Newsletter - September 30, 2025

Dear MARVEL'ers,

Please find below our latest newsletter, with highlights, news, and events linked to the MARVEL community.

In this month's research highlight, you can learn how computations can accelerate the search for new superconductors, scanning large databases of materials, targeting in particular those with a critical temperature above 20K, anticipating applications in fields such as magnetic resonance imaging.

Please help us advertise the MARVEL INSPIRE Potentials Master's fellowships, with the next deadline on November 1st, 2025. With the end of MARVEL soon, stay also tuned for new similar initiatives.

As part of the activities organized jointly between MARVEL and CECAM, mark your calendars for the November 20 "Mary Ann Mansigh" conversation with SWI swissinfo.ch science and technology journalist Sara Ibrahim and director of the Istituto per le Applicazioni del Calcolo at the National Research Council of Italy Roberto Natalini, in which we will explore how scientists can broaden the impact of their work by engaging with divers forms of science communication, from storytelling to comics, and more!

And save the dates for a series of events in 2026, marking the closing of MARVEL.

Research highlights

Using computations to accelerate the search for new superconductors

Using a new workflow based on density functional theory, perturbation theory and Wannier functions, a team including MARVEL researchers has scanned large databases of experimental materials to identify potential new superconductors to be used in applications such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging. The search resulted in 24 promising candidates with critical temperature above 20K, which would allow to cool them with liquid hydrogen instead of the more expensive liquid helium. The article is published in PRX Energy.

Read MARVEL Highlights here.

Telling scientific stories: the next CECAM-MARVEL Mary Ann Mansigh conversation

CECAM-MARVEL Mary Ann Mansigh series: Telling scientific stories — from science journalism to comics and visual storytelling

Nov 20, 2025, from 15:00 until 18:30, BCH 2103, EPFL + online

CECAM and MARVEL present a new event in our Mary Ann Mansigh Conversation series. In a discussion with SWI swissinfo.ch science and technology journalist Sara Ibrahim and director of the Istituto per le Applicazioni del Calcolo at the National Research Council of Italy Roberto Natalini, we will explore how scientists can broaden the impact of their work by engaging with divers forms of science communication, from storytelling to comics. We will see also why clear communication is crucial for building trust between science and society.

The INSPIRE Potentials – MARVEL Master's Fellowships in computational materials science, electronic-structure simulations, machine learning and big-data were proposed since 2016 to outstanding women researchers for 6-month stays in research groups belonging to the NCCR MARVEL. In a field of science where women are still strongly underrepresented, the INSPIRE Potentials – MARVEL Master's Fellowships aim to support excellent female students in their Master's thesis projects, while giving them access to outstanding research facilities and environments. Already 59 fellows have been admitted.

The next deadline of application is 1st November 2025. The call will go with the same procedure as previous calls, but the funding will come directly from the groups. All the information is available at http://nccr-marvel.ch/inspire. And you can read here the experience of some of the previous recipients and how these fellowships help them in their choice of career.

Stay also tuned for new initiatives. In particular, be aware of the upcoming MX Master Fellowship Program at EPFL with the same deadline of application.

MARVEL closing — save the dates

2-week MARVEL-ICTP College in computational materials science

Jun 01, 2026, 9:00 until Jun 12, 2026, 17:00, ICTP, Trieste, Italy

This 2-week MARVEL-ICTP College in computational materials science will take place on June 1-12, 2026 at ICTP in Trieste. The event is dedicated to MARVEL PhD students and early postdocs, as well as students all around the world, with support also for those coming from emerging economies. This will be our core educational event, bringing ~200 researchers to work and live together for 2 weeks.

MARVEL final event at EPFL

Jul 09, 2026, 9:00 until Jul 10, 2026, 13:00, EPFL, Forum Rolex

On July 9-10, 2026, MARVEL final event at EPFL will close 12 years of research and activities on computational materials science. This event will be dedicated to the accomplishments of MARVEL and to the relevance of these to the industrial and technological ecosystem, inviting alumni and key players worldwide in academia and industry, SNSF review panel, scientific and industrial advisory boards, EPFL leadership, and scientific journalists.

Follow MARVEL
on X @nccr_marvel
and on LinkedIn