Each year since 1957, The Welch Foundation hosts a conference that draws leading scientists from around the world to explore state-of-the-art research in various areas of chemistry. The Foundation sponsors these annual conferences to support fundamental research in chemistry.
The topic of each conference and its participants are selected by a member of the Scientific Advisory Board. It is the Foundation’s desire to present programs with cutting-edge research in a variety of different areas of chemistry.
2027 Conference
The 2026 Welch Conference "Harnessing Biological Dynamics" will be held October 25-26, 2027 at The Post Oak Hotel at Uptown Houston in Houston, TX. The Chair is Ann E. McDermott.
The event will be both in-person and live-streamed. Registration will open Summer 2027.
Have questions? Reach out to conference@welch1.org
2026 Conference
The Welch Foundation hosted its 69th annual conference in Houston on October 26-27 to highlight fundamental research in chemistry and to celebrate the 2026 Welch Awardee in Chemistry.
The in-person and live-streamed conference featured the theme "Frontiers in Macromolecular Science" and was organized by Welch Scientific Advisory Board Member, Geoffrey W. Coates. The conference convened an exceptional group of scientists who have driven foundational advances in polymer synthesis, nature-inspired materials, and sustainable chemistry.
The conference was divided into four sessions: “Nature-Inspired Materials,” “Polymer Synthesis & Design Innovation,” “Advanced Functional Materials,” and “Polymers for Sustainability."
On Monday, Oct. 26, Dr. Joseph DeSimone of Stanford University gave a keynote address, "The Delicate Interplay Between Light, Interfaces, and Design to Scale 3D Printing."
On the evening of Oct. 26, Welch Board Chair Gina A. Luna presented the 2026 Welch Award in Chemistry to Dr. Robert S. Langer. Dr. Langer was honored for pioneering discoveries at the intersection of chemistry and medicine that led to understanding how to control the release of therapeutic macromolecules through materials and how to create new tissues and organs.
The Welch Foundation hosted its 68th annual conference in Houston on October 27-28 to highlight fundamental research in chemistry and to celebrate the 2025 Welch Awardees in Chemistry.
This year's in-person and live-streamed conference featured the theme "New Horizons in Drug Discovery" and was organized by Welch Scientific Advisory Board Member, Kevan M. Shokat. Discussions covered many facets of this topic, including neurodegeneration, childhood motor neuron disease, cystic fibrosis, cancer, and infectious disease.
The conference was divided into four sessions: “Drugs as Rescue Agents,” “Living Therapeutics,” “Chemoproteomics & Drug Discovery,” and “Molecular Glues."
On Monday, Oct. 27, Dr. Pamela J. Bjorkman of the California Institute of Technology gave a keynote address, “Towards a COVID-19 Vaccine to Protect Against SARS-CoV-2 Variants and Animal Sarbecoviruses Without Updating."
On the evening of Oct. 27, Welch Board Chair Frederick Brazelton presented the 2025 Welch Award in Chemistry to Dr. Stuart L. Schreiber and Dr. Peter G. Schultz. Dr. Schreiber was honored for his profound discoveries using chemical probes to understand the chemical machinery of the cell and for developing therapies based on this knowledge. Dr. Schultz was honored for his pioneering contributions to creating new letters in the alphabet of life, and the leveraging of chemical diversity to discover novel therapeutics and materials.
