The Twelfth Annual YUCOMAT Conference was held in Herceg Novi, Montenegro, on September 6–10, 2010. It was organized by the Materials Research Society of Serbia (MRS-Serbia) and the Institute of Technical Sciences of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (ITS SASA), under the auspices of the Federation of European Materials Societies (FEMS) and endorsed by the Materials Research Society (MRS).

At the Opening Ceremony, Dragan Uskokovic, President of MRS-Serbia, in his welcoming speech talked about 15 years of YUCOMAT conferences. He said, “Among numerous existing conferences on materials worldwide, YUCOMAT has to establish a steady place in the calendar of relevant international events as an event mainly oriented toward gathering domestic researchers, those from neighboring countries, and the ones from all over the world. This aim will certainly be achieved through reinforcing connections with other MRS societies in the world. Our Society should radiate, as it has done before, positive energy in promoting this research area in our country and abroad.”

The 220 participants from around the world gathered to hear 23 lectures given by invited speakers in four plenary sessions, 56 papers presented in five oral and 149 papers presented in three posters sessions, within five one-day symposia dedicated to advanced methods in materials synthesis and processing, advanced materials for high-technology applications, nanostructured materials, composites, and biomaterials. Prizes were awarded to the authors of the best PhD and MSc theses submitted between the two Conferences, and for the best oral and poster presentations. The conference included an exhibition of innovative scientific equipment. Selected manuscripts are scheduled to appear in the journal Acta Physica Polonica A, published by the Institute of Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

The next YUCOMAT Conference will also be held in Herceg Novi, September 5–9, 2011.