Best Poster- and Best Presentation-Contest at the 19th European Inter-Regional Conference on Ceramics at the Technical University of Leoben
The 19th European Inter-Regional Conference on Ceramics (CIEC 19) was held at the Technical University of Leoben from 11th to 13th of February 2026. The conference takes place biannually and connects various European regions working in the fields of ceramics, glasses, and hard metals. The CIEC 19 was organized by the Chair of Structural and Functional Ceramics under the direction of Univ.-Prof. Dr. Raul Bermejo.
The conference welcomed 57 participants from eight different European countries who gathered at the Technical University of Leoben, where 37 presentations and 7 posters were presented in ten sessions. A Best Presentation Contest and a Best Poster Contest were held for the participating students, sponsored by the Austrian Ceramic Society (AuCerS) with a total prize fund of €1,000.
The winners of the Best Presentation Contest were selected by an international professional jury, with jurors not allowed to vote for their own research group. The well-deserved first prize went to Ms. Annalena Erlacher from the Nanopowders and Ceramics Group at EMPA Dübendorf, Switzerland, for her presentation “Mechanical spectroscopy for probing microstructural and grain boundary evolution in alumina”. The second place went to Mr. Tobias Prötsch from the Chair of Structural and Functional Ceramics at the Technical University of Leoben, who impressed the jury with his presentation “Rapid sintering of layered ceramic multi-materials”. Mr. Maximilian Munz, also from the Chair of Structural and Functional Ceramics at the Technical University of Leoben, was awarded third prize for his presentation “Fracture toughness of silicon nitride measured on curved surfaces”.
The Best Poster Award (1st prize) went to Mrs. Saghar Fooladi Mahani from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain, who won the most votes from conference participants with her poster “Length scale effects on the fatigue crack growth of WC-Co cemented carbides”. The best poster was chosen by a ballot vote among all participants.
The organizers warmly thank AuCerS for sponsoring the prizes and congratulate the winners on their great achievements!
