The 2nd International Online Conference on Gels
The 2nd International Online Conference on Gels
Part of the International Online Conference on Gels series
Event's Timezone: Central European Time
10 August 2026
10 September 2026
4 December 2026
Hydrogels, Organogels, Xerogels, Aerogels, Stimuli-responsive, Multifunctional, Machine Learning, Applications
The IOCG 2026 is Now OPEN for Abstract Submission and Registration
Instructions for authors are available online.
Submit your abstracts HERE.
For any inquiries, please contact us at iocg2026@mdpi.com.
Welcome from the Chairs
It is my pleasure to announce the 2nd International Online Conference on Gels (IOCG 2026). This conference has been organized by the MDPI open access journal Gels (ISSN 2310-2861, Impact Factor 5.3) and will be held online from 9 to 11 December 2026.
The conference will provide an opportunity for scientists and engineers in academia and industry to present their latest research and to participate in discussions and exchange ideas to advance the development of materials with a three-dimensional network structure. The themes of the conference include the following:
- Science, supramolecular structure, and characterization of Gels
- Advanced multifunctional and stimuli-responsive gels and their applications
- Hydrogels, Organogels, xerogels, aerogels, and their applications
- Applications of gels in medicine, pharmacy, and healthcare products
- Applications of gels in agriculture and food science
- Applications of computational methods, AI, and machine learning in gel design
This event will solely be an online conference, which allows for the participation of scientists from all over the world without travel limitations. Participation in this online conference is free of charge.
We look forward to your participation.
Kind regards,
Biomimetic Materials and Tissue Engineering Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of South Carolina, Columbia, USA
Conference Chair
Prof. Dr. Dirk Kuckling
Department of Chemistry, University of Paderborn, Paderborn, Germany
Conference Co-Chair
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Event Chairs
Biomimetic Materials and Tissue Engineering Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of South Carolina, Columbia, USA
Esmaiel Jabbari is Tenured Professor of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering at University of South Carolina. Prof. Jabbari’s laboratory specializes in the creation of multi-cellular tissue models for skeletal tissue engineering and cancer drug delivery. He received Berton Rahn Award in 2012 from AO Foundation and Stephen Milam Award in 2008 from Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Foundation. He was elected to the College of Fellows of American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering in 2013. Prof. Jabbari has authored >250 articles and presented >100 invited lectures. He serves as the Academic Editor for PLOS ONE and Associate Editor of Gels.
Prof. Dr. Dirk Kuckling studied chemistry at the Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel, Germany from 1986 to 1991 and received his doctorate there in 1994 with a thesis on preparative organic chemistry. He then moved to the Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry at TU Dresden, Germany. After an interim stay (2001-2002) as Visiting Assistant Professor at the Department of Chemical Engineering at Stanford University, Palo Alto, USA, he was awarded a teaching license in macromolecular chemistry in 2004. He has been Professor of Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry at Paderborn University, Germany since March 2008. In October 2019, he was appointed (Honorary) Adjunct Professor at Jiangsu University/China. His main interest is the synthesis and characterization of polymer structures including gels with actuator and sensory properties, as support for catalysts, and for drug delivery systems.
Sessions
S2. Advanced multifunctional and multi-responsive gels and their applications
S3. Hydrogels, organogels, xerogels, aerogels, and their applications
S4. Applications of gels in medicine, pharmacy, and healthcare products
S5. Applications of gels in agriculture and food science
S6. Applications of computational methods, AI, and machine learning in gel design
Registration
The registration for IOCG 2026 will be free of charge! The registration includes attendance to all conference sessions.
If you are registering several people under the same registration, please do not use the same email address for each person, but their individual university email addresses. Thank you for your understanding.
Please note that the submission and registration are two separate parts. Only scholars who registered can receive a link to access the conference live streaming.
The deadline for registration is 4 December 2026.
Instructions for Authors
IOCG 2026 will accept abstracts only. The accepted abstracts will be available online on Sciforum.net during and after the conference.
1. Deadline for abstract submission: 10 August 2026.
2. Abstract acceptance notification: 10 September 2026.
Please note:
An abstract acceptance email only confirms that your abstract has been accepted. Oral or poster presentation invitations are determined separately by the conference chairs, and you will receive an additional email with the presentation result.
Abstract Requirements
-
Types of Submissions
- Accepted: Original research abstracts; systematic reviews or meta-analyses abstracts(must comply with PRISMA 2020).
- Not accepted: Narrative, scoping, comparative, perspective, opinion, or essay-style reviews -
Content Requirements
- Length: 200–300 words
- Structure: Introduction, Methods, Results, Conclusions
- Language: Clear, publication-ready English
- Originality: Must be original and unpublished; previously published abstracts will not be considered -
Authorship
- The submitting author must ensure all co-authors approve the content.
