The Materials Science Advisory Council brings together fourteen of the world’s leading materials scientists to support the rapid development, scaling, and adoption of low‑carbon cement solutions worldwide.
Established by Ecocem following its annual Materials Science Symposium in Paris in 2025, the Council builds on decades of collaboration between Ecocem and the global research community.
Its purpose is to bridge the gap between scientific advancement, policy ambition, and industrial deployment, and to help ensure that solutions proven in the laboratory and on site are adopted at scale – now.
Cement currently accounts for around 8% of global CO₂ emissions. Materials science has already demonstrated that deep industry decarbonisation is technically achievable without carbon capture, without excessive cost and without major changes to current manufacturing plant and practices
The challenge we face as an industry now is alignment, acceleration, and adoption.
Low‑carbon cement technologies exist today that can reduce emissions by up to 70% compared with traditional cements. Yet adoption continues to lag what is already technically proven.
Discussions at Ecocem’s 2025 Materials Science Symposium highlighted a clear and urgent need for more meaningful collaboration between academia, policymakers, industry, and investors. Closing this gap requires trusted, independent scientific insight to inform regulation, standards, and investment decisions.
The Materials Science Advisory Council has been established to provide insight, evidence and clarity to help the industry move from demonstration and pilot programmes to full‑scale global adoption.
Delivering an annual statement outlining global research and innovation priorities needed to decarbonise cement and concrete production.
Reviewing insights from international research programmes and identifying opportunities for deeper collaboration across institutions and regions.
Providing independent, science‑based perspectives on materials and processes to policymakers, standards bodies, and industry groups.
The Materials Science Advisory Council comprises fourteen internationally recognised experts from leading universities and research institutions across Europe, North America, and South America.
Dr. Mohend CHAOUCHE is the CNRS (French National Center for Scientific Research) research director at the University Paris-Saclay & ENS Paris-Saclay, the LMPS (Mechanical & Civil Engineering Lab) and LPS (Condensed Matter Physics Lab).
He serves as the head of the joint CNRS-Industry Lab MC2E (Eco-Efficient Cementitious Materials). Dr. Chaouche earned his PhD in Physics from the University Pierre & Marie Curie in Paris (1993), did his post-doc at the French Institute of Petroleum and was a visiting
scholar at Cornell University (1999) and Northwestern University (2011-2012).
His expertise lies in the transport of porous media, the rheology of complex fluids, particularly cementitious materials, the physico-chemistry of hydration and the colloid and cement physics and chemistry. He is the coinventor of Ecocem ULTRA, Ecocem ACT and SCALABLE cement with net negative CO₂ impact (patent pending, CNRS), part of the Horizon-Europe project (CONCERTO).
He has co-authored over a hundred scientific papers, has applied for twelve patents (low-CO₂ cements) and supervised 25 PhDs, among
which 15 industrials.
Martin Cyr is a professor of civil engineering at the University of Toulouse and deputy director (and future director as of January 2027) of the Laboratory Materials and Durability of Constructions (LMDC), which comprises 57 faculty members. He completed a joint doctoral thesis between the University of Sherbrooke and INSA Toulouse, which he defended in December 1999.
His research focuses on cementitious materials, concrete durability, and the development of low-carbon-footprint binders and concretes. He possesses expertise in the formulation, performance, and durability of innovative cement-based materials, particularly alternative binders and alkali-activated binders. His work combines fundamental research with applied engineering aspects related to concrete technology and structural performance. His projects are funded by public grants (France and Europe) and industry (more than 20 partner companies). He has co-supervised 39 doctoral theses, authored more than 250 articles and conference papers, and holds 18 patents. He is active on several RILEM technical committees.
He is also involved in standardization activities related to cementitious materials and concrete, thereby contributing to the development and implementation of technical standards for sustainable construction. In particular, he is responsible for CEN TC104/WG15 (European standard for blast furnace slag) and for the expert group in charge of drafting FD P18-484 (method for evaluating new binders and new additions).
