Best Poster Award x 2

Successful MCI Presentations at the 2026 Mini-Symposium on Process Engineering

At the annual Mini-Symposium on Process Engineering, which took place in July 2026 at Johannes Kepler University in Linz, two project staff members from the research area Environmental, Process, and Energy Engineering – Sophie Groche and Lydia Challandes – were each awarded a Best Poster Award. All process engineering programs at Austrian universities are represented at this event – from Graz University of Technology, Vienna University of Technology, BOKU, JKU Linz, and the Montanuniversität Leoben to MCI, which hosted the symposium last year (link to the article).

On their posters, both award winners highlighted a specific area of environmental engineering focused on developing better or “greener” technologies for the removal or treatment of microbial or chemical contaminants, particularly from water.

At the mini-symposium, Lydia Challandes presented her master’s thesis, the goal of which was to develop a visible-light-responsive photocatalyst with higher photocatalytic degradation performance and antibacterial activity compared to a reference photocatalyst. To this end, a material based on hexagonal boron nitride was modified using polydopamine via a chemical process inspired by mussels and loaded with biogenic silver nanoparticles (AgNPs).

Sophie Groche’s poster addresses methods for removing highly harmful, so-called “forever chemicals” (PFAS) from water that go beyond traditional activated carbon or anion exchange resins. In her research, she developed and evaluated fluorophilic imidazolium-based ion-exchange materials that utilize two key interaction mechanisms with PFAS to improve both adsorption capacity and selectivity toward PFAS compared to conventional adsorption systems.

A Best Poster Award is an academic prize presented at scientific conferences to researchers who present their work in a particularly clear and compelling manner on a poster. The evaluation criteria include the scientific merit, novelty, and relevance of the results, as well as the design of the poster and the author’s ability to answer questions competently and clearly during the session. Above all, the award recognizes the ability – which is also a key competency – to distill complex content and data down to the essentials and present it in a visually understandable way.

But are poster sessions at conferences still relevant? In our digital world, does anyone even care about scientific posters on large sheets of paper anymore?

The answer is still: yes! Posters, as a standalone format for presenting scientific content, remain important when viewed as a tool for communication and networking. They offer young researchers, in particular, an accessible way to showcase their work and engage directly in dialogue with an interested audience of experts. Unlike a presentation, a poster session directly initiates technical discussions and scientific exchange, provides feedback, and fosters networking.

The best is saved for last: at the end, strong sales skills and nerves of steel are required when the top candidates must explain their work clearly under time pressure during a final pitch while simultaneously convincing the audience exactly why they deserve an award. For our two collegues, their motivation certainly paid off – not to mention the fun they had along the way.