Nov 13, 2025

Catalysts Driving Chemical Innovation Spark Change at KFUPM

The Saudi Chapter of the American Chemical Society (ACS)’s International Conference 2025 opened at KFUPM on November 11th, marking the first time this global scientific event has been hosted in Saudi Arabia. Organized in collaboration with the ACS, the three-day conference carries the theme “Chemistry Innovations for Sustainable Future Industries.”

The opening day began with an overview from Dr Hassan Baaqeel, Dean of KFUPM’s College of Chemicals & Materials, who built excitement and outlined the program. He was followed by Dr Ali Al-Shaikhi, Vice President of Research & Innovation and the conference’s Steering Committee Chair, who highlighted KFUPM’s growing role as a center for scientific exchange and innovation.

As the world’s largest scientific society that handles publication, research, and innovation in chemistry, the ACS has had a presence in Saudi Arabia for more than 30 years through its Saudi chapter, the first to be established outside the United States. In this time, it has linked academia, industry, and government, while advancing green chemistry, renewable energy, and sustainable materials.

The main goal of the conference is to bring together chemistry experts to work on solving global challenges from a chemistry angle. More than 1,500 participants from over 30 nationalities have registered, making it one of KFUPM’s largest conferences. The audience includes Nobel laureates and King Faisal Prize winners, as well as chemical engineers, chemists, and industrial professionals. Twenty-five keynote speakers from around the world will contribute over the three days, covering sustainable processes, energy conversion and storage, chemicals and value-added products, environmental chemistry and engineering, AI in chemistry education and industry, and biochemical technology.

Dr Morten Meldal, Nobel Prize laureate in click chemistry and professor at the University of Copenhagen, was one of the opening day speakers. Coming to Saudi Arabia for the second time, he presented some of the research that led to his Nobel Prize and how it can be utilized to capture important scientific targets in medicine. As he puts it, “the entirety of life resides in the properties of the atom. So we should expand our view of the atom and look into the three-dimensional world of chemistry to see how this complexity that is life comes about.”

Another keynote speaker was Dr Richard Zare, the Marguerite Blake Wilbur Professor in Natural Science and faculty member at Stanford University. His participation reflects a sustained relationship with KFUPM; he has visited the university three times and Saudi Arabia four times in total, while his collaboration with KFUPM has been ongoing for around four years.

Further opportunities for engagement appeared in the exhibition area. Dr Fahad Alzahrani, Director of KFUPM’s Institute for Knowledge Exchange (KIKX), noted that more than 20 exhibitors are present at this 2025 edition of the conference, showcasing innovations from industry and academia, both locally and globally.

Dr Bassam El-Ali, Scientific Committee member and Director of KFUPM’s Arabian Journal for Science and Engineering, a journal which has recently celebrated its 50th anniversary, underlined KFUPM’s solid connection with its industry partners, many of whom utilize or are involved in the development of chemicals and materials. In his words, “we are working very closely with them to help provide new materials and processes, as well as improve existing ones.” He hopes the conference will help recognize recent scientific innovations and continue to build on them through future collaborations.

Dr Basheer Chanbasha, Chair-Elect of the ACS Saudi Chapter and KFUPM faculty member, further noted that the conference took more than a year of planning, reinforcing the dedication of the organizing committee and their focus on quality. Looking ahead, Dr Theis Solling, senior research scientist and Program Lead of the Oilfield Chemistry program at KFUPM’s Center for Integrative Petroleum Research (CIPR), said he hopes the event will also inspire the younger generation in attendance to pursue chemistry studies, noting how “chemistry plays into everything, especially into solving the challenges of the 21st century.”

By the end of the event’s opening day, KFUPM reaffirmed its FAST pace in scientific progress and its position as a leading destination for world-renowned conferences. The event also demonstrates how collaboration, knowledge exchange, and a shared vision can turn scientific inquiry into actionable outcomes that benefit both the industry and humanity at large.