He is also actively involved in CEN TC104/WG20 (standard for natural pozzolans and activated natural pozzolans), CEN TC104/WG19 (sustainability), as well as the AFNOR P15A (cement) and P18B/C (concrete) committees. He actively participates in national and international research collaborations on low-carbon construction materials, notably with the University of Sherbrooke, IIT Delhi, BITs Pilani Hyderabad, PolyU Hong Kong, and KU Leuven.
Prof. R. Douglas Hooton is an ACI Honorary Member and Professor Emeritus in the Department of Civil & Mineral Engineering at the University of Toronto. He is also President of Concrete Durability Associates Inc. in Toronto.
He has conducted research on cementitious materials and concrete durability and sustainability for over 50 years. At ACI, he was chair of C201 on Concrete Durability, and currently chairs ACI C130A Sustainability of Constituent Materials of Concrete and ACI C233 on Slag Cement. He also chairs ASTM C09.48, Performance of Cementitious Mixtures and C09.51 Guide for Sulfate resistance, and CSA A3000 subcommittee on supplementary cementitious materials.
He is also an Honorary member of RILEM, the Institute of Concrete Technology (UK), as well as of ASTM Committees C01 & C09. He is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, Canadian Society of Civil Engineers, the Engineering Institute of Canada, and ASTM. He is a member of over 60 technical committees and subcommittees of ACI, ASTM, CSA, RILEM and fib.
Prof. Kamal KHAYAT is the Jones Professor of Civil Engineering and Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation at Missouri S&T, Rolla, MO.
He is a Fellow of ACI and RILEM and a past member of ACI Technical Advisory Committee and ACI Board of Direction. Dr. Khayat served as Director of the Center for Transportation Infrastructure and Safety, a National University Transportation Center (UTC), and the Tier-1 UTC, Research on Concrete Applications for Sustainable Transportation.
He currently serves as the Associate Director of the Center for Durable and Resilient Transportation Infrastructure Tier-1 UTC. Over 21 years, he was a professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at the Université de Sherbrooke in Quebec, Canada.
Dr. Khayat’s conducted pioneering research rheology of cement-based materials, high-performance concrete with adapted rheology, SCC, underwater concrete, and grouting. He chaired/co-chaired several international conferences, including the 2020 Gordon Research Conference (Ventura Beach, CA), SCC2016 (Washington, DC), SCC2010 (Montreal), and other conferences in China, France, Poland, and the UAE. Dr. Khayat has authored over 550 publications and nearly 30 books, book chapters, and conference proceedings.
He holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in Civil Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley.
Dr. Hongyan MA is a Professor holding the Kummer Impact Professorship and the Francisco Benavides Scholarship at the Missouri University of Science and Technology (S&T). He received his bachelor’s degrees in Material Engineering and in Law in 2005, master’s degree in Structural Engineering in 2008, and PhD in Civil Engineering in 2013.
He joined Missouri S&T as an assistant professor in 2015, following a 2.5-year postdoctoral fellowship at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and was promoted to associate professor and professor in 2021 and 2025, respectively. Dr. Ma has been directing the Lab of Future Cements and Carbon-negative Initiatives (FUCCI) to conduct research regarding future cements (decarbonization, supplementary cementitious materials, alternative binders, and artificial intelligence), smart systems for testing and evaluation, multi-scale characterization and modelling, concrete deterioration and damage mitigation, solid waste upcycling, gigaton-scale CO2 sequestration, thermal energy storage, and critical minerals recovery. He holds patents for potentially carbon-negative cementitious materials, carbon mineralization-based innovations, and advanced cement-based composites.
Dr. Ma’s research has received funding from the National Science Foundation, the Department of Transportation, the Department of Energy, the Department of Defense system, private foundations, and industry, totaling >$17M. He has published more than 150 papers in prestigious journals and received over 11,000 citations with an h-index of 58.
Prof. Ciaran McNALLY is an Associate Professor at the School of Civil Engineering, University College Dublin. He obtained his PhD for his work on concrete durability and has authored over 120 research papers addressing all aspects of concrete construction.
His research is motivated by the need to develop low carbon solutions for concrete infrastructure, and this has recently extended to also include concrete printing.
