This time, PHENMA-2026 was accompanied by the satellite conference “Advanced Materials Development & Performance” (AMDP-2026). Korea Maritime and Ocean University (Busan, South Korea) and National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology (Kaohsiung, Taiwan) have organized the fourteenth Asian conference since 2012. Previous conferences were held in Rostov-on-Don (2012), Taiwan (2013), Thailand (2014), Azov (2015, it was dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Southern Federal University), Indonesia (2016, 2023), India (2017, 2024), South Korea (2018), Vietnam (2019), Japan (2021, 2025) and Divnomorskoye settlement (2022, 10th Anniversary Conference). Traditionally, the co-chairs of this series of conferences are the Chief Researcher of the I. I. Vorovich Institute of Mathematics, Mechanics and Computer Science of the Southern Federal University, Doctor of Technical Sciences Ivan Parinov and Professor Shun-Hsyung Chang (Taiwan). The other co-chair this time was Professor Yun-Hae Kim (South Korea). More than a thousand participants of PHENMA-2026 from 20 countries of the world presented 322 abstracts. The topics of the plenary, oral and poster presentations of the conference participants were: processes for the production and manufacture of advanced materials and composites with special properties (including nanostructures; ferroopiezoelectrics and other related materials; ceramics; materials obtained during the processing of food waste and plant products, etc.); a wide range of research methods in physics, mechanics, and materials science, including experimental and theoretical developments, mathematical modeling, advanced devices and equipment based on modern materials and technologies; underwater and biomedical applications (in particular, receiving, transmitting, and processing sound signals and images underwater, biomechanics, materials, and medical devices); problems artificial intelligence; a separate section was devoted to industry and management issues related to modern materials science.

Scientists, teachers, graduate students and students from almost all natural science and technical departments of the SFedU actively participated in the last forum. The delegation of the Southern Federal University, consisting of seven people, has significantly expanded at the current conference compared to previous conferences. In addition to, as usual, representatives of the I. I. Vorovich Institute of Mathematics, Mechanics and Computer Science, this time it was joined by two representatives of the D. I. Ivanovsky Academy of Biology and Medicine. The co-chairman of the conference, Ivan Parinov, discussed with his Asian partners ways to further cooperate both in the field of subsequent PHENMA conferences and joint research, as well as the implementation of training opportunities for international students at the Southern Federal University. Previous PHENMA conferences have already allowed students from Indonesia and Taiwan to continue their studies at the graduate school of the Southern Federal University, who then successfully defended their PhD theses. The conference was held in a wonderful atmosphere of traditional Asian friendliness, cordiality, openness, and a great desire for cooperation and expansion of existing scientific and educational ties. The reports presented at PHENMA-2026 demonstrated the existing high level of international cooperation and included the results of joint Russian-Taiwanese, Russian-Indian and Russian-Indonesian research. The collection of abstracts was published by the SFedU publishing house before the forum, and is available electronically on the PHENMA-2026 website:

http://phenma2026.sfedu.ru/files/PHENMA2026_Busan_Korea_ABSTRACTS_SCHEDULE.pdf  and it will be indexed separately in the RSCI for all abstracts.

As usual, full–text reports will be published in 2027 in the form of two collective monographs published by SPRINGER - NATURE (SJR: Q4) and NOVA SCIENCE PUBLISHERS, which are also indexed in SCOPUS. It is expected to publish more than 100 full-text reports of PHENMA-2026. The relevant agreements with publishing houses are currently being prepared for signing. The articles of last year's PHENMA-2025 conference, held in Kitakyushu (Japan) in 2025, will be published in August and September in two collective monographs published by SPRINGER – NATURE and NOVA SCIENCE PUBLISHERS. The highest level of interest shown in the reports of the PHENMA conferences and the easy recognition of these conferences in the world is characterized at least by the fact that the reports of previous PHENMA conferences published in 2014-2025 by SPRINGER are among the leading 25% of SPRINGER electronic publications downloaded by users the most times (they have been downloaded more than 430,000 times and have received more than 650 citations). The conference took another step in the development of scientific, technical and educational cooperation between SFedU and partner universities and organizations in Asian countries.

Unfortunately, PHENMA-2026 was overshadowed by a tragic event – just before the conference, one of the founders of this series of annual conferences, Head of the Laboratory of the Southern Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Rostov-on-Don, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor Sergey Nikolaevich Shevtsov, passed away.

The Conference honored his blessed memory at its opening. He was our great friend and partner, with whom the staff of the SFedU carried out two Taiwanese research grants from the Russian Foundation for Basic Research.