The 1st International Online Conference on Lubricants and Tribological Contacts
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The 1st International Online Conference on Lubricants and Tribological Contacts
Part of the International Online Conference on Lubricants and Tribological Contacts series
Event's Timezone: Central European Time
19 July 2026
16 August 2026
10 November 2026
Lubricants, Tribology, Lubrication, Wear, Friction, Contacts, Surface
The IOCLTC 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 iocltc2026@mdpi.com.
Welcome from the Chair
We are delighted to invite you to the upcoming conference, the 1st International Online Conference on Lubricants and Tribological Contacts (IOCLTC 2026). This online conference is organised by the MDPI open access journal Lubricants (ISSN 2075-4442, Impact Factor 2.9) and will be held on 16–17 November 2026.
This first conference will cover a significant part of the very broad scope and themes of the journal, which is rather unique in the field of tribology and associated disciplines. The program is structured around the following key sessions:
S1. Lubricants
Engage directly with cutting-edge research, exchange insights with global academic and industry leaders, and build valuable connections. We ensure inclusive participation by offering free online registration, eliminating geographical and financial barriers to knowledge and networking. All submitted abstracts undergo review by our esteemed scientific committee, guaranteeing a conference program of exceptional quality and relevance.
We are deeply indebted to Lubricants, the cornerstone journal enabling this inaugural conference. As a major forum since 2013, Lubricants has promoted scientific progress through high-impact publications, fair and rigorous review processes, and strong community engagement, including impactful Travel Grants and conference sponsorships. The journal now extends its proactive commitment directly through establishing this conference series. This event mirrors Lubricants' broad scope and thematic priorities, further solidifying its pivotal role in advancing tribology research globally.
We, therefore, invite you to participate and contribute your research findings to an event which is sure to be successful and ground-breaking.
Kind regards,
More News about MDPI Conferences
Event Chair
Homer Rahnejat has been the Editor-in-Chief of Lubricants since 2017. He led the 10th anniversary Special Issue of the journal. He was also the Editor-in-Chief of IMechE’s Journal of Multi-body Dynamics (1999-2024). He graduated from Imperial College (MSc, PhD, DIC) in Applied Mechanics and elastohydrodynamics, has worked in the UK academic sector for 36 years and in industry for 6.5 years. He has chaired several international symposia sponsored by international institutions and companies, and has published or edited 8 books and Proceedings, 475 journal, conference papers and book chapters, many in the stated fields of this conference.
Session Chairs
Prof. Dr. Robert Ian Taylor
School of Engineering and Computing, University of Lancashire, Preston, UK
Ian has a background in physics and is a Fellow of both the Institute of Physics and the STLE. He spent 30 years in the lubricants business in various roles, including being Global Technology Manager for Shell's Lubrication Science team (2006 to 2012). His research focused on energy-efficient lubricants, and he also managed Shell's University research links in tribology, working with UK, US, and Chinese Universities. Ian has been a Visiting Professor at the University of Central Lancashire since 2020, working on improved models for mixed/boundary friction.
Dr. Sashi Balakrishnan
Castrol, Reading, UK
Dr. Sashi Balakrishnan is a technology leader with over 25 years of experience across the automotive, lubricants, and motorsport sectors. He currently serves as OEM Technology Manager at bp (Castrol), leading technical partnerships with global OEMs and shaping long‑term powertrain and low‑carbon technology roadmaps. His career spans senior roles at BP, Mercedes‑AMG High Performance Powertrains (Formula 1), Group Lotus, and PROTON, covering advanced tribology, powertrain R&D, and engineering transformation. He holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering, is a Chartered Engineer, and is a widely published author and invited conference speaker.