Prof. Rafael G. PILEGGI is Full Professor in the Department of Civil Construction Engineering at the Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo (PCC Poli USP) since 2023, with academic tenure since 2008.
He holds a degree in Materials Science and Engineering from UFSCar, and earned a master’s (1996), PhD (2001), and postdoctoral degree (2003) in Materials Science and Engineering from the same institution. Completed a second postdoctoral fellowship in Civil Construction at PCC Poli USP (2005) and a third one as invited professor at ETH Zürich (2019), focusing on Digital Concrete Fabrication technologies such as 3D printing and Smart Dynamic Casting.
Expert in mix design, rheology and eco-efficient cementitious materials, he led the creation of the Rheology Laboratory for Reactive Suspensions at Poli USP. His research spans ceramic refractory castables, rheological characterization techniques, sustainable concrete and mortar solutions, 3D concrete printing and the use of mining waste (iron, copper, bauxite) in construction materials.
Also dedicated to the study and development of innovative methods for characterizing the rheological behavior of cement mixtures, he is the inventor of the Pheso concrete mixer rheometer, sold internationally. Currently a senior researcher at the National Institute of Science and Technology (INCT) for Advanced Eco-Efficient Cement Technologies, he serves on the executive board of the Embrapii Eco-Efficient Construction Unit (UE-CICS/Poli/USP). He coordinates multiple industry-academic projects.
He also co-leads the Microstructure and Eco-Efficiency of Materials Laboratory (LME), the Living Lab CICS building, and the Digital Construction Laboratory (DCLAB), part of the hubic innovation initiative between USP and the Brazilian Portland Cement Association.
He has dedicated himself to research and training researchers, having supervised more than 30 postgraduate students
Prof. Johann PLANK holds a Ph.D. in chemistry. From 1980 to 2001, he held positions as Research Group Leader, Director of Research “Construction and Oilfield Chemicals” and finally General Manager of SKW Polymers GmbH, Trostberg – a chemical company specialized on concrete admixtures (now owned by BASF).
There, he invented numerous concrete & mortar additives and started SKW’s oilfield chemicals business. Since 2001, he is Full Professor of Construction Chemistry at Technische Universität München, Department of Chemistry. His current research is focused on novel low carbon “green” binders, chemical admixtures (esp. polycarboxylate (PCE) superplasticizers) for concrete and mortar, CO2 footprint of binders and admixtures, nanoparticles, hybrid materials, 3D printing and energy harvesting materials.
Prof. Plank has published over 500 scientific papers, holds 40 patents, held guest professorships in Singapore, Tokyo, Shanghai, Beijing and Berlin, is member of numerous professional organizations including GDCh, RILEM, SPE, Apl. He is the recipient of the A. Aignesberger Award from CANMET/ACl, an Honorary Member of the British “Institute for Concrete Technology” (ICT), Awardee of the American Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) in Washington/DC and a “1000 foreign expert” in China.
Since 2021, he is TUM Professor of Excellence, a member of TUM’s Senior Excellence Faculty and in 2023 was elected to the German Academy of Technical Sciences.
Prof. Francesca Ridi is Associate Professor of Physical Chemistry at the Department of Chemistry “Ugo Schiff”, University of Florence, Italy, and member of the Centre for Colloid and Surface Science (CSGI).
Her research activity focuses on the physico-chemical characterization of cementitious and inorganic colloidal materials, with particular emphasis on hydration mechanisms, sustainable low-carbon binders, and structure–property relationships in complex materials. She has extensive expertise in calorimetric, microscopic, spectroscopic, and scattering techniques for the multiscale characterization of complex systems.
She obtained her PhD in Chemical Sciences with a thesis on the physico-chemical properties of cementitious materials and the effects of superplasticizers and cellulosic additives. Since then, she has coordinated and participated in several research projects funded by the European Union, the Italian Ministry of University and Research, the Italian Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy, and industrial partners.
Her research also includes magnesium- and calcium-based inorganic nanostructures for advanced and biomedical applications. She currently serves on the Board of the Division of Physical Chemistry of the Italian Chemical Society.
