DAY 1: MONDAY 7 APRIL @ BANTOCK

12:15 - 13:45Registration and Lunch
The 2025 BLCS Annual Training Workshop Supported by the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE)
13:45 - 14:00Opening Remarks - I
14:00 - 15:00Continuum Theories for Liquid Crystals and their Applications
Apala Majumdar, University of Strathclyde
15:00 - 16:00Computer Simulations of Liquid Crystals
Mark R. Wilson, Durham University
16:00 - 16:30Tea / Coffee Break
16:30 - 17:30Structures of Low Molar Liquid Crystals & Liquid Crystal Polymers
Georg H. Mehl, University of Hull 



DAY 2: TUESDAY 8 APRIL @ THE LLOYD SUITE (HORNTON GRANGE)

The 2025 BLCS Annual Training Workshop Supported by the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE)
09:00 - 10:00Physical Properties and Characterisation of Liquid Crystals
Mamatha Nagaraj, University of Leeds 
10:00 - 11:00Liquid Crystal Devices: Past, Present, and Future 
Stephen M. Morris, University of Oxford 
11:00 - 11:30Tea / Coffee Break
11:30 - 12:30Applied Modelling of Liquid Crystals
Nigel Mottram, University of Glasgow

12:30 - 13:00ZBD LCD Technology
Guy Bryan-Brown, New Vision Display Ltd
 

The 2025 BLCS Annual Meeting
12:30 - 13:45Registration (Continued) and Lunch
13:45 - 14:00Opening Remarks – II
Theory and Simulations of Liquid Crystals I
Chaired by Dr Dwaipayan Chakrabarti
14:00 - 15:00The 2025 Sturgeon Lecture
Simulating Liquid Crystals: A Story of Structure, Motion, and Discovery
Mark R. Wilson, Durham University 
15:00 - 15:20Spontaneous Oscillations in Heterogeneous Active Nematics
Alexander Houston, University of Glasgow
15:20 - 15:40Dipole-dipole interactions and the ferro-electric nematic phase: a simple model 
Andrew Masters, University of Manchester 
15:40 - 16:00Sponsors Talks
16:00 - 16:30Tea / Coffee Break
Properties and Applications of Liquid Crystals I
Chaired by Dr Mamatha Nagaraj
16:30 - 16:50Neutron scattering as a mesoscale probe for buried liquid crystals
 Oleksandr Tomchuk, ISIS Neutron and Muon Source 
16:50 - 17:10Bent-core liquid crystals as candidates for energy applications
Alfonso Martinez-Felipe, University of Aberdeen 
17:10 - 17:30The Effect of Structural Modifications on the Stability Ferroelectric Nematic Phase
Ewan Cruickshank, University of Aberdeen 
17:30 - 18:00Tribute to Corrie Imrie
18:00 - 19:15Poster Presentations 


DAY 3: WEDNESDAY 9 APRIL @ THE LLOYD SUITE (HORNTON GRANGE)

Liquid Crystals for Novel Materials
Chaired by Dr Rebecca Walker
09:00 - 10:00Invited Talk
Design and Investigation of Nematic Systems

Georg H. Mehl, University of Hull 
10:00 - 10:20Using Lateral Fluorination to Control the Formation of Ferroelectric Nematic and Smectic Phases
Grant J. Strachan, University of Warsaw 
10:20 - 10:40Semi-soft elasticity and auxeticity in liquid crystal elastomers – how to get your material to do what you want!
Thomas Raistrick, University of Leeds 
10:40 - 11:10Young Scientist Talk: From the twist-bend to polar order: exploring the rich chemistry of nematic and smectic liquid crystals
Calum J. Gibb, University of Leeds 
11:10 - 11:30Tea / Coffee Break
Chiral Liquid Crystals 
Chaired by Prof. Mark R. Wilson
11:30 - 12:15 Invited Talk
Cellulose-based Liquid Crystalline Twisted Structures
Maria Helena Godinho, NOVA University Lisbon 
12:15 - 12:35Bending and twisting in the hierarchical self-assembly of monodisperse mesogenic oligomers 
Chun Lam Clement Chan, University of Groningen and Princeton University 
12:35 - 12:55Pseudo Ferri-electric Switching in Spontaneously Chiral Liquid Crystals
Jordan R. Hobbs, University of Leeds
12:55 - 14:00Lunch
Topology in Liquid Crystals [Supported by the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE)]
Chaired by Prof. Stephen M. Morris 
14:00 - 15:00
The 2025 Gray Medal Lecture
Knotty Links Between Chiral Liquid Crystals, Particle Physics and Cosmology 
Ivan I. Smalyukh, University of Colorado Boulder and Hiroshima University
15:00 - 15:20 Transformations and Interactions of Point defects on a String of Half-Skyrmion
Wentao Tang, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
15:20 - 15:40Temperature Reconfigurable Skyrmionic Solitons in Cholesteric Liquid Crystals
Maryam Qaiser, University of Manchester 
15:40 - 16:00Liquid crystal skyrmions in external flows: from stretching to “skyrmion Hall effect”
Mykola Tasinkevych, Nottingham Trent University 
16:00 - 16:30Tea / Coffee Break
Theory and Simulations of Liquid Crystals II
Chaired by Prof. Nigel Mottram
16:30 - 16:50Spontaneous Chiral Symmetry Breaking in Polydisperse Achiral Near-Rigid Rods
William S. Fall, Universite Paris-Saclay 
16:50 - 17:10Homogenised free energies for nano-doped cholesteric systems 
Prabakaran Rajamanickam, University of Strathclyde 
17:10 - 17:30All-atom simulations of CB6OIBeOn: a progress report
Guinan Zhao, University of Manchester 
17:30 - 18:30BLCS Annual General Meeting 


