Funded by Tianjin University and BICTAM, an international workshop on Pattern Formation in Soft Materials was hosted by Tianjin University from 1st to 4th June, 2015 in Tianjin. The workshop attracted 85 participants from home and abroad to be present. Professor Zhigang Suo from Harvard University in the United States and Professor Yibin Fu from Keele University in the United Kingdom served as co-chairmen of the workshop.
The workshop received more than 50 abstracts and 45 of them are selected as reports. Eminent and internationally known experts and scholars in the research field of soft materials such as Professor John.W. Hutchinson from Harvard University in the United States, Professor M. Ben Amar from École normale supérieure in France, Professor D. Bigoni from University of Trento in Italy, and Professor R.C. Hayward from University of Massachusetts Amherst are especially invited to the workshop to exchange ideas. They made reports on the themes of“Mechanics of wrinkle/ridge transitions in thin film/substrate systems”、“Growth of living fibrous tissues: from biofilms to fibrosis”、“Discontinuities, localization, ellipticity vs stress channelling in extreme Cosserat materials”, and“Defening reconfigurable 3D structures through buckling of polymer plates, shells, and multilayers”, respectively.
The workshop included many great academic reports by renowned experts and scholars which attest to the workshop’s level of excellence. All the reports are rich in content while reflecting research status and trend in the field of soft materials. In the four-day workshop, everyone discussed issues of common concern in a broad and heated manner. Participants agreed that the workshop on soft materials is well-timed and very successful. BICTAM Workshop on Pattern Formation in Soft Materials seeks to promote communication, exchange, and research development in the research field of soft materials mechanics to move forward.
