Traditionally, young researchers had the opportunity to present their work during the poster session held on September, 3^rd 2026. The session was chaired by:

• Andrew Alderson (Sheffield Hallam University, United Kingdom),
• Oliver Duncan (Manchester Metropolitan University, United Kingdom).
• Pierre-Sandre Farrugia (University of Malta, Malta).
• Bojan Marinkovic (Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil),
• Nejc Novak (University of Maribor, Slovenia).
• Jakub Narojczyk (Institute of Molecular Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland),
• Elena Pasternak (University of Western Australia, Australia),
• Konstantin V. Tretiakov (Institute of Molecular Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland),

Details of the three best presentations are displayed below:

1^st place J. Dunne¹, K. K. Dudek², M. Dias³, and O. Duncan^1
1 Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester M1 5GD, United Kingdom
² Institute of Physics, University of Zielona Góra,
Szafrana 4a, 65-069 Zielona Góra, Poland
³ Institute for Infrastructure and Environment, School of Engineering,
University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3FG, United Kingdom

Presentation titled: "Magneto-mechanical chiral metamaterials"

2^nd place R. Cauchi¹, D. Attard², R. Gatt², and J. N. Grima^2,3
1 Department of Chemistry, Ġ.F. Abela Junior College, University of Malta, Msida, Malta
² Metamaterials Unit, University of Malta, Msida MSD 2080, Malta
³ Department of Chemistry, University of Malta, Msida MSD 2080, Malta

Presentation titled: "Pressure-Induced negative Linear Compressibility in Aluminophospate APC"

3^rd place S. Pieprzyk¹, D. M. Heyes², and A. C. Brańka^1
1 Institute of Molecular Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences,
M. Smoluchowskiego 17, 60-179 Poznań, Poland
² Department of Mechanical Engineering, Imperial College London, Exhibition Road,
South Kensington, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom

Presentation titled: "Elastic moduli of a fluid composed of soft spheres"

This year, two special awards of the Chairman of the Scientific Committee have been awarded ex aequo to:

• J. N. Grima-Cornish^1,2, D. Attard¹, J. N. Grima¹, J. Kemper³, and A. Grech^3
1 Metamaterials Unit, Faculty of Science, University of Malta, Msida, Malta
² Department of Engineering, Faculty of Environment, Science & Economy,
University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom
³ Faculty for the Built Environment, University of Malta, Msida, Malta

Presentation titled: "Where aesthetics meets mechanics: The convergence of design and auxetic metamaterials"

• A. Ostrowski
Institute of Molecular Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences,
M. Smoluchowskiego 17, 60-179 Poznań, Poland

Presentation titled: "Proton conductivity of azoles entrapped in micro- and macroporous molecular sieves: effect of porosity parameters, azole concentration and host-guest interactions"