Welcome to the 21st Raman Imaging Symposium
The 21st Raman Imaging Symposium will take place September 29 to October 1st, 2025 in Ulm, Germany. Europe’s preeminent annual conference for Raman microscopy and spectroscopy brings the international community together and provides a stage for presenting the field’s very latest discoveries. Researchers of every discipline are cordially invited to be part of this event.
Renowned speakers from academia and industry will illuminate the full spectrum of Raman analysis, from life science to building materials, astrobiology and energy storage, geochemistry through novel 2D materials, and biomineralization to functional materials and medical diagnostics.
Poster sessions offer attendees the opportunity to display their work alongside that of their peers in a relaxed forum conducive to discussion and contributed talks are a great platform for sharing their discoveries. The third day features equipment demonstrations at WITec headquarters and the chance to engage directly with the company’s development and applications teams.
The organizers are excited to reconnect with the Raman imaging community and see what insights and innovations will drive the technique forward in the future.
Location and Travel
The first two days of the Symposium take place in the Stadthaus, right next to the famous Ulm Minster in the city center. The address is: Münsterplatz 50, 89073, Ulm, Germany. For the third day, the Symposium moves to WITec headquarters, Lise-Meitner-Str. 6, 89081 Ulm, Germany, for equipment demonstrations and individual discussions.
Accommodation
Hotel arrangements must be made by the participants themselves. For further information regarding hotels and accommodations, please visit the tourist information website of Ulm.
Please be advised that several other events take place in Ulm during the week of the Symposium. We recommend that arrangements be made as soon as possible.
Important Dates
July 21st - Early Bird Registration Deadline
August 15th - Abstract Submission Deadline
September 29th - Start of the Raman Imaging Symposium
September 30th, 7 pm - Conference Dinner
October 1st - Equipment Demonstrations
Registration
Please note: Restrictions apply to the submission of abstracts, as specified in the "Registration Information"
Speakers
We are excited to host a panel of professionals known for their expertise within the Raman community. Each of the individuals listed below will give a talk at this year's Raman Imaging Symposium.
Sebastian Schlücker
University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany
The Principles of Raman Spectroscopy and its Application in Microscopy
As Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Duisburg-Essen (Germany), his research interests include the design, synthesis and bioanalytical applications of SERS nanoparticle probes as well as the development and application of laser spectroscopic techniques in biophysical chemistry.
Thomas Dieing
WITec GmbH, Ulm, Germany
3D confocal Raman imaging: Instrumentation, performance and correlative techniques
Dr. Thomas Dieing is the head of R&D in the Ulm site of Oxford Instruments. He obtained his PhD from La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia in 2005 investigating the MBE growth of nitrogen containing III/V semiconductors. In 2006 he joined WITec’s application team and became Director of Applications and Support. Following an extensive period as the product manager for WITec’s alpha300 product line and its accessories, he took over as head of R&D start of 2025 and is now responsible for all product development of the WITec product lines.
Linsen Li
Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China
Correlative SEM-Raman Studies of Functional Materials: A Magic Journey from Batteries to Pharmaceuticals
Prof. Linsen Li is a tenured associate professor of Chemical Engineering at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. He obtained his Ph.D. in Materials Chemistry from University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2015 and worked as a postdoc at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2015–2017. His research efforts are focused on materials chemistry and multimodal characterization techniques for battery materials and pharmaceuticals.
Edith Perret
Empa Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, St. Gallen, Switzerland
High-resolution Raman imaging of polymer fibers
Dr. Edith Perret works as a scientist at Empa in St. Gallen, Switzerland since 2018. Her research focuses on developing novel functional polymeric fibers for technical and medical applications. She will be the ad interim group leader of the Polymer Processing Group at Empa St. Gallen, starting January 1, 2026. She studied materials science at ETH Zurich (2001-2006) and did her doctoral studies in physics at the Paul Scherrer institute (2006-2010), Switzerland.
Keith Gordon
University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
Coupling Raman microscopy and chemometrics in the study of complex materials
Prof. Keith Gordon received his BSc Hons (I) in 1986 and PhD in 1989 in chemistry from Queens University, Belfast, UK. He was a Director’s Fellow at Los Alamos National Laboratories, USA, from 1989 – 1992. In 1993 he took up a lecturing post in the Chemistry Department at the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand, becoming Professor in 2009. His research interests focus on the understanding the properties of conducting polymers, nanostructured electromaterials, such as found in dye-sensitised solar cells, dairy products and pharmaceuticals using spectroscopy and computational chemistry.
Nathalie Jung
Université de Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland
Tracking cellular stress across scales: from tissue to single cells
Nathalie Jung is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Adolphe Merkle Institute in Fribourg, Switzerland. She combines her background in human biology, pharmaceutical sciences, and Raman microscopy to investigate molecular changes in human cells and tissue models in the context of disease, nanotoxicology, and material-cell interactions.
Jean-Francois Bardeau
Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS, France
Exalting the Invisible: High-Sensitivity Raman Imaging and Spectral Data Analysis for Micrometric Insights
Prof. Jean-François Bardeau is Director of Research at CNRS and since March 2024, Director of the ICMN laboratory (UMR 7374, University of Orléans – CNRS). His research focuses on structural and dynamic properties of hybrid materials, biomaterials, and functional surfaces, with a recent emphasis on electromagnetic enhancement phenomena on multinanostructured metallic surfaces for SERS sensor development. Author of over 150 publications and 5 patents, he is also a member of the French Group of Vibrational Spectroscopies (GFSV) and has received several distinctions for his contributions.
