Event Host
Clare Forestier
We are delighted to welcome Clare back again in Athens!
Clare Forestier is a professional business event emcee. Her background is as a broadcast journalist, having worked in TV and radio news across the BBC and other UK broadcast outlets for 25 years. Clare has also worked in private business, undertaking Fortune 500 executive interviews, hosting business events and roundtable discussions dealing with a variety of subjects and industries. Based in the UK, she now runs her own business, using the skills she developed in her journalism career to facilitate and emcee business events and train people in media and presentation skills.
Keynote Speakers
Chris DeArmitt PhD FRSC FIMMM
Plastics – facts for a better future!
Chris is considered one of the top plastic materials scientists. A deep understanding of materials combined with high creativity allows Chris to quickly solve the toughest challenges regarding to the plastics industry. He wrote the book The Plastics Paradox, a scientific overview of plastics materials and the environment covering all topoics including waste, litter, microplastics, degradation, ocean plastics and more. In 2024 he founded the Plastics Research Council a nonprofit supported by an international team of respected scientists with a mandate to provide accurate, unbiased information about plastics and the environment. Chris is an award-winning keynote speaker educating global audiences on plastic materials science and dispelling myths about the environmental effects of plastics and microplastics.
Yanis Varoufakis
A geopolitical and economic activistic talk by the former Greece’s Finance Minister
Yanis Varoufakis leads MeRA25 in Greece and is co-founder of the paneuropean movement DiEM25 as well as the Progressive International.
An academic economist who served as Greece’s Finance Minister in 2015, Varoufakis is the author of best-selling books including TECHNOFEUDALISM: What killed capitalism (Penguin 2023), ANOTHER NOW (Penguin 2020), ADULTS IN THE ROOM (Penguin 2017), TALKING TO MY DAUGHER (Penguin 2017), AND THE WEAK SUFFER WHAT THEY MUST? (Penguin 2016), THE GLOBAL MINOTAUR (Zed Books 2011).
Vincent Voet
The Future of Plastics – Exploring Vitrimers
Discover the cutting-edge world of material science in Vincent’s exclusive breakout session! Vincent Voet will introduce vitrimers—a revolutionary class of plastics that combine the best properties of thermoplastics and thermosets. These innovative materials are switchable, allowing controlled processability and the potential for fully recyclable composites. While vitrimer applications are still in development, they hold the promise of a new generation of sustainable materials that could transform industries. Be part of the conversation shaping the future of plastics!
Vincent Voet studied Chemistry at the University of Groningen. He did his MSc internship at Lawrence Berkeley Lab in California (USA). In 2015, he obtained his PhD degree cum laude for his research into the synthesis of novel block copolymers for data storage applications. He received the Challa Polymer Prize for the best PhD dissertation in his field. Since 2016, he has been working in the research group Circular Plastics at NHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences, where he became a professor in 2023. Vincent is closely involved in research and education in the field of renewable polymers and (molecular) recycling of plastics. He has a passion for educating the next generation of green chemists and engineers. In recent years, he supervised ca. 30 BSc and MSc theses, and is currently co-promoter of 12 PhD students. In 2022, Vincent was named Rising Star by ACS Au Materials, for his research on circular plastics in additive manufacturing.
Anna Kozera-Szałkowska
Anna Kozera-Szałkowska, PhD – Managing Director of Plastics Europe Polska as of 2021, working for the organization since 2007 when was inter alia responsible for communicating on plastics as a material of 21st century and on its role in circular economy and sustainable development. A chemist from education, received her Master and PhD degrees in a field of polymer chemistry in the Chemical Faculty of Warsaw University of Technology. She also completed post-graduate studies in communication at Instytut Badań Literackich PAN.