Graphene Flagship welcomes new Director

Maria Abrahamsson is a full professor of physical chemistry at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden. She works with the Chalmers Graphene Centre, served on the steering board of the Swedish 2D-Tech Centre of Excellence and was formerly the Director for Chalmers’ interdepartmental Materials Science Area of Advance.

Abrahamsson‘s research focuses on light-induced electron and energy transfer processes in materials for solar energy conversion, using photochemical techniques, ultrafast laser spectroscopy, photoelectrochemistry and electrochemical techniques. Her research group studies molecular systems as well as hybrid materials including nanocrystalline semiconductors and sometimes 2D materials. The group also aims at photocatalytic conversion of carbon dioxide with sunlight as the energy input.

“I look forward to working more closely with the Graphene Flagship community and building on its tradition of bringing science out of the lab and into applications that can solve some of society’s pressing challenges. Furthermore, I welcome the opportunity to guide the initiative into the future,” Abrahamsson says.

“We are excited to welcome Maria Abrahamsson to the Graphene Flagship and are confident that there will be a smooth transition moving forward,” says Aymard de Touzalin Head of Unit in charge of the Graphene Flagship in the European Commission’s DG CONNECT.

Sailing to new horizons

Former-Director Patrik Johansson has now taken a position as professor in chemistry with a specialisation in batteries at Uppsala University and will act as Director for the European Commission’s Battery 2030+ initiative with which he has a long-standing relationship through their BIG-MAP project. Johansson has worked at Chalmers for over 25 years, contributed to the Graphene Flagship’s Energy Storage work package in Core 3 and stepped up as Vice-Director in 2021.

Johansson is proud of the Graphene Flagship’s accomplishments and his role in the initiative – particularly the opportunity to chair Graphene Week 2023 in Gothenburg. Having taken the helm of the Graphene Flagship as it transitioned from a single project to an initiative made up of 14 unique projects, Johansson played a pivotal role in defining the new Flagship and forging the new community at its heart. Johansson has also worked to ensure that the interests of the Graphene Flagship community were promoted in the formation of the Innovative Advanced Materials Initiative (IAM-I) that will govern the EU’s IAM4EU co-programmed partnership on Innovative Advanced Materials which will be responsible for much of the future funding for graphene and 2D materials research in the future.

“As always, the most rewarding thing is the people, together with the notion of “true” accomplishments – really bringing astonishing things to market – I’m proud to have had a small role in this,” he says. “The legacy of the first ten years is really not mine, but it will forever remain an exclamation mark in the history of European Commission research funding.”

Looking to the future, Johansson says, “I look forward to the new energy from a new environment and the opportunity to create something from scratch for the first time in 25 years!” His journey with the Graphene Flagship may not be completely at an end, however, “I do see many opportunities at the materials level and beyond for collaborations between the Graphene Flagship and Battery 2030+ CSAs and partnerships in the battery area.”