Current
Suo Tu
Email: suo.tu@kuleuven.be
PhD/Postdoc: PhD in physics, Technische Universität München/Department of Materials Engineering, KU Leuven
Project: Physcis and Polymer Electronics
Suo Tu was born and raised in China. He obtained his bachelor's and master's degrees in Materials Science and developed a strong foundation in materials processing, microstructure control, and related engineering principles. Prior to his doctoral studies, he gained practical research experience as a research assistant at Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt in Germany. He later earned his Dr. rer. nat. in Physics from Technische Universität München, Germany, and worked as a postdoctoral research fellow at the same institution. He further expanded his international research profile as an RTH-ITF Fellow at The University of Hong Kong. He specializes in leveraging advanced characterization technologies, particularly synchrotron radiation light sources, to explore new frontiers in polymer materials. His primary research thrust involves establishing correlations between morphological structures and the dynamics of charge carriers in polymer materials and developing advanced materials and systems. In his leisure time, he enjoys watching TikTok and playing table tennis
Xiaoyan Qing
Email: xiaoyan.qing@kuleuven.be
PhD/Postdoc: PhD in Chemical Engineering, KU Leuven/Department of Materials Engineering, KU Leuven
Project: Hydrogels for bio-inspired synapses
Xiaoyan Qing was born in China. She received her Bachelor's degree in Materials Chemistry and Master's degree in Chemical Engineering. She earned her PhD in Chemical Engineering at KU Leuven. During her PhD, she was awarded internal funding from KU Leuven, which supported the initiation of her postdoctoral research in the group of Prof. Francisco Molina-Lopez at KU Leuven. Her research focuses on the design and characterization of multifunctional hydrogel materials, exploring their versatile applications in wearable sensors and bio-inspired neuromorphic computing.
Shubhradip Guchait
Email: shubhradip.guchait@kuleuven.be
PhD/Postdoc: PhD in Physical Chemistry, CNRS-University of Strasbourg/ Department of Materials Engineering, KU Leuven.
Project: Organic Thermoelectrics
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shubhradip-guchait-53a5871a2/
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ioix4xEAAAAJ&hl=en
Shubhradip Guchait was born in Kolkata, India. He earned his Bachelor's degree in Chemistry from Ramakrishna Mission Vidyamandira, one of the top 10 colleges in India according to the NIRF rankings. He then completed his Master’s degree in Chemistry at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Ropar, having qualified through the prestigious JAM examination. He pursued his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry at the Institut Charles Sadron, CNRS (University of Strasbourg), France, as a Marie Curie ITN Fellow under the HORATES project. His doctoral research focused on the in-plane alignment, structural control and doping mechanisms of polymer semiconductor films for thermoelectric applications. Additionally, in recognition of his work, Shubhradip received the Young Researcher Award at the EMRS 2024 conference. He moved to Belgium in April 2025 to work as a postdoctoral researcher in the group of Prof. Francisco Molina-Lopez at KU Leuven. His goal is to optimize high-performance organic thermoelectric generators for efficient conversion of waste heat into electricity.
Juhyung (Jay) Park
Email: jay.park@kuleuven.be
PhD/Postdoc: PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Seoul National University / Department of Materials Engineering, KU Leuven.
Project: Organic Thermoelectrics
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juhyung-park-a44619201/
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=VRxeV5YAAAAJ&hl=en
Juhyung (Jay) Park was born in the Republic of Korea (South Korea). He completed his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Seoul (UOS) in 2017 and 2019, respectively. He then earned his PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering in 2023 from Seoul National University (SNU) under the supervision of Professor Jeonghun Kwak. During his PhD, he was awarded a prestigious grant from the National Research Foundation (NRF) of Korea for his research on wearable organic thermoelectric generators, a grant given to only 300 recipients nationwide. After serving one year as a post-doctoral researcher at SNU, he moved to Belgium in October 2024 to work as a post-doctoral researcher in the group of Professor Francisco Molina-Lopez at KU Leuven. In Feburary 2025 he has been awarded Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Postdoctoral fellowship. His research has focused on molecular doping, charge transport physics, and the structure-property relationships of conjugated polymers, as well as organic thermoelectric devices for sustainable energy solutions. His ultimate goal is to extend the fundamentals of these organic thermoelectric materials and devices to realize fully self-powered IoT devices and microelectronics.
Altynay Kaidarova
Email: Who is Who, LinkedIn, Google Scholar
PhD/Postdoc: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)
Project: Printed organic thermoelectric generators
Altynay Kaidarova is a postdoctoral researcher at KU Leuven, working in the research group of Francisco Molina-Lopez. She holds a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (2022), where her doctoral research focused on advanced materials and fabrication strategies for next-generation electronic systems.
Dr. Kaidarova’s research centers on the design, fabrication, and characterization of printed, low-cost electronic devices, including sensors and actuators, using additive manufacturing techniques. Her work particularly emphasizes the development of hybrid organic–inorganic functional nanomaterials for scalable and high-performance applications.
She is currently supported by Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) and Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO) fellowships through the BEST-TEC project. Her interdisciplinary research aims to enable autonomous and wearable systems with applications in biomedicine and the Internet of Marine Life, bridging materials science, device engineering, and system-level integration. Her long-term research vision is to develop fully integrated, self-powered electronic systems on flexible and large-area substrates, enabling ubiquitous sensing and intelligent interfaces for next-generation healthcare and environmental monitoring.
Dr. Kaidarova obtained her undergraduate degree in Electronic and Communication Engineering from the University of Liverpool (2014), graduating with first-class honors. She was a recipient of the Bolashak International Scholarship, through which she completed her foundation studies at Nanyang Technological University.