Category: Events

As part of the seminar series of the Center for Solid State Physics and New Materials, a seminar was held on February 6, 2026, at the Institute of Physics Belgrade, in the Dragan Popović Hall. Dr. Igor A. Pašti (University of Belgrade - Faculty of Physical Chemistry, Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts) delivered the lecture, entitled “Electronic Structure and Electrochromic Response of NiO”.

During the lecture, Dr. Pašti presented a theoretical approach based on DFT+U calculations. He analyzed the electronic structure and electrochromic response of Ni-deficient NiO. In particular, he showed that electrochromic changes do not result only from Ni²⁺/Ni³⁺ redox transformations. Instead, the occupation of polaronic and bipolaronic states also plays an important role. As a result, these states significantly affect the electronic structure and optical properties of NiO.

The seminar was organized within the activities of the Center for Solid State Physics and New Materials and as part of the HIP-2D-QM project, which is funded by the European Union through the Horizon Europe ERA Chair programme. Furthermore, the event contributed to ongoing efforts to strengthen research capacities in solid-state physics, electronic materials, and computational materials science at the Institute of Physics Belgrade.

The Institute of Physics Belgrade hosted a workshop titled “Financial Aspects of Horizon Europe Proposals”, organized within the HIP-2D-QM Horizon Europe project as part of its capacity-building activities. The workshop was delivered by Marija Šola Spasić and aimed to strengthen the competencies of researchers and administrative staff in preparing and managing Horizon Europe project proposals.

The session covered key Horizon Europe financial rules, the alignment of EU and national regulations, and personnel costs, with special focus on lump sum calls and practical aspects of budget preparation and implementation. The interactive format enabled participants to deepen their understanding of Horizon Europe funding schemes and enhance institutional readiness for future EU-funded projects.

The Institute of Physics Belgrade organized a one-day workshop titled “How to Write a Horizon Europe Twinning Project Proposal” on 26 January 2026. The workshop brought together 21 participants, mainly researchers and staff from the Institute of Physics Belgrade, with a clear focus on preparation for the Horizon Europe Twinning call.

The workshop was led by Prof. Dr. Goran Stojanović and focused on the key objectives, requirements, and evaluation criteria of the Horizon Europe Twinning call. Participants gained insight into how institutions can position themselves for successful participation in the call and strengthen their role in European research collaboration.

The event was organized within the HIP-2D-QM project as part of ongoing capacity-building activities aimed at strengthening the Centre for Solid State Physics and New Materials and enhancing the overall research capacity of the Institute of Physics Belgrade.

The workshop highlighted Horizon Europe Twinning projects as an important instrument for institutional development, international networking, and long-term research excellence.

The Workshop on Integrating Simulations and Experiments for Advanced Applications took place on 13 January 2026 at the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SASA) in Belgrade. The HIP-2D-QM project co-organized the event together with the BLESSED and ULTIMATE-I projects. The workshop brought together 13 participants from 7 institutions.

For HIP-2D-QM, the workshop served as a key dissemination and networking activity. It provided a focused setting to present research that directly supports the project’s main goals. In particular, the discussions emphasized charge transport in two-dimensional materials and the integration of simulations with experiments.

A central contribution came from Dr Jelena Pešić, a member of the HIP-2D-QM project team. In her presentation, “Engineering Current Paths in MoS₂ Nanonetworks for Thin-Film Electronics,” she showed how combining in-operando experimental techniques with network modelling reveals dominant conduction pathways and junction-limited transport. These results strongly align with the scientific objectives of the HIP-2D-QM project.

In addition, speakers from the BLESSED and ULTIMATE-I projects shared complementary results on functional materials, advanced modelling, and industrial applications. As a result, the workshop encouraged knowledge exchange across projects and disciplines.

Overall, the event strengthened collaboration between related EU-funded projects and confirmed the role of HIP-2D-QM in advancing integrated experimental and computational approaches for next-generation electronic materials.

The Gender Strategy Training was held yesterday, 1 December 2025, from 10:00 to 13:00 CET, via Zoom.
The session focused on strengthening the understanding and implementation of gender equality strategies within research and academic environments.

Dr Romana Jordan and Dr Maja Remškar from the Jožef Stefan Institute (Ljubljana, Slovenia) delivered insightful lectures on gender equality in science, the development and implementation of Gender Equality Plans (GEPs), and examples of European best practices.

The workshop explored approaches for developing gender equality strategies across research institutions, including tools, data, and actions needed for effective implementation, and discussed how these frameworks can be applied within the Center for Solid State Physics and New Materials (CSSPNM).

The training was organised within the Horizon Europe ERA Chair project HIP-2D-QM and by the Diversity and Gender Dimension Board of the CSSPNM.

On 20 November 2025, Bojana Višić and Jelena Pešić from the HIP-2D-QM project (Institute of Physics Belgrade) participated in the Seventh FAIRmat Users Meeting, held at the Centre for the Science of Materials Berlin (CSMB).

The event brought together researchers, data stewards, and research infrastructure developers from the fields of physics, chemistry, and materials science to discuss the implementation of the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) principles. The program highlighted practical tools and workflows within the NOMAD data infrastructure for collecting, structuring, sharing, and analyzing research data.

The meeting also included hands-on sessions covering graphical user interface (GUI) tools, data structuring, role-based usage, plugin development, and NOMAD Oasis administration.

Participation in this event supports the HIP-2D-QM project’s ongoing efforts to strengthen capacities in research data management and to develop open, high-quality data pipelines for 2D quantum materials, reinforcing its contribution to the European open-science community.

As part of the seminar series organized by the Center for Solid State Physics and New Materials at the Institute of Physics Belgrade, a lecture titled “Symmetry-based Explanation of Dispersions in Two-Dimensional Materials” was held on Wednesday, November 5, 2025, by Dr. Vladimir Damljanović.

Two-dimensional (2D) materials are systems in which atomic nuclei are periodically arranged in two spatial directions and finite in the third, orthogonal one. Examples include graphene, silicene, and transition metal dichalcogenides. Each 2D material belongs to one of 80 possible symmetry groups. The lecture presented the connection between different types of electronic and phononic dispersions (quasiparticles) in a given 2D material and the symmetry group to which that material belongs.

The presentation was based on published results [1–9] concerning non-magnetic 2D materials both with and without spin–orbit coupling.

This seminar was organized as part of the activities related to the HIP-2D-QM project and the ongoing efforts to strengthen the research capacities of the Center for Solid State Physics and New Materials.

As part of the ERA Chair project HIP-2D-QM – Hidden Phases in 2D Quantum Materials, a high-level policy dialogue meeting was held at the Institute of Physics Belgrade (IPB). The meeting gathered representatives of the Global Research Council (GRC) European Regional Meeting, the Science Fund of the Republic of Serbia (SFRS), and the Center for Solid State Physics and New Materials (CSSPNM-IPB).

This policy dialogue is part of the project’s activities dedicated to dissemination, exploitation, and communication, aiming to strengthen the connection between European research policy and national research institutions in Serbia. The GRC European Regional Meeting, co-organized by Science Europe, HUN-REN Hungarian Research Network, and the Science Fund of Serbia, brings together major European research and innovation funding agencies.

Within this framework, the visit to IPB highlighted Serbia’s growing contribution to European research cooperation and showcased the achievements of CSSPNM-IPB. Researchers presented their scientific results, ongoing projects, and international collaborations developed under the HIP-2D-QM ERA Chair initiative.

By engaging policy makers, research funders, and scientists, HIP-2D-QM continues to build bridges between science, innovation, and policy—enhancing both the visibility and impact of Serbian research across Europe.

Photos by Bojan Džodan