As tradition requires, members of the PCT group attended the TU Ball 2024, which was held at one of the most magnificent ballrooms in Austria – the Hofburg Palace. The fancy setting inside the Imperial Palace guaranteed a glamorous and unforgettable evening.

(Disclaimer: pictures were taken beforehand in our institute’s facilities).

The PCT Christmas party was as always a true celebration of togetherness. The morning started with culinary activities, brining all the PCT members together to prepare many delightful dishes. Our festive spirit continued to grow as we all joined the celebration together with our alumni students, which added a touch of nostalgia. One of the highlights of our party was the traditional presentation from our postDoc’s, which added an extra layer of joy to our celebration. All PCT-members participated in ‘Schrottwichteln’ and the beautifully wrapped presents found their place under our Christmas tree. The party was a perfect blend of good food, laughter and the spirit of giving.

The Radtech Europe Conference and Exhibition in October 2023 featured many successful presentations from our side. Interesting contributions from both the scientific and industrial side and some very nice food made this visit to Munich well worth it!

On October 4th, 2023, the Nobel Prize laureates in Chemistry were awarded. The PCT prepared a huge pot of chili con carne for this event and listened together to the announcement during the Lunch break.

From 4th to 7th of September 2023, Bratislava hosted the Polymer Meeting 15. The big delegation from PCT (Florian M., Florian P., Antonella, Klaus, Selina and Markus) used this opportunity to present different topics of (photo)polymerization and also enjoyed the gala dinner at a picturesque vineyard.

Florian M. also enlightened the conference with his poster titled “Novel radical photoinitiators based on germanium with long wavelength absorption for high curing depth” and was awarded a poster prize. Congratulations!

In September we participated in the annual IAS-teambuilding trip. This year’s goal was a guided tour through the first district with a subsequent quiz tour about the more and the lesser known history of the district. Afterwards, the whole institute explored the Prater, before rounding off the trip at the Englischer Reiter with Stelze or Schnitzel. The announcement of the glorious winner team of the quiz tour was the highlight of the evening.

In early summer 2023, the members of PCT went on a teambuilding seminar in Radstadt, in the midst of Salzburg’s mountains. Even though this years planned hike fell short due to the weather, we were able to enjoy joint barbecues, alpine coaster rides, archery and volleyball games. And as a special highlight, our senior staff cooked a delicious Indian meal for us! Lots of ideas were generated and shared over the retreat, and our batteries were charged to tackle new research ideas once back in the lab.

In May 2023, Katharina and Larissa had the opportunity to present their work at the European Polymer Congress, focusing on Dynamic Polymers, held in Bertinoro, Italy. This intimate conference provided them with a platform to engage in discussions on the primary challenges alongside world‑leading professors, editors, engineers, and researchers in this critical field. Their efforts were further acknowledged with an award for the best oral presentation. Their return to Vienna was marked by a plethora of research ideas and promising prospects for future collaborations on upcoming projects.

From May 2^nd to May 4^th, the Annual Meeting of the Austrian Cluster for Tissue Engineering took place at FH Linz. Stefan, Tina, Miriam and Antonella gave excellent talks an presented the recent progress on biomedical photopolymers. Danijela, Anna, Jo, Miriam and Chrissie attended the meeting and gained new insights on the hot topics of tissue engineering.

Antonella even won the “Best Presentation Award” for her talk, making the conference a huge success for the PCT. Congratulations!

The TU Ball took place on 25rd of January in Hofburg. A big group of the PCT decided to dress up nicely and go there together. They dispersed quickly, into different directions which made it almost impossible not to find anybody, although the Hofburg is quite big. This makes it even more mysterious that for the photo only half of the people were found again.

Gathering at Rathaus Wien's famed skating rink, members of the PCT group enjoyed their evening as a social event on the ice. Some gracefully gliding while others found their footing with playful determination. Regardless of skill, the skaters enjoyed the night under the beautiful scenery of the Rathaus and let the evening fade away with a Punsch.

The final hot summer days were celecrated with a large barbecue on the balcony at TU Wien. Together the salads were prepared and the meat was marinated, which our two chefs grilled to perfection. The evening was enjoyed in a relaxed atmosphere.

In September, the whole IAS institute made a trip to Marchegg to intensify the contact between all the synthetic chemistry research groups. After a guided tour in the Landesaustellung and a lunch break, we could choose between a climbing course and archery parkour. The evening was concluded with drinks and food at a Heuriger.

In the heat of the summer, refreshments should not be missing. Therefore, the FBMC hiked through rural Burgenland to taste the typical wines. After a wine tasting, they went comfortably from vintner to vintner with tastings of local products like a Brettljausn.

In July 2022, the members of FBMC went on a retreat and teambuilding seminar in the gorgeous mountains of Salzburg. Activities like hiking, a cave tour, rafting and festive barbecues made for a nice break from Vienna’s summer heat. Fruitful scientific discussions in a casual setting helped freshen up the motivation to return to the lab with new ideas.

After a long break of in-person conferences, the EPF22 finally took place again. Here the PhD students of the FBMC were allowed to present their research work in the form of presentations and posters, which were celebrated at the gala dinner. At the end of the conference, prizes were handed over and we are proud to announce that our colleague Florian Mayer won the first prize for his poster.

The successful conference was celebrated with an extended stay over the weekend. For this purpose, the whole working group traveled to Prague.

On June 24th, members of the faculty gathered for a friendly match of football. The brave team (back row: Julian, Florian M, Florian P, Markus, Philip. Front row: Jo, Klaus, Antonella and Viola) secured the 7^th place.

Unfortunately, some sick and injured losses forced the remaining FBMC team members to focus not only on performing best on the field, but on winning the most important discipline of the day: the Spritzerwertung. Congratulations!

On 24.4.2022 the Vienna City Marathon took place. Antonella (Monomer), Markus (Dimer), Michael (Oligomer) and Forian (Polymer) participated as representatives of the FBMC. They mastered the distance of 42.2 km in a time of 4:00:42 and reached 672^nd place in the relay race. Congratulations!