Prof. Enrico Ciulli
Department of Civil and Industrial Engineering, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
"Laurea" in Mechanical Engineering cum Laude (University of Pisa, 1984). Employed at the University of Pisa since 1984. Full Professor of Applied Mechanics since 2006. Chairman of the PhD Course in Mechanical Engineering from 2003 to 2007. Research activity covering several tribological subjects as elastohydrodynamic and hydrodynamic lubrication, friction, and wear. Experimental investigations on gears and journal bearings. Member of the Committees of several International Conferences. In particular, Chair of the Program Committee of the 5th World Tribology Congress (Torino, 2013). Member of scientific Associations, particularly AIT (Italian Association of Tribology), ASME, and IFToMM. Secretary of AIT from 2006 to 2008 and President from 2009 to 2014. Chair of the IFToMM Technical Committee for Tribology since 2020. Member of the Editorial Boards of international journals. Author of more than 200 scientific papers and of three didactical books on Lubrication and Mechanics.
Dr. Ramin Rahmani
Wolfson School of Mechanical, Electrical and Manufacturing Engineering, Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK
Dr Ramin Rahmani is a Senior Lecturer in Tribology and Dynamics (Tribodynamics) at the Wolfson School of Mechanical, Electrical, and Manufacturing Engineering, Loughborough University. He is also a Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy. With a background in Mechanical Engineering and a PhD in tribology, Dr Rahmani’s research centres on the study of friction, wear, and lubrication in mechanical systems, with a particular emphasis on automotive and powertrain applications. His research aims to enhance energy efficiency and component durability, focusing mainly on powertrain systems. Employing a multiphysics and multiscale combined experimental and computational analysis approach, his research explores synergetic lubricant–surface optimisation for mitigating friction and wear, while also assessing impact on noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH) performance in conventional, hydrogen-fuelled, and electrified propulsion systems. Dr Rahmani is an Associate Editor for the ASME Journal of Tribology as well as Proc. IMechE, Part J: Journal of Engineering Tribology.
Prof. Dr. Giuseppe Carbone
Department of Mechanics, Mathematics and Management, Polytechnic University of Bari, Bari, Italy; School of Physics, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, China
Giuseppe Carbone received his MSc in Mechanical Engineering (with honors) in 1998 and a PhD in Advanced Production Systems in 2002 from Politecnico di Bari, where he is currently a Full Professor of Applied Mechanics and Tribology. He served as Head of the Department of Mechanics, Mathematics, and Management (2018–2024) and has been President of the Italian Tribology Association since 2021. He founded the Smart Tribology Lab, internationally recognized for research on tribology, contact mechanics, viscoelasticity, and bio-inspired surfaces, and is leading the China–Italy International Joint Laboratory on Smart Tribology. He has authored over 300 publications (≈170 journal papers), with more than 7,000 citations (H-index 45), and is Associate Editor of Tribology International and Chaos, Solitons & Fractals.
Dr. Patricia Johns-Rahnejat
School of Engineering and Computing, University of Lancashire, Preston, UK
Patricia graduated from Imperial College London (MSc, PhD, DIC). Her main research is in tribology and contact mechanics (semi-infinite or layered bonded elastic and viscoelastic solids, such as coatings). She also has publications in experimental monitoring of contacts (thin film solids) and numerical analysis of elastohydrodynamics. Another area of interest is active tribology of tilting pad thrust bearings. She has academic research experience funded by the British Ministry of Defence and Westland Helicopters PLC and has industrial R&D experience at Rolls-Royce PLC (aerospace sector). She has also been a Guest Editor for four Special Issues of the journal Lubricants. For the last six years, she has been a member of the Jost Institute of Tribotechnology at the University of Lancashire in the UK.