- Authors may submit multiple abstracts, but only one abstract per author may be selected for an oral presentation.
The slot for the oral presentation is 15 mins. We advise that your presentation lasts for a maximum of 12 mins, leaving at least 3 mins for the Q&A session.
Authors are encouraged to prepare a presentation in PowerPoint or similar software, to be displayed online along with the abstract. Slides, if available, will be displayed directly on the website using the proprietary slide viewer at Sciforum.net. Slides can be prepared in exactly the same way as for any traditional conference where research results are presented. Slides should be converted to PDF format prior to submission so that they can be converted for online display.
Poster Presentation
- Should include the title, authors, contact details and main research findings, as well as tables, figures and graphs where necessary.
- Size in pixel: 1080 width x 1536 height–portrait orientation.
- Size in cm: 38,1 width x 54,2 height–portrait orientation.
- Font size: ≥16.
- Examples of successful submissions can be viewed here at the following links: (1), (2), (3).
- You can use our free template to create your poster.
The poster template can be downloaded HERE. We will reach out to you closer to the dates of the conference with more information.
It is the authors' responsibility to identify and declare any personal circumstances or interests that may be perceived as inappropriately influencing the representation or interpretation of clinical research. If there is no conflict, please state "The authors declare no conflicts of interest." This should be conveyed in a separate "Conflict of Interest" statement preceding the "Acknowledgments" and "References" sections at the end of the manuscript. Any financial support for the study must be fully disclosed in the "Acknowledgments" section.
MDPI, the publisher of the Sciforum.net platform, is an open access publisher. We believe authors should retain the copyright to their scholarly works. Hence, by submitting an abstract to this conference, you retain the copyright to the work, but you grant MDPI the non-exclusive right to publish this abstract online on the Sciforum.net platform. This means you can easily submit your full paper (with the abstract) to any scientific journal at a later stage and transfer the copyright to its publisher if required.
Publication Opportunities
- Gels Journal Publication
Participants in this conference are cordially invited to contribute a full manuscript to the conference's Special Issue (to be announced), published in Gels (ISSN: 2310-2861, Impact Factor 5.3), with a 20% discount on the publication fee. Please note that if you have IOAP/association discounts, conference discounts will be combined with IOAP/association discounts. Conference discounts cannot be combined with reviewer vouchers. All submitted papers will undergo MDPI’s standard peer-review procedure. The abstracts should be cited and noted on the first page of the paper.
- Proceeding Paper Publication
Authors of accepted abstracts are highly encouraged to submit an extended proceedings paper (ideally 4–8 pages in length) for the conference's dedicated proceedings volume in the Materials Proceedings (ISSN: 2673-4605) for free, please submit it after the conference.
Proceedings paper submission deadline: 27 February 2027.
Please click HERE to submit your proceeding paper to the Materials Proceedings, and be sure to disclose the conference information in your cover letter or mention the conference name in your submission.
IOCG2026-proceeding-paper-templatePublication Notice: Proceedings papers will undergo peer-review procedure. Acceptance at the conference does not ensure final publication.
Manuscripts for the proceedings issue must be formatted as follows:
- Title;
- Full author names;
- Affiliations (including full postal address) and authors' e-mail addresses;
- Abstract;
- Keywords;
- Introduction;
- Methods;
- Results and Discussion;
- Conclusions;
- Acknowledgements;
- References.
Event Awards
To acknowledge the support of the conference's esteemed authors and recognize their outstanding scientific accomplishments, we are pleased to launch the Best Oral Presentation Award and Best Poster Award.
The Awards
Number of Awards Available: 6
- Eligibility: Open to all authors selected as oral speakers who have delivered their presentation.
- Criteria: Evaluation based on content quality, delivery clarity, audience interaction, and overall impact.
- Prize: A prize of CHF 200 and a certificate celebrating your achievement.
Best Poster Award
- Eligibility: Open to all authors who have presented their work through posters.
- Criteria: Evaluation based on scientific merit, creativity, and ability to attract and engage viewers.
- Prize: A prize of CHF 200 and a certificate celebrating your achievement.
Winner Announcement: The award winners will be evaluated and selected by the scientific committee after the conference. Results will be announced on the website and all winners will be individually contacted via email.
Sponsors and Partners
For information regarding sponsorship and exhibition opportunities, please click here.
Organizers
Media Partners
Conference Secretariat
Mrs. Ioana Banu
Mr. Ionut Spatar
Mr. Russell Wang
Email: iocg2026@mdpi.com
For inquiries regarding submissions and sponsorship opportunities, please feel free to contact us.
