Bio
Dr. Aung Ko Ko Kyaw is an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Southern University of Science and Technology. He received both B.Eng. and Ph.D. degrees from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, in 2007 and 2012, respectively. After that, he worked as a post-doctoral fellow at the laboratory of Nobel Laureate Prof. Alan Heeger at University of California, Santa Barbara, a visiting scholar at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Germany, and a Scientist at the Institute of Materials Research and Engineering of A*STAR, Singapore, before joining SUSTech. He has published more than 140 papers in prestigious journals including Nat. Commun., Energy Environ. Sci., Adv. Mater., Adv. Energy Mater., and Angew. Chem. His research interest focuses on developing organic and perovskite-based optoelectronic devices for energy harvesting, sensing, imaging, and wearable devices. He is recognized as one of the World’s Top 2% Scientists by Stanford University. He is also a recipient of the Distinguished Lectureship Award from the Japanese Chemical Society, Green Talents from German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, and IAAM medal.

Talk
Coordination Electronics: Unlocking the Potential of Hybrid Organic-Inorganic Systems for Semiconductors and Devices

Bio
Dr. Pichaya Pattanasattayavong obtained his PhD in Solid-State Physics from Imperial College London, UK, in 2015, under the supervision of Prof. Thomas Anthopoulos and Prof. Donal Bradley. In the same year, he joined the School of Molecular Science and Engineering, Vidyasirimedhi Institute of Science and Technology (VISTEC), Thailand, as Lecturer and was promoted to Assistant Professor in 2021. He is the Principal Investigator and Head of the Electronic Devices and Materials Innovation (EDM) research group at VISTEC. He has won numerous grants and awards, such as Emerging Investigator from Journal of Materials Chemistry C (2019), Thailand’s Young Scientist Award (2020), Outstanding Mid-Career Grant from National Research Council of Thailand (2022), research grant from the US Air Force Office of Scientific Research (2022), Distinguished Lectureship Award from Chemical Society of Japan (2024), and most recently, Thailand’s Young Materials Researcher Award (2024). Pichaya also applies his expertise in developing practical technologies with industries in Thailand. One of the projects on smart materials development has led to the establishment of a spin-off company, Cleantech & Beyond, for which Pichaya is serving as CEO and CTO.

Talk
Probing Charge Generation in Y6-Based Organic Solar Cells by Ultrafast Spectroscopy

Bio
Safakath Karuthedath is an Assistant Professor at Tsinghua SIGS, China, where he heads the Ultrafast Spectroscopy and Device Physics Lab. His research focuses on energy conversion in photovoltaic materials and devices using advanced optical and electro-optical spectroscopies. He earned his Ph.D. in Condensed Matter Physics and Nanotechnology from the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM), Spain, in 2015. After postdoctoral and research scientist roles at KAUST, Saudi Arabia, he joined Tsinghua in 2023. With over 50 publications in top-tier journals, he has received awards including the NSF China Excellent Young Scientist Award (2024) and Overseas Excellent Researcher Award (2023), Shenzhen Peacock Talent Award (2023), and Tsinghua SIGS-DAIKIN Best Teacher Award (2024).

Talk
High-purity precursor with film structuring for high-performing perovskite solar cells

Bio
Dr. Yong ZHANG is an Assistant Professor in the Sustainable Energy and Environment Thrust at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou). He received his Ph.D. degree from School of Chemical Engineering at Sungkyunkwan University, South Korea in 2020, under the supervision of Professor Nam-Gyu Park. Before his current position, Dr. Zhang served as a Presidential Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow and Research Assistant Professor (Associate Researcher) at the Southern University of Science and Technology. His research focuses optoelectronic materials and devices, particularly perovskite solar cells.