Prof. Dr. Adolfo Senatore
Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Salerno, Fisciano, Italy; Department of Mechanical, Energy and Biotechnology Engineering, Vytauto Didžiojo Universitetas, Kaunas, Lithuania
Ph.D. in Tribology, University of Pisa. Full professor (2021-current) at the Department of Industrial Engineering of the University of Salerno, visiting scientist at Technical University of Berlin (D) under a mobility program funded by DAAD, and visiting professor at the Czech Technical University ČVUT in Prague (CZ). Since 2025, Adolfo Senatore has been chief researcher at the Department of Mechanical, Energy, and Biotechnology Engineering of Vytauto Didžiojo Universitetas, Kaunas (LT). Editorial board member of journals in the fields of mechanical engineering, frictional systems, and mechatronics, he published 250+ papers, including circa 90 high quality journals. Recipient of 7 paper awards from conferences or journals, coordinator of 10+ research projects under public bodies and/or industry funding.
Prof. Dr. Yong Sun
Jihua Laboratory, Foshan, China
Yong Sun is an Engineering Professor at Jihua Laboratory (JHL), Foshan, China. Before joining JHL, he was a Professor of Surface Engineering at the School of Engineering and Sustainable Development, De Montfort University, Leicester, U.K. He has many years of experience in materials engineering education and research. He has worked at several institutions, including the University of Birmingham in the U.K., Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, De Montfort University in the U.K., and Jihua Laboratory in China. His major research areas include surface engineering, tribology, corrosion, and tribocorrosion. He has published more than 240 journal and conference papers, with citations of more than 9250 and an H-index of 52.
Prof. Dr. Henara Lillian Costa
School of Engineering, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande, Rio Grande, Brazil
Henara Costa is a Full Professor at the Federal University of Rio Grande, Brazil. She obtained her B.S. (1992) and M.Sc. (1995) degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the Federal University of Uberlândia, Brazil, and her PhD from Cambridge University, UK (2005). She has worked with tribology for over 25 years, with a main focus on reducing friction losses using surface modification and coatings, or lubrication. She has authored over 200 manuscripts in journals, book chapters, and conference proceedings. She was the editor-in-chief of the journal “Surface Topography: Metrology and Properties” (IOP) and is currently Associate Editor of the “Journal of the Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering” (Springer). She is a member of IFToMM and of editorial boards of several tribology-related journals. She is the coordinator of the National Research Institute on Green Tribology for the Energy Transition. She is also a visiting professor at Federal University of Uberlândia and at the Federal University of Pelotas, in Brazil, and the Brazilian representative at IEA/AMT, appointed by the Ministry of Energy and Mining.
Event Committee
Tribology Research Center (TREC), Institute of Engineering Design and Product Development, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Hamburg, Germany
grease tribology; energy dissipation in lubricants; rheological surface contact; viscoelastic lubricants; energetic wear modeling dissipative structures
machine learning; predictive maintenance; failure prediction; tribology
Laboratory of Advanced Lubricating Materials, Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
organic synthesis; lubricating additive; lube oil; grease; nanomaterials; tribological test; tribochemistry; surface and interface chemistry; tribological mechanism; surface characterization; molecular simulation; biomaterials
The School of Aerospace, Mechanical & Mechatronics Engineering, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
tribology; polymer composites; nanoindentation; additive manufacturing
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Merced, CA, USA
nanomechanics; nanotribology; scanning probe microscopy; surface science
Chemical Engineering Department, Chemical Process and Product Technology Research Center (Pro2TecS), Campus de “El Carmen”, University of Huelva, Huelva, Spain
rheology of lubricants; thermal analysis; lubricating greases; vegetable oils-based biolubricants; nanocellulose-based oleogels; smart-lubricants; friction
Materials and Engineering Research Institute, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, UK
wear and friction properties; wear mechanisms; transmission electron microscopy; residual stress measurement; PVD hard coatings; solid lubricant coatings; plasma nitriding; wear resistant steels; failure investigation
Registration
Instructions for Authors
IOCLTC2026 will accept abstracts only. The accepted abstracts will be available online on Sciforum.net during and after the conference.
Important Deadline
1. Deadline for abstract submission: 19 July 2026.
2. Abstract acceptance notification: 16 August 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
1. 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
2. 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
3. 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.
