Final Report
Dates and location
22 April — 24 April 2026, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK
Chairperson
Dr. Fabio Pino
Co-chairperson
Dr. Radu Cimpeanu, Dr. Manolis Chatzigiannakis, Dr. Susana Gomes
Conference fees
- Regular Registration fee Colloquium: 100.00 €
- Regular Registration fee Colloquium+Pre training: 120.00 €
What other funding was obtained?
- The Knowledge Exchange (KE) Event Fund of the International Centre for Mathematical Sciences (ICMS)
- Small Grant Call award of the Heilbronn Institute for Mathematical Research (HIMR)
- Conference and Workshop Grants of the London Mathematical Society (LMS)
What were the participants offered?
Participants had access to the lecture theatre in the Zeeman Building at the University of Warwick, with lunch and coffee breaks provided throughout the three-day event. A welcome reception was held on the first evening, followed by the colloquium dinner on the second evening at the Radcliffe Conference Centre. Early-career researchers were also given the opportunity to present their work through a poster session held across the three days.
In addition, participants and invited speakers were invited to submit their research to special issues of the European Journal of Mechanics / B: Fluids (EJMB) and the IMA Journal of Applied Mathematics.
Scientific report
The EUROMECH Colloquium 666, Beyond the Free Surface: Liquid Film Flow from Theory to Applications, took place from 22nd to 24th April 2026 in the Zeeman Building of the Mathematics Institute at the University of Warwick (United Kingdom). The event brought together 61 participants from 15 countries to exchange ideas and discuss current developments in European research on liquid film dynamics. The programme featured more than 30 presentations delivered by leading European academic experts and industry representatives, ranging from small and medium-sized enterprises to large-scale international corporations.
The primary aim of the colloquium was to strengthen connections between mathematicians, physicists, engineers, and industrial practitioners working on liquid-film flows in the long-wave and low-to-moderate Reynolds-number regimes. Building on the legacy of EUROMECH Colloquium 497 (2009), Recent Developments and New Directions in Thin-Film Flow, the meeting fostered new interdisciplinary collaborations both within academia and between academia and industry. The scientific programme balanced theoretical, numerical, and experimental perspectives and was structured around three main thematic sessions:
- Capillary Flow and Thermal Effects
- Multiphysics Coupling and Complex Fluids
- Topological Modifications and Control Strategies
The colloquium created a highly dynamic and interactive environment, enabling participants to exchange ideas, establish new collaborations, and identify emerging research directions. The presentations were of exceptionally high quality, and the audience engaged actively with the broad range of topics discussed. Several contributions demonstrated how similar physical phenomena can be approached from different perspectives, highlighting the richness and diversity of the liquid-film community. For example, multiple talks explored the use of light to trigger surfactant responses, while others investigated externally excited films through electric and magnetic fields as novel mechanisms for generating and controlling complex dynamics.
Surfactants represented another major theme of the programme, with contributions spanning both fundamental and applied research. Examples included work on the fundamental physics of surfactants and applied investigations on liquid-infused surfaces. Considerable attention was also devoted to long-wave models describing droplets subject to thermal gradients or variable substrate topographies. In particular, droplet dynamics were controlled through substrate design and optimal control strategies. More broadly, liquid-film control emerged as a recurring topic, with researchers presenting both feedback-based and open-loop approaches.
Alongside the academic presentations, the colloquium dedicated one session each day to industrial contributions. Four industrial speakers introduced their companies and shared open scientific and technological challenges with the participants. These problems formed the basis of interactive group discussions, during which participants worked in small teams under the guidance of facilitators from the Mathematics Department. The outcomes of these discussions were subsequently collected, summarised, and presented back to the industrial representatives. This aspect of the event proved particularly successful, encouraging substantial interaction and knowledge exchange between academia and industry.
Additional opportunities for discussion and networking were provided through two poster sessions held during the first and second days of the colloquium. These sessions gave students and early-career researchers the opportunity to present their work and engage in informal scientific discussions with invited speakers and senior researchers.
The event concluded with a roundtable discussion aimed at establishing the foundations for future collaborations within the liquid-film community. This closing session identified several open research questions and proposed several future initiatives, including specialised summer and winter schools, the development of an online platform to keep the community connected and informed, and the organisation of larger conferences dedicated to specific challenges in liquid-film dynamics. Particular emphasis was also placed on the importance of creating dedicated events to strengthen collaborations between academia and industry on targeted liquid-film problems and applications, with frameworks such as the European Study Group with Industry (ESGI) as a potential broader springboard to support further specialised events and interactions.
Through this colloquium, participants gained a broader understanding of the European research landscape in thin-film flows and reinforced their connections with industrial partners. More generally, the event highlighted the central role of mathematical and computational approaches in addressing complex physical and engineering problems. It provided academics with valuable opportunities to engage with real-world industrial challenges and encouraged collaborative efforts directed towards emerging applications and industry-driven research questions.
The success of this event would not have been possible without the generous financial support provided by EUROMECH, the ICMS, the LMS, and the HIMR. The organisers express their sincere gratitude to the respective committees for supporting the initiative. These contributions helped reduce registration costs and supported the logistics, travel, and accommodation expenses of invited speakers, participants, and several students attending the event. The collaboration between enthusiastic researchers and supportive institutions continues to play a fundamental role in sustaining a vibrant academic environment and inspiring young researchers to explore the fascinating dynamics of liquid films.
Budget
A registration fee of £100 was established for participants attending only the colloquium, while a reduced combined fee of £120 was offered to those attending both the colloquium and the EURCOFTAC pre-training course Surfing the Ripple: Fundamentals of Liquid Film Dynamics, which was held immediately beforehand, providing a natural cross-generational bridge in our community and momentum for the early career researcher representatives to build on the interactions within both settings. Registration fees were waived for all invited speakers.
Due to the generous contributions of ICMS and LMS, which contributed to lunches, reception, and travel support for speakers, the EUROMECH support contributed to poster boards for the interactive poster sessions (£ 255), lanyards and other stationery for the event (£ 20), and the conference dinner for 35 out of the 61 participants (£ 41 each).