Prof. Ruben SNELLINGS (PhD) is associate professor of Applied Mineralogy at KU Leuven. He has a PhD in Sciences (geology) from the same university and has carried out post-doctoral research at the Magnel Laboratory for Concrete Research of UGent, and at the Laboratory of Construction Materials of EPFL as a Marie Curie IEF Fellow.
There, he specialized in X-ray diffraction and electron microscopy analysis of cementitious materials. He worked for 8 years as a researcher at VITO, Belgium on a wide range of mineral residue upcycling projects. His main field of expertise is the development of novel SCMs and mineral carbonation products incorporating mineral and inorganic waste streams (zeolites, slags, fly ashes, thermally activated clays). In 2016, he received the RILEM Gustavo Colonnetti medal for his contribution to construction materials science.
As (co)-chair of two RILEM TC’s and expert in CEN/TC’s on Cement and Concrete, he is actively involved in (pre-
)normalization work. Ruben is or has been (co-)supervisor of 12 PhD researchers, and presently coordinates a team of 6 post-docs. He is (co-)author of more than 105 peer-reviewed journal papers, 5 book chapters and edited one textbook on characterization of cementitious materials.
Prof. Arezki Tagnit Hamou is a professor in the Civil Engineering and Building Engineering Department at the University of Sherbrooke (Canada) and director of the Centre of Excellence on Low-Carbon Concrete. He is also a founding member of the International Associated Laboratory ECOMAT. He holds the SAQ Research Chair on the Valorisation of Glass in Materials (www.cvvm-saq.ca).
He has been working in the field of cement and concrete research for over 30 years. An expert in the microstructure and physico-chemistry of cement and concrete, Professor Tagnit Hamou’s main research interests are the development of alternative cementitious materials and low-carbon concrete. His studies focus on material characterization, hydration, durability, and technology transfer. As Chairholder, he works on the valorisation of glass in concrete.
He is the author of more than two hundred peer-reviewed technical papers in international journals, but also in conferences, including patents. He is also the chair of the International Conference on Cementitious Materials and Alternative Binders for Sustainable Concrete (ICCM).
Professor Tagnit Hamou is a member of technical committees at the American Concrete Institute (ACI), ASTM, RILEM and the Canadian Standards Association (CSA). He is a Fellow (FACI) of the ACI (2009) and the recipient of the ACI prestigious Arthur R. Anderson Medal (2024) and the Grand Prix d’excellence professionnelle de l’Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec, (2024).
Larry Sutter is the Principal of Sutter Engineering, LLC, providing consulting services on concrete-making materials. He is also a Professor Emeritus in Materials Science and Engineeringat Michigan Technological University. He has over forty years’ experience with materials characterization, the use of SCMs, and performing research in the area of concretedurability. Currently he specializes in supporting
implementation of alternative cementitious materials (ACMs) and alternative supplementary cementitious materials (ASCMs). Dr. Sutter is a Fellow of ASTM and is Vice-Chair ofCommittee C01 (Cement) and Committee C09 (Concrete), and holds numerous leadership positions, including Chair of Subcommittees C09.24 Supplementary Cementitious Materials andC01.27 Strength. He is a Fellow of the American Concrete Institute (ACI) and holds numerous leadership positions including Chair of Committee 321 Durability Code and Chair of Committee 201 Durability. He is a registered Professional Engineer in Michigan.
For over 25 years Ecocem has worked with the global materials science community to pursue the development of cost-effective, low-carbon cement solutions.
Establishing the Materials Science Advisory Council is an important next step and reflects Ecocem’s long‑standing conviction that science‑led innovation is essential to accelerating industrial decarbonisation.
From lab-based innovation to live pilot projects with commercial partners, the independent evidence is clear. Low-carbon cement technologies can deliver substantial reductions in CO2 emissions cost effectively.
Members of the Council have many years research and development experience working with multiple partners on a range of innovation across the globe. The Council’s aim now is to work with industry, regulators and policymakers to update their understanding of the potential of low-carbon cement technologies to drive down construction emissions, cost effectively and at speed in the coming decade.
By aligning science, policy and industry, the Materials Science Advisory Council will help accelerate the transition to low‑carbon cement and concrete at scale.
