From 7 to 9 October, the 3rd AEFM-Wiley 2026 was held at the Qingdao Innovation and Development Base of Harbin Engineering University (HEU).

As one of the events of the 2026 UNESCO International Day of Light series, this year’s conference was themed “Light, Science and Society: Advancing Innovation and Impact”. It carried out in-depth exchanges and discussions on cutting-edge directions such as advanced energy, functional nanomaterials, and integrated optics. YU Zhiwen, Vice President of HEU, attended the opening ceremony and delivered a speech.

YU Zhiwen stated that HEU has always been oriented towards the world’s scientific frontiers and the country’s major strategic needs, and has continuously strengthened basic research, interdisciplinary integration and international cooperation. The university is willing to work with all parties to build the conference into a key platform for gathering academic wisdom, promoting international exchanges and advancing collaborative innovation. Taking this conference as an opportunity, it will promote more practical outcomes between Chinese and German universities and research institutions in joint research, talent training, faculty and student exchanges, and the construction of research and innovation platforms.

ZHAO Nan, Director of the Qingdao Innovation and Development Base of HEU, extended a welcome to the guests on behalf of the West Coast New Area of Qingdao. She expressed the expectation of relying on Wiley’s platform advantages and giving full play to the bridging role of the Qingdao Innovation and Development Base to further expand Sino-German cooperation and support the high-quality development of the West Coast New Area.

Professor LEI Yong from Ilmenau University of Technology, Germany, spoke on behalf of the co-organiser. He reviewed the development history of the AEFM conference and expressed the expectation of taking this conference as a new starting point to further deepen exchanges and cooperation between Harbin Engineering University and Ilmenau University of Technology.

The opening ceremony was presided over by Professor WANG Wenxin from HEU.

The conference featured multiple high-level plenary reports and keynote reports, focusing on cutting-edge scientific issues and key technologies in the fields of energy materials, functional nanomaterials and integrated optics.

Dr Neville Compton, Editor-in-Chief of Small published by John Wiley & Sons; Professor QIU Min, Vice President of Westlake University; Professor FU Lan from the Australian National University; Researcher SONG Yanlin from the Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Professor LU Yalin from the University of Science and Technology of China; YIN Haiwei, CEO of Shanghai Ideaoptics Corp., Ltd.; Professor WANG Shun, Editor-in-Chief of Carbon Energy; Professor SHAO Guosheng, Editor-in-Chief of Energy & Environmental Materials; Researcher HAN Shensheng from the Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences; and Professor John T. S. Irvine from the University of St Andrews, UK, delivered plenary reports respectively.

The conference set up multiple thematic parallel sessions and organised dozens of thematic reports.

A Wiley journal roundtable forum themed “Publishing in the Age of AI: Opportunities and Boundaries” was held during the conference.

In conjunction with the conference, a series of events such as the editorial board meeting and the youth editorial board meeting of Energy & Environmental Materials were held, providing young scholars with the opportunity to communicate face-to-face with editors-in-chief and senior editors of international journals.