Fabrizio Nestola
University of Padua, Italy
Micro-Raman spectroscopy and natural diamonds: a journey to the deep Earth
Fabrizio Nestola is Full Professor in Mineralogy at the Department of Geosciences, University of Padova, Italy, and his research activity is mainly focused on the investigation of mineral inclusions in natural diamonds, meteorites and discovery of new mineral species mainly by micro-Raman spectroscopy, single-crystal X-ray and electron diffraction and scanning electron microscopy.
Sebastian Speer
Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Jülich, Germany
Watching oxygen evolve: Shedding light on PEM anodes with tailored Raman spectroscopic methods
Postdoc at the Institute of Energy Technologies: Fundamental Electrochemistry (IET-1) at Forschungszentrum Jülich. My research focusses on ex situ and in operando Raman analysis of materials used in proton exchange membrane water electrolysis.
Ursula Wurstbauer
University of Münster, Münster, Germany
Raman mapping of twist (disorder) and formation of moiré minibands in van der Waals bilayers
Prof. Dr. Ursula Wurstbauer is a W3 Professor of Physics and director of the Institute of Physics at the University of Münster. She is heading the nanoelectronics group focusing on emergent and interaction driven (quantum) phenomena of two-dimensional materials and two-dimensional charge carrier systems, with the aim to gain a fundamental understanding of the physical properties of those systems, and to learn – in a next step – to control and tailor them on purpose with the vision to achieve novel functionalities and at the same time to look for potential application in an interdisciplinary context.
Program
| Monday, September 29, 2025 | ||
| 14:00 - 14:30 | Registration | |
| 14:30 - 14:45 | Welcome | |
| 14:45 - 15:45 | Sebastian Schlücker University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany |
The principles of Raman spectroscopy and its application in microscopy |
| 15:45 – 16:00 | Coffee | |
| 16:00 – 16:45 | Thomas Dieing Oxford Instruments WITec, Ulm, Germany |
3D confocal Raman imaging: instrumentation, performance and correlative techniques |
| 16:45 – 17:30 | Keith Gordon University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand |
Coupling Raman microscopy and chemometrics in the study of complex materials |
| 17:30 – 19:15 | Poster session & Get-together with snacks and beverages | |
| 19:15 – 19:45 | Evening Lecture Wolfgang Kiefer / Sebastian Schlücker |
t.b.a |
| Tuesday, September 30, 2025 | ||
| 08:45 – 09:00 | Coffee | |
| Session I – Insights to Biomaterials, Life Sciences and Pharmaceutical Research | ||
| 09:00 – 09:30 | Nathalie Jung Université de Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland |
Tracking cellular stress across scales: from tissue to single cells |
| 09:30 – 10:00 | Jean-Francois Bardeau Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS, France |
Exalting the Invisible: High-Sensitivity Raman Imaging and Spectral Data Analysis for Micrometric Insights |
| 10:00 – 10:30 | N.N. | t.b.a. |
| 10:30 – 11:00 | Coffee | |
| Session II – New Frontiers in Geochemistry Research | ||
| 11:00 – 11:30 | Fabrizio Nestola University of Padua, Italy |
Micro-Raman spectroscopy and natural diamonds: a journey to the deep Earth |
| 11:30 – 12:00 | N.N. | t.b.a. |
| 12:00 – 13:00 | Lunch & Poster session (continued) | |
| Session III – Exploring Novel Materials | ||
| 13:00 – 13:30 | Edith Perret Empa Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, St. Gallen, Switzerland |
High-resolution Raman imaging of polymer fibers |
| 13:30 – 14:00 | Sebastian Speer Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Jülich, Germany |
Watching oxygen evolve: Shedding light on PEM anodes with tailored Raman spectroscopic methods |
| 14:00 – 14:30 | Ursula Wurstbauer University of Münster, Münster, Germany |
Raman mapping of twist (disorder) and formation of moiré minibands in van der Waals bilayers |
| 14:30 – 15:00 | Coffee | |
| 15:00 – 15:30 | Barbara Kosednar-Legenstein Materials Center Leoben Forschung GmbH, Leoben, Austria |
t.b.a. |
| 15:30 – 16:00 | N.N. | t.b.a. |
| 16:00 – 16:15 | Coffee | |
| 16:15 – 17:30 | Session IV – Contributed Presentations | |
| Starting 19:00 | Conference dinner & Poster Award ceremony | |
| Wednesday, October 01, 2025 | ||
| 09:00 – 09:15 | Welcome | |
| 09:15 – 10:00 | Equipment demonstration | Confocal Raman imaging microscopy: The WITec Raman Microscope Series |
| 10:00 – 10:15 | Coffee | |
| 10:15 – 11:00 | Software demonstration | WITec Software Suite |
| 11:00 – 11:30 | WITec house tour | Guided tour through WITec headquarters |
| 11:30 – 13:00 | Lunch | |
| 13:00 – 16:00 | Equipment demonstrations |
|
| 16:00 | Wrap-up & Coffee | |
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