Editorial: Challenging Glass Conference 10

Challenging Glass Conference 10

Abstract

Welcome at Challenging Glass – Anniversary Edition!

It is with great pleasure and pride that the 2026 edition will be a milestone marking the tenth edition of our – meanwhile renowned – international conference. We welcome you at the same location where back in 2008 CGC was started by some of us as young PhD researchers: at Delft University of Technology.

Especially for this occasion we kick off with a celebration event on Monday evening, with special attention not only to the conference’s Anniversary, but also to the latest progress in standardisation, to two newly launched glass books, and to the ten years existence of Glass Structures & Engineering, the peer-reviewed journal with which we are closely collaborating since CGC5.

The conference programme includes about a hundred promising presentations on the latest projects, science, technology and industrial glass developments, in four parallel sessions. No less than three thrilling keynote speakers will challenge you and glass, from different perspectives, on three consecutive days. On Monday, Prof. Ruth Kasper, Convenor Elect of CEN TC250 SC11, will introduce us to the new Eurocode “Design of Glass Structures”. On Tuesday, Mrs. Lynda Estes from NASA will focus on windows for applications in space, such as the recent Artemis II mission to the moon. Finally, on Wednesday, Prof. Liesbeth Janssen will share her intriguing insights on glassy physics – from liquids to living cells.

Building on our solid tradition of sharing and spreading knowledge, all conference papers will be published in our open access conference proceedings, while a selection of papers will be published in Glass Structures & Engineering (Springer). 

Many and profound thanks go to our sponsors, both loyal and new, for their continuous support, without which this conference would not have been possible. Lots of gratitude go equally to the members of our Scientific Committee, who did once again a fantastic job in reviewing all submitted abstracts and papers.

Also on behalf of our co-hosts Mauro Overend, James O’Callaghan and Fred Veer, we wish you an awesome conference! 

Christian Louter, Freek Bos and Jan Belis
Conference Organisers
June 2026

Conference Organisers & Hosts
Prof. Christian Louter (TU Delft), Dr Freek Bos (TU Munich), Prof. Jan Belis (Ghent University)

Conference Co-Hosts 
Prof. James O'Callaghan (TU Delft), Prof. Mauro Overend (TU Delft), Dr Fred Veer (TU Delft)

Scientific Committee
Prof. Chiara Bedon – Trieste University
Prof. Jan Belis – Ghent University
Prof. Lucio Blandini – University of Stuttgart
Dr Freek Bos – Technical University of Munich
Dr Telesilla Bristogianni – Delft University of Technology
Prof. Suwen Chen – Tongji University
Prof. Paulo Cruz – University of Minho
Dr Jagoda Cupać – Technische Universität Dresden
Dr Corinna Datsiou – University of Hertfordshire
Dr Martina Eliášová – Czech Technical University in Prague
Prof. Michael Engelmann – Technische Universität Dresden
Prof. Steffen Feirabend – Hochschule für Technik Stuttgart
Prof. Markus Feldmann – RWTH Aachen
Prof. Laura Galuppi – University of Parma
Prof. Christian Louter – Delft University of Technology
Prof. Jürgen Neugebauer – FH Joanneum
Prof. James O'Callaghan – Delft University of Technology
Dr Faidra Oikonomopoulou – Delft University of Technology
Prof. Mauro Overend – Delft University of Technology
Prof. Jens Schneider – Technische Universität Wien
Prof. Christian Schuler – Munich University of Applied Sciences
Dr Miriam Schuster – Technische Universität Darmstadt
Dr Vlad Silvestru – ETH Zurich
Dr Bert Van Lancker – Ghent University
Dr Fred Veer – Delft University of Technology

Keynote speakers
Ruth Kasper - Professor - TH Köln, Cologne, German
Lynda Estes - Spacecraft Transparencies Discipline Lead - NASA, Houston, USA
Liesbeth Janssen - Associate Professor - TU Eindhoven, The Netherlands

Platinum Sponsor
Saint-Gobain

Gold Sponsors
Eastman, Kuraray, NorthGlass, sedak, seele

Silver Sponsors
Dow, Octatube, Permasteelisa Group, Seen