Two PhD students from IMT Nord Europe honoured with two E-MRS Young Researcher Awards

Recognition for the outstanding quality of their presentations

The European Materials Research Society (E-MRS) Young Researcher Awards (YRA) are intended to honour and encourage graduate students whose academic achievements and current materials research display a high level of excellence and distinction. E-MRS seeks to recognize students of exceptional ability who show promise for significant future achievement in materials research.

Hui Shen and Mathilde Delcourt, two PhD students from IMT Nord Europe, each received a Young Researcher Award on May 29, 2025 at the E-MRS Spring Meeting 2025 in Strasbourg, France, as a recognition of their outstanding presentations.

Mathilde Delcourt, a PhD student at both the Centre for Materials & Processes (CERI MP) and the Centre for Energy & Environment (CERI EE), was competing in the Symposium G dedicated to flexible, stretchable and printable electronic materials for sustainable healthcare, sensing and actuation, energy applications and interconnections.

Her award-winning presentation focused on the printing of bio-based piezoelectric inks using the Direct Ink Writing process, with a particular emphasis on the interplay between ink formulation, printing parameters, and printed design geometries. The objective: to predict optimal conditions for printing piezoelectric or conductive inks and enable their integration into functional electronic devices, such as energy harvesters.

Her PhD project is conducted as part of the European project SUINK (www.suink.eu), dedicated to sustainable printed electronics.

« I would like to thank all the partners of the SUINK project and IMT Nord Europe for giving me the opportunity to work on such a promising topic. I’m also very grateful to my advisors Prof Cédric Samuel, Dr Caroline Duc, and Dr Tom Lacassagne, as well as everyone who supports me daily with their valuable advice »

Mathilde Delcourt, PhD student
Centre for Materials & Processes and Centre for Energy & Environment

Hui Shen, a PhD student at the Centre for Materials & Processes, was competing in the Symposium I dedicated to designed and engineered soft materials for biomedicine and bioelectronics.

His award-winning presentation was entitled ‘’Industrial production of piezoelectric Poly(L-lactide) films: from fundamental process–structure–property relationships to emerging applications”.

His work marks a significant scientific achievement: the first decoupling of the piezoelectric contribution from the oriented amorphous phase in PLA, leading to a 30% improvement in piezoelectric performance compared to values reported in the literature. This research brings us closer to a sustainable piezoelectric alternative to traditional fluorinated polymers such as PVDF.

His PhD work is carried out in the frame of the ANR JCJC GENEPI project funded by the French Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR).

« I’m honoured to receive this E-MRS Young Researcher Award. Heartfelt thanks to the E-MRS jury, and to my advisors Prof Cédric Samuel and Dr Sébastien Charlon for their invaluable guidance and support throughout this journey.»

Hui Shen, PhD student
Centre for Materials & Processes