ECFP at the 2024 International Federation of Societies of Cosmetic Chemists (IFSCC) Congress

In October 2024, Dr Denise Li, Professor Davide Moore, and Dr Tiffany Wood attended the International Federation of Societies of Cosmetic Chemists (IFSCC) Congress in Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil.

28 October 2024

This post was written by ECFP’s Business Development Executive, Dr Denise Li.

Last week, I had the opportunity to travel to Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil, for the 34th Congress of the International Federation of Societies of Cosmetic Chemists. The theme was “Biodiversity and Cosmetics: Reaching Sustainable Technologies”, so it was fitting that we were at the heart of biodiversity, metres away from Iguaçu Falls and National Park. The four days were packed full of conversations with exhibitors, keynote speakers, poster and podium presentations, workshops and dedicated networking events. I must say, it was one of the most inclusive and energising events I have ever attended – I connected with existing contacts, as well as making new friends. I come back to the UK with a lot of hope and positivity for future of Cosmetics and Personal Care. Below is a summary of what I have taken home from this Congress.

Tiffany Wood, Denise Li and Davide Moore stand in front of a welcome poster at the IFSCC congress.
Dr Tiffany Wood, Dr Denise Li and Professor David Moore (left to right) attended the IFSCC Congress 2024 in Brazil

Science-led product innovation

The IFSCC Congress was not short of scientific presentations from both industry and academia. Across the 4-day event, over 500 posters and 80 oral talks were presented on key themes: Formulation, Application, Microbiome; Sustainability, Biodiversity, New Ingredients; Safety, Efficacy, Sensory & Neurosensory Evaluations; and Skin, Hair, Oral Care Sciences.

The University of Edinburgh contributed with 5 poster presentations; 4 on selected research projects from the School of Physics and Astronomy and 1 on new technology. I found myself dashing from poster to poster to ensure they were well-represented throughout and the result was finding myself talking to a variety of people ranging from Board Directors to Research Scientists.

The industry recognises that we must protect human health by providing effective suncare products. However, we must do better, such that it doesn’t come at the cost of the environmental and animal health. The challenge is to provide sustainable materials for UV protection whilst maintaining and even exceeding the performance of current products and providing desired sensory properties (such as texture and transparency) for the consumer. I attended several oral presentations showcasing the groups’ new sunscreen technology; from the use of rod-shaped to encapsulated minerals. This challenge cannot be overcome by just one discipline, it requires the collaboration of chemistry, physics and engineering; to bring new raw materials, to robustly re-formulate and evaluate its performance as well as ensuring a scalable process.

Denise Li stands in front of two scientific posters.
Dr Denise Li with 2 of the 5 posters from University of Edinburgh presented at IFSCC Congress 2024

Optimism for the future

We may not have got everything right so far, but there is so much potential for the future. Dr. Julie Zimmerman (Yale University) delivered a no-filter talk on how industry must reduce carbon emissions now and how green chemistry can be adopted. Meanwhile Prof. Alexandre Antonelli (Royal Botanic Gardens) highlighted how we are too reliant on the same four crops: wheat, rice, maize and soyabean. We must diversify and use more species, however, we must do this in the most effective and productive way by analysing the quality and performance of the source before use. I come away with a postive quote from Alexandre:

Bridging borders through collaboration

For our networking dinner, we went to the Marco Das Tres Fronteiras – a tri-border region where Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil meet. A fitting location for fostering collaborations. Looking back, the Congress organisers provided a variety of environments enabling people to forge new connections and develop existing relationships; through the formal agenda of exhibition, posters and oral talks to the more informal dinners and networking. There was no hiding the fact that we had all made a big commitment to get to Foz do Iguazu – my trip included a 3-leg plane journey and it was by no means the longest journey. But somehow this meant that we were all even more commited to meeting new people and sharing our work. I have met people from Brazil, Japan, China, USA and the UK who all came together to talk about science for the cosmetics sector.

For me, I am passionate about collaborations, in particular, between the University of Edinburgh and external partners. We have a dedicated IFSCC Congress page for you to see all of the posters that we presented and I am more than happy to discuss any of the projects with you further. Feel free to contact me for further information.

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