DAY 4: THURSDAY 10 APRIL @ THE LLOYD SUITE (HORNTON GRANGE)

Liquid Crystal Devices
Chaired by Prof. Helen Gleeson 
09:15 - 10:00 Invited Talk
Laser-inscribed Liquid Crystal Photonics Elements
Stephen M. Morris, University of Oxford 
10:00 - 10:20Photonic eigenmodes of 2D cylindrical cholesteric liquid crystal resonators 
Urban Mur, University of Ljubljana 
10:20 - 10:40Large area modelling of pixellated Liquid Crystal Displays
Abhishek Ghosh, University of Glasgow 
10:40 - 11:00Liquid Crystal Diffraction Grating for Beam Steering Technology
Qihao Han, University of Oxford 
11:00 - 11:30Tea / Coffee Break
Properties and Applications of Liquid Crystals II
Chaired by Prof. Georg H. Mehl
11:30 - 12:15 Invited Talk
Photo-physical properties of liquid crystals; influence of molecular structure, shape and aggregation 
Mamatha Nagaraj, University of Leeds 
12:15 - 12:35Liquid Crystals with Non-Homeotropic Air Interface Anchoring Confined in MillimetreSized Rectangular Surfaces
Abigail Bond, University of Leeds 
12:35 - 12:55Thermochromic Liquid Crystal Sensors for Ultrasound Visualisation Applications
Martha Turvey, University of Warwick 
12:55 - 14:00Lunch
14:00 - 15:00 BLCS Committee Meeting


LIST OF POSTERS: TUESDAY 8 APRIL (18:00 - 19:30)

Poster No.PresenterOrganisationTitle
P1Omar Aljohani
University of Manchester
Optical Effects of Monosaccharides and Disaccharides on the Tunability of Cellulose Nanocrystal (CNC) Photonic Films
P2Ahlam Almamari
University of Strathclyde
The Flexoelectric Instability in Nematic Liquid Crystals 
P3Saud Al-Qabandi
University of Manchester
Towards the theory and simulation of the ferroelectric nematic phase
P4Mona Alsubaie
University of Manchester
Micro-Rod Particle Dynamics in the Nematic Phase of Liquid Crystals Under Electric Fields
P5Xi Chen
University of Birmingham
Understanding the Charge Transport Properties of Low-Symmetry Discotic Molecules
P6Sarangi Krishna 
Sheffield Hallam University
Simulations of liquid crystal tactoids and elastomers 
P7Oana Niculescu 
University of Cambridge
Design and characterisation of Blue Phase Adaptive Optics correctors
P8Charles Parton-Barr
University of Leeds
Deep Learning Driven Design of Novel Ferroelectric Nematic Liquid Crystals
P9A. Pearson
University of Aberdeen
The Twist-Bend Smectic Phases: On the Role of Lateral Substituents 
P10Shona J. Ramsay
University of Aberdeen
Synthesis and Characterisation of Highly Fluorinated Ferroelectric Nematogen


KeyTopic

Workshop Lectures

Theory and Simulations of Liquid Crystals

Properties and Applications of Liquid Crystals 

Liquid Crystals for Novel Materials 

Chiral Liquid Crystals 

Topology in Liquid Crystals

Liquid Crystal Devices 

Posters