15–19 September 2027

Scientific Programme

Five days at the Prague Congress Centre: five plenary lectures, eight parallel tracks across four halls, two poster sessions, four workshops, an industry forum, and a social programme designed to make the collaborations stick.

This is the programme structure as approved by the Scientific Committee. Named speakers, session chairs, and individual contributed talks are added as invitations are confirmed and abstracts are accepted. Slots currently marked to be announced will be filled following the notification of acceptance on 16 April 2027. The final programme is published in the book of abstracts in August 2027.

Day one · Wednesday 15 September

Opening & Foundations of Sustainable Chemistry

Registration, the opening ceremony, the first plenary, and the welcome reception.

08:00 – 09:30
Registration

Registration & welcome coffee

Foyer, Congress Hall level. Badge collection, delegate packs, and poster board assignments.

09:30 – 10:15
Ceremony

Opening ceremony

Congress Hall. Welcome from the Organizing Committee, address from the host institution, and an outline of the week ahead.

10:15 – 11:15
Plenary I

Opening plenary — Chemistry's role in a habitable century

Congress Hall. A framing lecture on where molecular science can move fastest against climate, resource, and pollution pressures, followed by open floor discussion. Speaker to be announced.

11:15 – 11:45
Break

Coffee break & exhibition

11:45 – 13:15
Parallel session A

Contributed talks — Tracks 1 to 4

Four halls in parallel. Six contributed talks per hall (15 minutes each, including questions).

Congress HallT1 · Green Synthesis & Catalysis
Solvent-free and aqueous-phase routes
Forum HallT2 · Energy Materials & Storage
Next-generation battery chemistries
Meeting Hall IT3 · Circular Economy & Polymers
Chemical recycling of mixed waste streams
Meeting Hall IIT4 · Carbon Capture & Utilisation
Sorbent design and regeneration energy
13:15 – 14:30
Break

Lunch

South Hall. Vegetarian, vegan, halal, and gluten-free options served throughout.

14:30 – 16:00
Parallel session B

Contributed talks — Tracks 5 to 8

Four halls in parallel. Six contributed talks per hall.

Congress HallT5 · Water & Environmental Remediation
PFAS destruction and micropollutants
Forum HallT6 · Biomass & Biorefineries
Lignin valorisation pathways
Meeting Hall IT7 · Computation & AI-Driven Discovery
Machine-learned interatomic potentials
Meeting Hall IIT8 · Policy, Education & Industry
Life-cycle assessment in practice
16:00 – 16:30
Break

Coffee break & exhibition

16:30 – 18:00
Panel

Opening panel — What counts as sustainable chemistry?

Congress Hall. A cross-disciplinary panel on metrics, greenwashing, and the gap between laboratory claims and life-cycle reality. Panellists to be announced.

18:00 – 20:30
Social

Welcome reception

North Hall terrace. Drinks, Czech regional catering, and the opening of the exhibition. Included in all in-person registrations.

Day two · Thursday 16 September

Materials, Energy & Catalysis

The scientific core of the week begins: plenary, keynotes, two parallel blocks, and the first poster session.

08:30 – 09:00
Registration

Registration desk open · morning coffee

09:00 – 10:00
Plenary II

Catalysis without compromise

Congress Hall. Earth-abundant catalysts, selectivity at low temperature, and what industrial adoption actually requires. Speaker to be announced.

10:00 – 11:00
Keynotes

Parallel keynote lectures (30 minutes each)

Invited keynote lectures opening the day's tracks. Speakers to be announced.

Congress HallPhotocatalysis for fine chemicals
Track 1 keynote
Forum HallSolid-state electrolytes at scale
Track 2 keynote
Meeting Hall IEnzymatic depolymerisation
Track 3 keynote
Meeting Hall IIDirect air capture economics
Track 4 keynote
11:00 – 11:30
Break

Coffee break & exhibition

11:30 – 13:00
Parallel session C

Contributed talks — Tracks 1, 2, 4, 7

Congress HallT1 · Biocatalysis & enzyme engineering
Forum HallT2 · Hydrogen production & carriers
Meeting Hall IT4 · CO₂ to fuels and chemicals
Meeting Hall IIT7 · Generative molecular design
13:00 – 14:00
Break

Lunch

14:00 – 15:30
Poster session I

Poster session I — Tracks 1 to 4

North Hall. Approximately 180 posters presented with refreshments served in the hall. Presenting authors are asked to stand by their boards for the full session. Judging for the Early-Career Poster Prize takes place during this session.

