Prof. Dr. De-Yi Wang, Principal Researcher at IMDEA Materials Institute and Professor at the Universidad Francisco de Vitoria (UFV) has been elected as a member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts (EASA), one of Europe’s most prestigious scientific societies.

Prof. Wang, who leads IMDEA Materials’ High Performance Polymers and Fire Retardants (HPPN) research group, becomes the first researcher from the institute to receive this distinction.

Prof. Wang’s election to EASA recognises his outstanding contributions to materials science and engineering, particularly in the fields of fire-safe engineering, flame-retardant materials, and sustainable polymers.

He has been appointed as a member of the Academy’s Class VI – Technical and Environmental Sciences, acknowledging his pioneering work in developing fire-retardant polymer nanocomposites and fire-safe engineering strategies for lithium-ion batteries and energy storage materials.

Reflecting on his election, Prof. Wang expressed both surprise and gratitude.

“To be honest, I am very surprised and very happy to receive this honour,” he said. “This is not only a great recognition of my work, but also of the environment that we have as researchers at IMDEA Materials”.

“As Principal Investigators, we have a lot of freedom to develop research lines without a lot of the bureaucracy that exists in other institutes.”

“Under these conditions, we have done a lot of invaluable work in the fire-safety field, and this honour is a recognition of all of this work that has been done at IMDEA Materials,” he added.

Since establishing the HPPN research group at IMDEA Materials in 2012, Prof. Wang has led groundbreaking research in fire-resistant materials. His work has helped to address critical challenges in materials science, particularly as the demand for fire-safe materials grows in areas such as electric vehicle battery systems.

He is a professor and researcher at UFV, where he is affiliated with the Higher Technical School (EPS)

His election to the Academy underscores the increasing global recognition of fire-safe engineering as a crucial research field.

The European Academy of Sciences and Arts, founded in 1990, aims to foster interdisciplinary collaboration among leading scientists, artists, and governance experts to analyze complex issues affecting Europe’s future. With around 2,000 distinguished members, including 37 Nobel Prize winners, the Academy is a cornerstone of European scientific excellence.