Society Annual Symposium (TFD 38), Türkiye.
July — Sezin is speaking at the International Zeolite Conference in Spain.
July — Serim is speaking at the 8th International Workshop on Nanocarbon Photonics and Optoelectronics (NPO2022), Finland.
July — Serim is speaking at the Department of Electrical and Information Engineering (ETIT) of RUB, Germany.
July — Serim is speaking at the Institute of Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry of Leibniz University Hannover, Germany.
June — Serim elected to the Board of the Young Academy of Europe (YAE).
May — Serim is speaking at the Department of Applied Physics of Aalto University, Finland.
April — Serim is speaking at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of Leibniz University Hannover, Germany.
April — Discussing the Turkish brain drain in Independent Türkçe.
March — Serim’s interview by Esra Öz of Independent Türkçe.
February — We have launched a collaboration with MathWorks!
February — Discussing dual career aspect in science in Independent Türkçe.
2021
November — Serim is speaking at UNAM PI seminars.
October — Serim is speaking at the School of Physics and Astronomy of Tel Aviv University (virtual).
October — Discussing the importance of fundamental science in Independent Türkçe.
September — Serim is speaking at Konya Nanobilim Festivali.
August — Serim is speaking at the Hacettepe Fizik Topluluğu.
June — Serim is speaking at the ODTÜ Fizik Topluluğu.
June — New publication: Dynamic evolution of hyperuniformity in a driven dissipative colloidal system in the Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter (PDF).
May — Nominated by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), Serim is elected as a member to the AcademiaNet: Profiles of Leading Women Scientists.
May — Nature Physics publication is critiqued in a series of Inference articles by Michael Engel, Tanja Schilling and Serim Ilday.
March — Serim is speaking at the Biotechnology Institute of Ankara University, Türkiye.
February — Serim is speaking at the Physics Society of METÜ, Türkiye.
2020
December — Serim is speaking at Bilkent Bilimsel İletişim Topluluğu.
November — Nominated by the Academia Europaea (AE); Serim is elected as a Fellow of the Young Academy of Europe (YAE).
November — Serim is speaking at the Israel-Turkey Workshop on Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (virtual).
October — Sezin is speaking at the International Conference on Advanced Materials Science & Engineering and High Tech Devices Applications (ICMATSE) in Türkiye.
October — Serim is elected as an “Emerging Leader” by the Editorial Board of the Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter (JPCM).
October — Our Nature Physics publication is endorsed by the journal editors in 15 years of Nature Physics (PDF).
April — Nature Physics publication gathered media attention: “Scientists uncover principles of universal self-assembly” ERC News & Views, Phys.Org, Nanowerk, Science Bulletin, Heritage Daily; “Desvelan los principios matemáticos universales del ensamblaje de átomos y células” ABC Spain, ABC de Sevilla, La Voz de Cádiz; “Universal Self-Assembly and a Curious Distribution Model” Steemit; “Wissenschaftler decken Prinzipien der universellen Selbstorganisation auf” Tekk; “Effect of Basic Principles of Self-Assembly Process on Quantum Dots” Azo Quantum; “Türk bilim insanlarından Kovid-19 araştırmalarına katkı verecek yeni keşif” Anadolu Ajansı, TRT Haber, CNN Türk, NTV..
April — Our Nature Physics publication is listed in Wikipedia’s “2020 in science“ selection (April section; 20 April).
April — Our Nature Physics publication is highlighted in a news & views article Dissipate your way to self-assembly (PDF).
April — New publication: Universality of dissipative self-assembly from quantum dots to human cells in Nature Physics, and made it to the cover (PDF).
February — Ghaith received the prestigious Outstanding Young Scientist Award (GEBİP) from the Turkish Academy of Sciences (TÜBA). Huge congratulations!
2019
December — Serim is speaking at the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics (MBG) of Bilkent University, Türkiye.
December — Serim is speaking at the 23. Sıvı Hal Sempozyumu, Piri Reis University, Türkiye.
November — Serim is speaking at the School of Physics of Trinity College Dublin, Ireland.
November — Serim is speaking at the Department of Physics of METÜ, Türkiye.
November — Serim is awarded an ERC Starting Grant.
October — Serim is speaking at the International Conference on Ultrafast Optical Science (UltrafastLight-2019), Russia.
March — Sezin and Serim are attending and speaking at the APS March Meeting.
March — Nature Photonics publication gathered media attention: “Physicists create Star Trek-style holograms” Phys.Org; “Gli ologrammi di Star Trek sono più vicini” la Repubblica; “Physicists Create Star Wars Style Holograms” Scienmag; “A real step towards the virtual holodeck” The Engineer; “Bilkentli akademisyenlerden ‘Uzay Yolu’ hologramı” Hürriyet.
March — New publication: Breaking crosstalk limits to dynamic holography using orthogonality of high-dimensional random vectors in Nature Photonics, also made it to the cover (PDF).
February — Serim is speaking at the Department of Physics of Boğaziçi University, Türkiye.
2018
November — Serim is speaking at the Hacettepe – Bilkent UNAM Sağlık Bilimleri ve Teknolojileri Bilim Çalıştayı ve Stratejik İşbirliği, Türkiye.
October — Serim is speaking at the International Conference on Ultrafast Optical Science (UltrafastLight-2018), Russia.
August — Serim is speaking at the Department of Physics of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), Hong Kong.
July — Serim is speaking at the Gordon Research Conference (GRC): Oscillations and Dynamic Instabilities in Chemical Systems Switzerland.
May — Serim is awarded the L’Oreal-UNESCO For Women In Science (FWIS).
May — Serim is speaking at the Department of Physics of Sabancı University, Türkiye.
May — Serim is speaking at the Institute of Neurological Sciences and Psychiatry at Hacettepe University, Türkiye.
May — Serim is speaking at the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation - Young Women Scientist Network Meeting at Ankara University, Türkiye.
March — Serim is attending and speaking at the APS March Meeting.
January — Serim is speaking at the Center for Soft and Living Matter (CSLM) at the Institute of Basic Science (IBS), Korea.
January — Simply Complex Lab is established at the National Nanotechnology Research Center (UNAM) at Bilkent University, Türkiye.
2017
December — Serim is speaking at the 23. Yoğun Madde Fiziği Toplantısı at METÜ, Türkiye.
December — Serim is speaking at the Israel-Turkey Workshop on Nanoscience and Nanotechnology at the Weizmann Institute, Israel.
April — Serim is attending and speaking at the MRS Spring Meeting.
March — Serim is attending and speaking at the APS March Meeting.
March — Serim is attending and speaking at the International Conference on Multifunctional, Hybrid and Nanomaterials (HYMA) in Portugal.