15:30 – 17:00
Parallel session D

Contributed talks — Tracks 2, 3, 6, 8

Congress HallT2 · Photovoltaic & thermoelectric materials
Forum HallT3 · Design for degradation
Meeting Hall IT6 · Platform molecules from sugars
Meeting Hall IIT8 · Safe-by-design & regulation
17:00 – 17:15
Break

Short break

17:15 – 18:30
Early career

Early-Career Researcher Forum & mentoring launch

Meeting Hall I. Doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers meet senior figures across the eight tracks. Includes the launch of the CSF mentoring pairings and a short session on publishing, funding, and moving between academia and industry. Open to all registered delegates.

Day three · Friday 17 September

Circularity, Scale-Up & Industry

From laboratory result to industrial process — plus workshops and the conference dinner.

09:00 – 10:00
Plenary III

Closing the carbon loop: circularity beyond recycling

Congress Hall. Speaker to be announced.

10:00 – 11:00
Keynotes

Parallel keynote lectures (30 minutes each)

Congress HallPolymer upcycling to high-value products
Track 3 keynote
Forum HallIntegrated biorefinery design
Track 6 keynote
Meeting Hall IContinuous flow at manufacturing scale
Track 1 keynote
Meeting Hall IIGreen chemistry in the curriculum
Track 8 keynote
11:00 – 11:30
Break

Coffee break & exhibition

11:30 – 13:00
Parallel session E

Contributed talks — Tracks 1, 3, 5, 6

Congress HallT1 · Flow chemistry & process intensification
Forum HallT3 · Bio-based and compostable plastics
Meeting Hall IT5 · Advanced oxidation processes
Meeting Hall IIT6 · Fermentation & microbial routes
13:00 – 14:00
Break

Lunch

14:00 – 16:00
Industry forum

Industry Forum — from bench to plant

Congress Hall. Short case presentations from chemical manufacturers, materials producers, and technology developers, followed by a moderated discussion on what stalls promising chemistry between the laboratory and the plant: capital cost, feedstock security, regulation, and skills. Contributors to be announced.

14:00 – 16:00
Parallel session F

Contributed talks — Tracks 2, 4, 7 (running alongside the Industry Forum)

Forum HallT2 · Fuel cells & electrolysers
Meeting Hall IT4 · Mineralisation & permanent storage
Meeting Hall IIT7 · High-throughput screening
16:00 – 16:30
Break

Coffee break & exhibition

16:30 – 18:00
Workshops

Parallel workshops (advance sign-up required)

Places are limited to 40 per workshop and allocated in registration order. Sign-up opens with registration confirmation.

Workshop 1Life-cycle assessment for chemists
Hands-on; bring a laptop
Workshop 2Techno-economic analysis of new processes
Hands-on; bring a laptop
Workshop 3Machine learning for reaction prediction
Hands-on; bring a laptop
Workshop 4Scientific writing & peer review
Aimed at early-career researchers
19:30 – 23:00
Social

Conference dinner

A seated dinner at a historic venue in central Prague, with transport from the Congress Centre. Ticketed separately at registration; places are limited.

Day four · Saturday 18 September

Environment, Water & Data-Driven Chemistry

Remediation and monitoring science, computational methods, the second poster session, and the policy panel.

09:00 – 10:00
Plenary IV

Chemistry of the contaminated world: detection, destruction, prevention

Congress Hall. Speaker to be announced.

10:00 – 11:00
Keynotes

Parallel keynote lectures (30 minutes each)

Congress HallPFAS: from persistence to destruction
Track 5 keynote
Forum HallSelf-driving laboratories
Track 7 keynote
Meeting Hall ICritical minerals & battery recycling
Track 2 keynote
Meeting Hall IISustainable solvents: what actually works
Track 1 keynote
11:00 – 11:30
Break

Coffee break & exhibition

11:30 – 13:00
Parallel session G

Contributed talks — Tracks 4, 5, 7, 8

Congress HallT5 · Desalination & water reuse
Forum HallT7 · Open data & reproducibility
Meeting Hall IT4 · Membranes & separation science
Meeting Hall IIT8 · Scale-up economics & policy levers
13:00 – 14:00
Break

Lunch

14:00 – 15:30
Poster session II

Poster session II — Tracks 5 to 8

North Hall. Approximately 180 posters with refreshments served in the hall. Second round of Early-Career Poster Prize judging.

15:30 – 17:00
Parallel session H

Contributed talks — Tracks 1, 3, 5, 6

Congress HallT1 · Mechanochemistry & solvent-free synthesis
Forum HallT3 · Textile & composite circularity
Meeting Hall IT5 · Soil chemistry & land remediation
Meeting Hall IIT6 · Agricultural residues & waste streams
17:00 – 18:30
Panel

Policy panel — Regulation, funding, and the pace of transition

Congress Hall. Researchers, funders, and policy specialists on how research priorities are set and what would accelerate deployment. Panellists to be announced.

