What’s happening at SCL? Here’s an overview of group news, media coverage, events, and activities.
2027
Upcoming event: May 23-27, Workshop: Exploring the Universality of Hyperuniformity Across Disciplines.
2026
Upcoming event: September, the launch of a Focus Issue on Non-Equilibrium Soft Matter in the Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter.
June — Serim is speaking at the Self-organized Hyperuniformity in and out of Equilibrium workshop in Italy.
June — Serim is speaking at the CECAM Flagship workshop Disordered Hyperuniformity in China.
May — Serim is speaking at the Gordon Research Conference (GRC): Oscillations and Dynamic Instabilities in Chemical Systems (Link:) in Switzerland.
April — Center for Complex Interactions (CCI) is launched!
January — Prof. Janina Fasano of CNEA & Universidad de Cuyo, Centro Atòmico Bariloche, Argentina, visited SCL and delivered a seminar.
2025
November — Prof. Daniel P. Lathrop of the University of Maryland visited SCL and delivered a seminar.
October — Simon is speaking at the SHIFT conference (Link: ), Spain.
October — Sibel is speaking at the Navigating the Frontier of Non-Equilibrium Systems and Collective Phenomena workshop.
October — SCL organised a workshop on Navigating the Frontier of Non-Equilibrium Systems and Collective Phenomena.
June — Lab renovations are finished, and we are kickstarting the efforts to set up the labs!
May — Seleme has successfully defended her PhD.
April — New publication: Ultrafast Laser Synthesis of Zeolites in Advanced Materials (PDF).
April — Serim, Sibel, Selcen, Seleme, and Özgün are attending and speaking at the APS Global Physics Summit, USA.
March — Prof. Marcus Suta of the Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany, visited SCL and delivered a seminar.
March — Abdullah attended the Gordon Research Conference (GRC): Quantum Biology in Italy.
2024
July — Sibel, Özgün, and Abdullah attended the Gordon Research Conference (GRC): Oscillations and Dynamic Instabilities in Chemical Systems in Switzerland.
June — Özgün attended the Gordon Research Conference (GRC): Image Sciencein USA.
May — Selcen and Özgün attended the Hands-on Machine Learning for Fluid Dynamics in von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics in Belgium.
March — Serim launched a Focus Issue on Hyperuniformity: Exploring Hidden Patterns Across Disciplines in the Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter.
March — Prof. Janina Fasano of CNEA & Universidad de Cuyo, Centro Atòmico Bariloche, Argentina, visited SCL and delivered a seminar.
March — RUB’s feature article highlighting Serim’s ERC StG.
February — Özgün has successfully defended his PhD.
January — Serim is elected as an associated faculty member at the Faculty of Physics and Astronomy of RUB.
January — Serim is speaking at the International Society of Optics and Photonics (SPIE), USA.
2023
December — Serim is speaking at the Cluster of Excellence Living, Adaptive and Energy-autonomous Materials Systems (livMatS), Germany.
October — Serim is speaking at the Faculty of Physics and Astronomy of RUB, Germany.
October — Mathworks highlighted our disordered hyperuniformity work in an article When Order Hides in Plain Sight.
July — We are honoured to welcome Consul General Taylan Özgür Aydın and his team from the Turkish Consulate General in Essen.
July — Serim is speaking at the Cluster of Excellence RESOLV, Germany.
June — Serim is elected to the Board of the Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter.
June — Nominated by the European Women Rectors Association (EWORA), Serim is elected as a Member of the Mediterranean Science Team.
May — Serim is speaking at the Center of Excellence in Life-Inspired Hybrid Materials (LIBER) in Finland.
April — Serim is speaking at the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation - Humboldt Kolleg in Ankara University, Türkiye.
January — Serim is speaking at the Materials Chain Seminar Series, Research Center Future Energy Materials and Systems (RC FEMS), Germany.
January — Simply Complex Labmoved to RUB, Germany.
2022
October — Serim is speaking at the International Materials Research Congress (IMPC) in Mexico.
October — New publication: Book chapter The universality of self-organisation – a path to an atom printer? is published (PDF).
September — Serim received the “International Special Honour” Prize from the Turkish Physical Society.
August — Serim is speaking at the 16th Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Conference (NanoTR 16), Türkiye.
August — Serim is speaking at the Turkish Physical Society Annual Symposium (TFD 38), Türkiye.
July — Serim is speaking at the 8th International Workshop on Nanocarbon Photonics and Optoelectronics (NPO2022), Finland.
July — Serim is speaking at the Department of Electrical and Information Engineering (ETIT) of RUB, Germany.
July — Serim is speaking at the Institute of Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry of Leibniz University Hannover, Germany.
June — Serim elected to the Board of the Young Academy of Europe (YAE).
May — Serim is speaking at the Department of Applied Physics of Aalto University, Finland.
April — Serim is speaking at theFaculty of Mathematics and Physics of Leibniz University Hannover, Germany.
April — Discussing the Turkish brain drain in Independent Türkçe.
March — Serim’s interview by Esra Öz of Independent Türkçe.
February — Discussing dual career aspect in science in Independent Türkçe.
2021
October — Serim is speaking at the School of Physics and Astronomy of Tel Aviv University (virtual).
October — Discussing the importance of fundamental science in Independent Türkçe.
June — New publication: Dynamic evolution of hyperuniformity in a driven dissipative colloidal system in the Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter (PDF).
