Title: Materials for Intelligence: Physics and Methods for Neuronal Interfaces
When: 25th September 2026, 12:00h
Where: Seminar Room – Module 0 of Faculty of Science, UAM
Speaker: Prof. Sonia Contera, Physics Department, University of Oxford (UK)
Abstract: Sonia Contera is Professor of Biological Physics and Associate Head of the Department of Physics at the University of Oxford. She earned her degree in Physics from the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM) and furthered her training in Moscow, Prague, and Beijing. She received her PhD from Osaka University, specialising in scanning probe microscopy and nanostructured materials. She now works at the interface of physics, biology, and computer science, with particular interests in bio inspired materials and the development of a “living brain on a chip.” In 2024 she received the SRUK CERU Merit Award and was elected Chair of the AFM section of the Royal Microscopical Society. She serves on the advisory boards of two startups and of TECHW4BOARDS. She is the author of Nanocomes to Life (Princeton University Press, 2019) and Seis problemas que la ciencia no puede resolver (Arpa, 2025). She is also a frequent public speaker and has been invited to speak, among many others, at the Royal Institution, Fundación Telefónica, various literary and cultural festivals, the Instituto Cervantes in Vienna, and the World Economic Forum