Day five · Sunday 19 September

Horizons, Awards & Closing

The final plenary, award lectures, the closing ceremony, and optional excursions.

09:00 – 10:00
Plenary V

The next decade: where sustainable chemistry goes from here

Congress Hall. Speaker to be announced.

10:00 – 11:00
Award lectures

CSF 2027 Award Lectures

Congress Hall. Two lectures from the recipients of the CSF Sustainable Chemistry Prize and the CSF Early-Career Award, selected by the Scientific Committee from the accepted contributions.

11:00 – 11:30
Break

Coffee break

11:30 – 12:30
Closing panel

Closing round table — commitments and next steps

Congress Hall. Track chairs summarise the week's findings and set out the questions the community should carry forward, including the CSF 2027 statement on research priorities.

12:30 – 13:30
Ceremony

Prize giving & closing ceremony

Congress Hall. Poster prizes, presentation awards, thanks to the committees and sponsors, and the announcement of the next conference in the series.

13:30 – 15:00
Break

Farewell lunch

15:00 – 19:00
Optional

Excursions (optional, ticketed separately)

Three guided options: Prague Castle and the Lesser Town; a Vltava river cruise with commentary on the city's industrial history; and a half-day trip to the silver-mining town of Kutná Hora. Places are limited and allocated in booking order.

Scientific tracks

The eight tracks in detail

Authors select a track at submission. The Scientific Committee may reassign a contribution to a closer-fitting track, with the author's agreement.

TrackTitleScope
T1Green Synthesis & CatalysisAtom economy and step economy; catalytic C–H activation; earth-abundant metal catalysis; biocatalysis and enzyme engineering; photocatalysis and electrocatalysis; mechanochemistry; solvent selection and replacement; continuous flow and process intensification.
T2Energy Materials & StorageLithium-ion and post-lithium battery chemistry; solid-state electrolytes; supercapacitors; hydrogen production, storage, and carriers; fuel cells and electrolysers; photovoltaic and thermoelectric materials; critical mineral substitution and battery recycling.
T3Circular Economy & PolymersChemical and enzymatic recycling; depolymerisation and upcycling; design for degradation; bio-based and compostable polymers; additives and contamination in recycled streams; textile and composite circularity; microplastics.
T4Carbon Capture, Utilisation & StorageAmine and solid sorbents; metal–organic frameworks; membranes and separation science; direct air capture; CO₂ electroreduction and thermocatalytic conversion; mineralisation and permanent storage; system-level integration and energy penalty.
T5Water & Environmental RemediationMicropollutants, pharmaceuticals, and PFAS; advanced oxidation and reduction processes; adsorption and membrane treatment; desalination and water reuse; soil and sediment remediation; environmental analytical chemistry and non-target screening.
T6Biomass & BiorefineriesLignocellulose fractionation; lignin valorisation; platform molecules from sugars; fermentation and microbial routes; agricultural and food-processing residues; integrated biorefinery design; land use and feedstock sustainability.
T7Computation & AI-Driven DiscoveryMachine-learned interatomic potentials; generative molecular and materials design; retrosynthesis and reaction prediction; high-throughput virtual screening; self-driving laboratories and autonomous experimentation; FAIR data, open datasets, and reproducibility.
T8Policy, Education & IndustryLife-cycle assessment and sustainability metrics; techno-economic analysis; safe-and-sustainable-by-design and regulation; green chemistry pedagogy and curriculum reform; scale-up barriers; public engagement and the credibility of sustainability claims.

How sessions run

Session formats & timings

FormatDurationNotes
Plenary lecture60 minutes45-minute lecture plus 15 minutes of discussion. No parallel sessions are scheduled against plenaries.
Keynote lecture30 minutes25-minute lecture plus 5 minutes of questions. Opens each track block.
Invited talk25 minutes20 minutes plus 5 minutes of questions.
Contributed talk15 minutes12 minutes plus 3 minutes of questions. Chairs keep strictly to time so delegates can move between halls.
Poster90-minute sessionBoards are A0 portrait (841 × 1189 mm). Presenting authors stand by their board for the full session.
Workshop90 minutesCapped at 40 participants, advance sign-up required. Three of the four are hands-on and require a laptop.
Panel / forum90–120 minutesModerated discussion with substantial time reserved for questions from the floor.

Every hall is equipped for single-screen 16:9 projection. Presenters upload slides at the speaker preparation desk at least two hours before their session, or the day before for morning sessions. Personal laptops cannot be connected to hall projectors.

Present your work at CSF 2027

Abstracts for oral presentations close 26 February 2027; poster abstracts close 11 June 2027.