On January 4, 2024, engineering students at Ozyeğin University were treated to an insightful session on active matter, exploring its journey from theoretical concepts to real-world applications. This event, led by Alireza Khoshzaban, was an eye-opener for students, demonstrating how active matter plays a key role in modern engineering innovations.
During the session at Ozyegin University, the theory and history of active matter were briefly covered, emphasizing its evolution from early physics concepts to modern engineering marvels. This discussion connected theoretical foundations to practical applications in soft robotics, biomedical devices, and smart materials, showcasing how significant active matter has impacted contemporary engineering solutions.
Category: Outreach
The Active Matter Game
We have been working on an active matter game! If you want to challenge your colleagues or family members to a game and have them learn about active matter look no further!
The active matter game has been designed over the course of the ITN as a new outreach activity that everyone can print at home. It has been rigorously tested at almost every Active Matter Meeting. It took a few revisions but we have made a fun game for all ages. You can read all about it in the supplementary info of the new Active Matter book.
The game has been developed and finalised by Alireza Khoshzaban, Carolina van Baalen, David Bronte Ciriza, Davide Breoni, Jesús Manuel Antúnez Domínguez, Laura Natali and Sandrine Heijnen.
You only have to wait until the release date till everything will be online! We can’t wait to share it with you!
Presentation by Davide Breoni at the DPG Spring Meeting of the Condensed Matter Section in Dresden, Germany, 26th – 31st of March 2023
Davide presented his work at the 2023 DPG Spring Meeting of the Condensed Matter Section in Dresden, Germany. His presentation “Active Brownian Particles in a disordered motility environment“, focuses on the study of Janus particles in a speckle light field.
Presentation by Davide Breoni at the APS March Meeting in Las Vegas, United States, 5th – 10th of March 2023
Davide presented his work at the 2023 APS March Meeting in Las Vegas, United States. His presentation “Active Brownian Particles in a disordered motility environment“, focuses on the study of Janus particles in a speckle light field.
Laura Natali participated in the Ämnets dag at the University of Gothenburg
On Tuesday 1 November 2022 the event called “Ämnets dag” took place at the university of Gothenburg.
The event is aimed to physics and science teachers at different school levels working in the Gothenburg area. Laura Natali joined the initiative and organised one of the workshops available. The activity prepared was an introductory class to simulations modelling active matter.
The workshop addressed the basic aspects of active matter and some examples of its relevant applications nowadays. The focus was on a hands-on workshop, to try out simulations and give a qualitative idea of active behaviour and the effect of different parameters on it. Next to the simulated active particles, it was also possible to play with Hexbugs a simple robotic example of active matter.
Stay tuned for more activities like this!
Interview with Davide Breoni for EPJE highlights
Davide Breoni was interviewed for an highlight article of The European Physical Journal E. The interview “Modelling the collective movement of bacteria” refers to the article “A one-dimensional three-state run-and-tumble model with a ‘cell cycle’“, published on the same EPJE issue.
David participated in the 2022 Young Minds Leadership meeting
Beyond the programme of the LM the co-location with the EPS Forum, allowed the participants to learn about industrial opportunities and to attend lectures from world-class researchers, including 3 Nobel Laureates. Scientific outreach, cultural exchange, and peaceful international collaboration are more important than ever. Bringing young scientists together and equipping them with tools and skills is a great way of fostering these aspects.
Talk by Chun-Jen Chen at Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica (Taiwan), 21 January 2022
Laura Natali and Jesús Domínguez participate in the Ämnets dag at the University of Gothenburg
At the Ämnets dag, different high-school teachers of physics and science were given the chance to attend different workshops dealing with lines of research inside the Physics department. Laura Natali and Jesus Manuel Antunez Dominguez joined the initiative and prepared an introductory class to simulations modelling active matter.
The workshop addressed the basic aspects of active matter and some examples of its relevant applications nowadays. Overall, the focus of the workshop was to bring closer some of the main characteristics of active matter through interactive simulations that give a qualitative idea of active behaviour and the effect of different parameters on it.
Stay tuned for more activities like this!

