Date: 

27th September, 2026 

Venue:

HASEKO-KUMA Hall, the University of Tokyo, Hongo Campus, 7-3-1,
Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan (info Map)

Prof. Ippei Maruyama

Prof. Poon obtained his PhD from Imperial College London. He is currently a chair professor and director of the Research Centre for Environmental Technology and Management at the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department. He has been a Changjiang Scholar Chair Professor since 2017. Prof. Poon specializes in the research and development of low-carbon construction materials, waste management, waste recycling technologies, and sustainable construction. He has published over 500 papers in international journals. He is a fellow of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (HKIE), past chairman of the HKIE Environmental Division and past representative of the HKIE Environmental Discipline. He is also a Hong Kong Concrete Institute (HKCI) fellow and was its president. He has served on the Advisory Council on the Environment (ACE) and the Council for Sustainable Development and is currently a member of the advisory committee for the Recycling Fund of the Hong Kong SAR Government.

Prof. Thomas Matschei

Prof. Tung-Chai (Bill) LING is a professor from Jinan University, specializing in solid wastes utilization and carbon sequestration technologies in the field of construction materials. He has presided over 20 competitive research projects, including NSFC’s Research Fund for International Senior Scientists, and published more than 200 SCI journal papers with over 20,000 citations and an h-index of 80. He has also been elected as a Fellow of the ASEAN Academy of Engineering and Technology (AAET), and was awarded the “Robert L'Hermite Medal” by RILEM in 2020. 

Dr. Takahiro Okubo

Chiba University, Faculty of Engineering, Department of Applied Chemistry and Biotechnology
Dr. Takahiro Ohkubo is an Associate Professor at Chiba University. His expertise includes NMR spectroscopy, DFT calculations, and MD simulations. His research focuses on disordered and poorly crystalline materials, such as glasses and clay minerals. In recent years, He has been applying atomistic simulations to carbonation-related processes in cementitious materials.

Lecture:
Atomistic Modeling of Cementitious Materials: From Classical to Machine-Learning Interatomic Potentials
Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations originated in the late 1950s and have since been applied to a wide range of materials, including cementitious materials. They are now widely used to understand structures and the dynamic behavior of atoms and molecules that are difficult to observe directly by experimental methods. In this lecture, I will outline the fundamental theory of MD simulations and discuss key concepts for applying them to cementitious materials, including modeling strategies and interatomic potentials. I will also introduce machine-learning interatomic potentials, a rapidly developing field in recent years, with a focus on their basic principles and current applications.

Dr. Ryo Kurihara

Department of Architecture, Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo

Dr. Ryo Kurihara is an Assistant Professor at the University of Tokyo. His research expertise lies in the microstructural characterization of cementitious materials, focusing on their structural evolution in response to hydration, drying/wetting and carbonation processes. Since his PhD studies, he has applied 1H NMR relaxometry techniques to investigate the pore structures and moisture dynamics of cement-based materials.

Lecture:
Application of 1H NMR relaxometry on cement-based materials: From Basic to Current Perspectives

1H NMR relaxometry has been widely applied to evaluate the pore structure of cementitious materials. As this technique does not require sample pre-treatment, it offers significant advantages for investigating C-S-H gel structures compared to other experimental methods. In this lecture, I will outline the fundamental principles of 1H NMR relaxometry, including common pulse sequences and key assumptions for interpreting pore structures. Furthermore, I will introduce landmark studies and recent applications in the field of cement chemistry, followed by a discussion on current challenges.