Prof Jan LAGERWALL

Jan Lagerwall is a Full Professor of experimental soft matter physics in the department of Physics and Materials Science at the University of Luxembourg and Head of the Experimental Soft Matter Physics group.

His research explores liquid crystals, colloids and polymers in unconventional contexts and form factors, such as shells, tubes and fibres. His activities span from curiosity-driven fundamental physics investigations to applying research results in solving real-world problems. Professor Lagerwall is an internationally recognized leader in liquid crystal research with a rich body of invited conference contributions and publications; please see his ORCID record 0000-0001-9753-1147 for an up-to-date summary.

Professor Lagerwall has developed and taught more than ten full courses on B.Sc. and M.Sc. level at universities in Germany, South Korea and Luxembourg. He currently (2024) teaches the Continuum Mechanics course at the Department of Physics & Materials Science. He is the organizer of a bi-yearly summer school on liquid crystals where he also teaches extensively, and he is frequently invited to give tutorials and summer/winter school lectures around the world.

Professor Lagerwall initiated and held the license for the first TEDxUniversityOfLuxembourg in 2018 and was also heavily involved in the 2019 event. This followed upon initiating and organizing the first English language TEDx event in South Korea, TEDxSNUSuwon, in 2013. He frequently participates in Open Day events and science festivals, and visits high schools and also hosts high school interns. He is actively involved in technology transfer, with one company founded in 2024 and more on the way.

Professor Lagerwall received an ERC Consolidator grant (INTERACT) in 2015 as well as two follow-up ERC PoC grants (VALIDATE and REVEAL). He received the early-career award of the German Liquid Crystal Society (Vorländervorlesung) in 2014.

2007–2010: junior research group leader at the Martin-Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany.

2010–2014: tenure track professor (Assistant 2010–2013, Associate 2013-2014) at Seoul National University, Graduate School of Convergence Science & Technology, Suwon, Korea.

M.Sc. in Engineering Physics, Chalmers University of Technology 1997.

Ph.D. in Materials Science, Chalmers University of Technology 2002.

Docent in physics, Chalmers University of Technology 2007 Habilitation in physical chemistry, Martin-Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany 2010.