News

Over the last few months, we have been publishing in episodes a series of video interviews on the future of computational materials science. The whole series is now available on a dedicated page of the MARVEL website and through a YouTube playlist. Filmed during Psi-k 2025 in Lausanne, the interviews feature former and current MARVEL members and other world-renowned expert in the field who were in Lausanne for the conference. In each interview, they discuss the accomplishments of the last decades, the remaining challenges, the impact of AI and provide some advice to young scientists. With Giulia Galli, Georg Kresse, Peter Haynes, Zoë Holmes, Michele Ceriotti, Shobhana Narasimhan, Michele Kotiuga, Giovanni Pizzi, Viriginie de Mestral, Xingao Gong, Nicola Marzari.

The Faculty of Science and Medicine of the University of Fribourg is inviting applications for the position of Professor of Data-Driven Materials Discovery at the Adolphe Merkle Institute (AMI). The AMI is a scientifically independent institute supported by a private foundation and integrated into the Faculty of Science and Medicine of the University of Fribourg. The successful candidate will have an exceptional track record of international research excellence in data-driven materials discovery, appropriate to their career stage. Their research programme should encompass artificial intelligence, machine learning and data-driven discovery methods applied to materials such as polymers, colloids, self-assembled systems, biomaterials and living materials. The deadline for applications is May 31, 2026.

The American Physical Society recently launched a new journal for AI and machine learning in the physical sciences called PRX Intelligence. Former MARVEL PI Anatole von Lilienfeld is the chief editor, MARVEL director Nicola Marzari is one of the deputy editors, and MARVEL deputy director Michele Ceriotti is one of the associated editors. At the APS Global Physics Summit in March, the editors shared their vision for this new journal in video interview "AI Meets Physics: Inside the New Journal PRX Intelligence".

The group of Prof. Michael Schüler at the University of Fribourg and at Paul Scherrer Institute is looking for a motivated and curious PhD student to join the group and work at the exciting frontier of first-principles modeling of orbital angular momentum in solids. The project spans chiral materials and orbitronics — a rapidly growing field with rich physics and real prospects for next-generation spintronic and orbitronic devices.

Registration to the science summer camps organized by the EPFL's Science Outreach Department in August 2026 are opening on Monday 24 March at 12:30 and will fill up quickly. With the objective of promoting MARVEL-related fields, especially toward girls, and encouraging them to choose scientific and engineering careers, MARVEL has supported throughout the years the summer camp in chemistry for girls and boys 11-13 years old (taking place in 2026 from 3 to 7 August) and the summer camp on materials science Matériaux super géniaux for girls 11-13 years old (in 2026, from 10 to 14 August). 

During the Psi-k 2025 that took place from 25 to 28 August 2025 in Lausanne, we interviewed several MARVEL members or top experts in computational materials science and asked them how they see the future of the field. Over the past few months we have been publishing the resulting interviews that present a range of diverse perspectives on the challenges and opportunities that await the community. The interviews are also an opportunity to assess the impact of MARVEL and its impact on the field overall. This month we complete the series with the interviews with MARVEL members Giovanni Pizzi from PSI and Virginie de Mestral from ETH Zurich, with the Funan University professor Xingao Gong, and with MARVEL director Nicola Marzari. All the interviews are collected in a playlist on the Materials Cloud YouTube channel.   

Three new collections of portraits of women professors in Mathematics, Chemistry and Physics are now on display across EPFL’s School of Basic Sciences, ten years after the initial installation in Materials Science. Come and discover this new opportunity to showcase role models and encourage young women to choose a career in science.

We are happy to announce that Lisa Ruth Andreozzi (Sapienza, Roma), Natalie E. Hooven (Univ. Wisconsin, Madison), and Ruth Mora Soto (Univ. Politècnica de Catalunya) were granted INSPIRE Potentials – MARVEL Master's Fellowships after the November 2025 call. The three women will join MARVEL labs for a 3 to 6 month research project — congratulations!

Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg (Sweden) invites applications for two Assistant or Associate Professor positions as WISE Fellows in the area of Materials Science for a Sustainable Future.

The MARVEL community gathered in Grindelwald for the final MARVEL Review and Retreat to reflect on the program’s 12-year journey and celebrate the connections, collaborations, and sense of community that have grown over the years. From lively project sessions and poster discussions to a pub quiz and spontaneous gatherings, the retreat offered a unique mix of science, friendship, and reflection, celebrating both the NCCR’s achievements and the lasting impact it will have on participants and the wider research community.

Two more interviews filmed during the Psi-k 2025 that took place from 25 to 28 August in Lausanne, presenting a range of diverse perspectives on the challenges and opportunities that await the community. The interviews are also an opportunity to assess the impact of MARVEL and its impact on the field overall. Here are the interviews to Michele Kotiuga, a former MARVEL member who is now with the company Materials Design, and Indian professor Shobhana Narasimhan from the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research in Bengaluru.

CP2K is an open-source quantum chemistry and solid state physics software package that can perform atomistic simulations of solid state, liquid, molecular, periodic, material, crystal, and biological systems, and that was developed by Jürg Hutter’s group at the University of Zurich with support by MARVEL. It has received the Scientific Originality Prize at the second Helmholtz Software Award, assigned by the Helmholtz Association, Germany’s largest research organization.