Bernal Institute welcomes international mixing community to MIXING18
The Bernal Institute at University of Limerick welcomed researchers, engineers and industry leaders from across Europe and beyond for MIXING18, the 18th European Conference on Mixing.
Held from 30 August to 2 September 2026, the conference was organised by Professor Harry Van Den Akker of the Bernal Institute, University of Limerick in collaboration with the European Federation of Chemical Engineering Working Party on Mixing. The event brought the international mixing community to UL to exchange research findings, explore emerging technologies and consider how advances in mixing science can support more efficient and sustainable industrial processes.
Under the theme “Smarter Mixing – for More Sustainable Processes and Products,” the programme connected fundamental research with practical challenges across the chemical, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, food, energy and advanced manufacturing sectors.
Conference sessions addressed a wide range of topics, including multiphase flows, complex fluids, computational fluid dynamics, heat and mass transfer, biopharmaceutical processing, crystallisation, continuous processing, scale-up and scale-down, digital twins, advanced sensing and machine-learning-enabled process control.
Four keynote lectures were delivered by Professor Federico Alberini of the University of Bologna, Professor Ning Yang of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Professor Gül Özcan-Taşkın of Loughborough University and Professor Michael Schlüter of Hamburg University of Technology. Together, their contributions demonstrated the importance of connecting experimental insight, computational modelling and industrial experience in the development of the next generation of mixing technologies.
MIXING18 also recognised outstanding contributions to the field. Professor Hugh Stitt received the 2026 Alvin and Helen Nienow Lifetime Recognition Award in Mixing for his sustained contribution to mixing science, technology and industrial practice. Dr Ernest Simon received the 2026 EFCE Young Researcher Award in Mixing for his research combining advanced experimental methods with computational modelling of non-Newtonian fluid mixing.
The conference was led by General Chair Professor Harry Van den Akker, supported by a Bernal Institute organising team comprising Jon O’Halloran, Joan O'Riordan, Amy McLoughlin, Caitriona Hickey, Karola Carey, Professor Orest Shardt, Professor Patrick Frawley and Professor Vivek Ranade, together with BlueBox Events and an international scientific committee.
Alongside keynote and technical presentations, the programme featured poster sessions, industry showcases, research awards and opportunities for delegates to develop new academic and industrial connections. Posts shared by participating researchers following the event highlighted the quality of the technical discussions, the international research represented and the value of meeting collaborators from across the global mixing community.
Hosting MIXING18 further demonstrated the Bernal Institute’s role as a platform for international scientific exchange and industry engagement. It also reflected the Institute’s expertise in process engineering, advanced manufacturing, computational modelling and bioprocessing areas that are increasingly important to sustainable manufacturing and future ready industrial processes.
The Bernal Institute thanks the EFCE Working Party on Mixing, the organising and scientific committees, keynote speakers, presenters, delegates, sponsors and event partners whose contributions made MIXING18 possible.
Find out more: MIXING18 conference website
