It is with deep sorrow that we announce the passing of  Mária Omastová, a distinguished scientist and the national representative of Slovakia to the European Polymer Federation. 
During her career, Mária held various prominent positions. She served as the President and later Vice-President of the Slovak Chemical Society from 2013 to 2016. Between 2015 and 2021, she was a member of the Presidium of the Slovak Academy of Sciences and the Deputy Chairman for International Relations. Her dedication and expertise were also recognized through her work at the Leibniz Institute for Polymer Research in Dresden and as a visiting professor at University Paris-7.
Mária Omastová was a pioneer in the study of electrically conductive polymers and their applications in areas such as cancer diagnosis and treatment, as well as the development of new materials for solar cells and supercapacitors. Her groundbreaking work on graphene oxide nanoplatforms and MXenes for electromagnetic shielding has been published in over 200 papers in reputable international journals.
Her contributions to science were acknowledged with numerous awards, including the Scientist of the Year 2016, the Pribina Cross I. Class awarded by the President of Slovakia in 2019, and she was a finalist for the ESET Science Award in 2020. Mária was also an advocate for environmental protection, working to raise awareness about plastic waste pollution.
Our deepest condolences to her family, friends, and colleagues.

Katja Loos, Professor of Macromolecular Chemistry at the University of Groningen, has been elected as the President of the European Polymer Federation (EPF) for the period 2023-2025.

Katja Loos is Professor at the Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials of the University of Groningen, holding the chair of Macromolecular Chemistry and New Polymeric Materials. She specialized in Organic Chemistry and Polymer Chemistry during her university studies at the Johannes Gutenberg Universität in Mainz, Germany and the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, USA. She moved into the field of Enzymatic Polymerizations during her doctoral research at the University of Bayreuth, Germany and the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brasil. After a postdoctoral research stay at Polytechnic University in Brooklyn, NY, USA she started an independent research group at the University of Groningen.
Katja Loos pioneered the field of enzymatic polymerization, especially the biocatalytic synthesis of polysaccharides and polyamides, and the synthesis and self-assembly of PVDF containing block copolymers. Already early in her career Katja Loos was awarded two travel scholarships of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and she received the very prestigious Feodor Lynen Fellowship award of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation to conduct her postdoctoral research. During her independent research career, on the basis of her unique approach in combining modern polymer synthesis, (macro) molecular self-assembly, and utilization of the arising structures the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) has awarded her the prestigious VIDI grant in 2009 and VICI grant in 2014 and the German Research Council (DFG) the Eleonore Trefftz guest professorship within the scope of its excellency initiative. Among others she was awarded the Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the IUPAC Distinguished Women in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Award and the Team Science Award of the Dutch Research Council (NWO).
Katja Loos is a Fellow of the Dutch Polymer Institute (DPI) and the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC).