Graphene Week 2015 has drawn to a close after a hugely successful conference in Manchester. More than 600 delegates at the Graphene Flagship event last week presented and discussed a mass of outstanding science and engineering research results, and took part in a number of fringe sessions, including a BBC World Service panel discussion and an open forum. They also enjoyed the premiere of Graphene Suite – a musical composition by the National Graphene Institute’s composer-in-residence.

“Graphene Week has firmly established itself as the premiere conference on graphene and related materials,” says Graphene Flagship director Jari Kinaret. “At Graphene Week 2015, researchers from across the world reported on new, exciting discoveries and applications, including graphene-based sensors that outperform existing technologies by a factor of 100. They also looked at advances in the fabrication of new structures, and many other topics. For the flagship consortium, Graphene Week is a chance to meet with colleagues, exchange ideas and experiences across disciplinary boundaries, and find inspiration.”

The organisers of and delegates to Graphene Week may have dispersed, but reporting from the conference is not yet complete. Over the coming days we shall publish a number of digests from the science and other sessions of Graphene Week 2015.

This first post-conference communication will look at the closing ceremony, and the handover from Manchester to the Polish hosts of Graphene Week 2016. We shall then rewind, summarising the science highlights following the first day of the conference.

Manchester says thanks – Warsaw see you next year

On Friday afternoon, at the end of a long and intense week at the University of Manchester conference centre, Graphene Week 2015 chair and Manchester academic Cinzia Casiraghi brought the proceedings to a close, reeling off a long list of acknowledgements to the individuals who made the whole thing possible.

The list included the speakers and poster presenters, the session chairs, programme committee and scientific advisory committee, the event manager, reporters and flagship communications team, and a band of local volunteers who made it all happen on the day. All were invited onto the stage, and there thanked for their efforts before and during the event.

Casiraghi then bid farewell to those present, and handed over to Włodek Strupiński, whose Institute of Electronic Materials Technology in Warsaw will from 13-17 June 2016 host the 11th Graphene Week. Strupiński gave a brief speech, devoting most of his presentation to a video featuring the city and university of Warsaw – “City of Chopin”,“City of Striking Contrasts”, and “City with Soul”.