May — Nominated by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), Serim is elected as a member to the AcademiaNet: Profiles of Leading Women Scientists.
May — Nature Physics publication is critiqued in a series of Inference articles by Michael Engel, Tanja Schilling and Serim Ilday.
March — Serim is speaking at the Biotechnology Institute of Ankara University, Türkiye.
February — Serim is speaking at the Physics Society of METÜ, Türkiye.
2020
November — Nominated by the Academia Europaea (AE); Serim is elected as a Fellow of the Young Academy of Europe (YAE).
November — Serim is speaking at the Israel-Turkey Workshop on Nanoscience and Nanotechnology(virtual).
October — Serim is elected as an “Emerging Leader” by the Editorial Board of the Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter (JPCM).
October — Our Nature Physics publication is endorsed by the journal editors in 15 years of Nature Physics (PDF).
April — Nature Physics publication gathered media attention: “Scientists uncover principles of universal self-assembly” ERC News & Views, Phys.Org, Nanowerk, Science Bulletin, Heritage Daily; “Desvelan los principios matemáticos universales del ensamblaje de átomos y células” ABC Spain, ABC de Sevilla, La Voz de Cádiz; “Universal Self-Assembly and a Curious Distribution Model” Steemit; “Wissenschaftler decken Prinzipien der universellen Selbstorganisation auf” Tekk; “Effect of Basic Principles of Self-Assembly Process on Quantum Dots” Azo Quantum; “Türk bilim insanlarından Kovid-19 araştırmalarına katkı verecek yeni keşif” Anadolu Ajansı, TRT Haber, CNN Türk, NTV..
April — Our Nature Physics publication is listed in Wikipedia’s “2020 in science“ selection (April section; 20 April).
April — Our Nature Physics publication is highlighted in a news & views article Dissipate your way to self-assembly (PDF).
April — New publication: Universality of dissipative self-assembly from quantum dots to human cells in Nature Physics, and made it to the cover (PDF).
2019
December — Serim is speaking at the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics (MBG) of Bilkent University, Türkiye.
December — Serim is speaking at the 23. Sıvı Hal Sempozyumu, Piri Reis University, Türkiye.
November — Serim is speaking at the School of Physics of Trinity College Dublin, Ireland.
November — Serim is speaking at the Department of Physics of METÜ, Türkiye.
November — Serim is awarded an ERC Starting Grant.
October — Serim is speaking at the International Conference on Ultrafast Optical Science (UltrafastLight-2019), Russia.
March — Nature Photonics publication gathered media attention: “Physicists create Star Trek-style holograms” Phys.Org; “Gli ologrammi di Star Trek sono più vicini” la Repubblica; “Physicists Create Star Wars Style Holograms” Scienmag; “A real step towards the virtual holodeck” The Engineer; “Bilkentli akademisyenlerden ‘Uzay Yolu’ hologramı” Hürriyet.
March — New publication: Breaking crosstalk limits to dynamic holography using orthogonality of high-dimensional random vectors in Nature Photonics, also made it to the cover (PDF).
February — Serim is speaking at the Department of Physics of Boğaziçi University, Türkiye.
2018
November — Serim is speaking at the Hacettepe – Bilkent UNAM Sağlık Bilimleri ve Teknolojileri Bilim Çalıştayı ve Stratejik İşbirliği(Link: unam.bilkent.edu.tr/sbt/i-bilim-calistayi-ve-stratejik-isbirligi/), Türkiye.
October — Serim is speaking at the International Conference on Ultrafast Optical Science (UltrafastLight-2018) (Link: ultrafastlight.lebedev.ru/files/UltrafastLight2018PreliminaryProgram05July.pdf), Russia.
August — Serim is speaking at the Department of Physics of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) (Link: wp.phy.cuhk.edu.hk/), Hong Kong.
July — Serim is speaking at the Gordon Research Conference (GRC): Oscillations and Dynamic Instabilities in Chemical Systems(Link: www.grc.org/oscillations-and-dynamic-instabilities-in-chemical-systems-conference/2018/) Switzerland.
May — Serim is awarded the L’Oreal-UNESCO For Women In Science (FWIS) (Link: unam.bilkent.edu.tr/en/2020/09/10/serim-kayacan-ilday-has-been-awarded-loreal-unesco-for-women-in-science/).
May — Serim is speaking at the Department of Physics of Sabancı University (Link: phys.sabanciuniv.edu/), Türkiye.
May — Serim is speaking at the Institute of Neurological Sciences and Psychiatry at Hacettepe University (Link: norobilmer.hacettepe.edu.tr/english/), Türkiye.
May — Serim is speaking at the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation - Young Women Scientist Network Meeting at Ankara University, Türkiye.
January — Serim is speaking at the Center for Soft and Living Matter (CSLM) at the Institute of Basic Science (IBS) (Link: www.ibs.re.kr/cop/bbs/BBSMSTR_000000000739/selectBoardArticle.do, Korea (Link).
January — Simply Complex Lab is established at the National Nanotechnology Research Center (UNAM) at Bilkent University, Türkiye.
2017
December — Serim is speaking at the 23. Yoğun Madde Fiziği Toplantısı at METÜ, Türkiye.
December — Serim is speaking at the Israel-Turkey Workshop on Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (Link: conferences.weizmann.ac.il/NSN2017/israel-turkey-workshop-nanoscale-science-and-nanotechnology) at the Weizmann Institute, Israel.