2. Only live presentations are accepted.
3. Presenters who do not attend the live session will not be eligible for awards or presentation certificates.
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 presentations using PowerPoint or equivalent software for online display alongside their abstract. If provided, slides will be presented directly on the conference website via the Sciforum.net slide viewer and should be prepared in the same format as a traditional conference presentation of research results. All slides must be converted to PDF format prior to submission to ensure accurate online display.
Each presentation should:
- Communicate the research question or objective, methodology, key results, and scientific novelty;
- Use a clear and logical structure, typically Introduction-Methods-Results&Discussion structure (IMRaD) or a field-appropriate alternative;
- Emphasize the relevance of the work;
- Support key findings with clear figures or tables where appropriate;
- Conclude with a critical interpretation of the results and their impact.
Posters should be designed to allow independent understanding of the research and clearly present the essential elements of the study.
Each poster should include:
- Title, authors, affiliations, and contact details (clearly displayed at the top);
- Brief introduction outlining the research objective;
- Concise methodology summary;
- Main results, supported by clear, well-labeled figures or tables where appropriate;
- Short conclusion summarizing key findings and their relevance.
Technical specifications:
Dimensions (cm): 84.1 × 118.9 (A0 - portrait)
Resolution: 300 dpi
Pixel size (portrait, 300 dpi): 9933 × 14043 px
Minimum font size: ≥24
The poster template can be downloaded HERE. We will reach out to you closer to the dates of the conference with more information.
Note: The uploaded poster may be used as provided and serves as a reference. However, as long as the technical specifications are followed, scholars are welcome to use any poster template of their choice.
It is the author's 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
1. Lubricants Journal Publication
Participants in this conference are cordially invited to contribute a full manuscript to the conference's Special Issue (to be updated), published in Lubricants (ISSN 2075-4442, Impact Factor 2.9), with a 20% discount on the publication fee. Please note, 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.
2. 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 Engineering Proceedings (ISSN: 2673-4591)for free, please submit it after the conference.
Proceedings paper submission deadline: 31 December 2026
Please click HERE to submit your proceeding paper to the Engineering Proceedings, and be sure to disclose the conference information in your cover letter or mention the conference name in your submission.
IOCLTC2026_proceeding_paper_template.dot
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 recognise their outstanding scientific accomplishments, we are pleased to announce the establishment of the Best Oral Presentation Award and Best Poster Award.
The Awards
Number of Awards Available: 4
1. Best Oral Presentation Award
Eligibility: Open to all authors selected as oral speakers who have delivered their presentation. Failure to present, delegation of the presentation to another person, or use of AI-generated voice or similar substitutes will result in disqualification.
Criteria: Evaluation considers scientific rigor (clear, literature-supported research question or hypothesis, appropriate methodology, robust analysis and critical discussion of the results), IMRaD/field-appropriate structure, clarity of presented data (clear, well-labeled figures and tables), presentation skills and audience engagement, demonstrated scientific novelty and impact.
Prize: An award of CHF 200 and a certificate in recognition of your outstanding contribution.
2. Best Poster Award
Eligibility: Open to all authors who have presented their work through posters. Failure to present, delegation of the presentation to another person, or use of AI-generated voice or similar substitutes will result in disqualification.
Criteria: Evaluation considers scientific rigor (clear, literature-supported research question or hypothesis, appropriate methodology, robust analysis, and critical discussion of the results), IMRaD/field-appropriate structure enabling independent understanding, clarity of presented data (clear, well-labeled figures and tables), presentation skills (if orally presented), demonstrated scientific novelty and impact.
Prize: An award of CHF 200 and a certificate in recognition of your outstanding contribution.
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
Ms. Ann Li
Mr. Russell Wang
Ms. Sylvie Shan
Email: iocltc2026@mdpi.com
For inquiries regarding submissions and sponsorship opportunities, please feel free to contact us.
