Dear Colleagues,

It is a great privilege and pleasure to welcome you to the XIV Iberic Meeting of Electrochemistry (XIV IME) & XVII Meeting of the Portuguese Electrochemical Society (XVII MPES), in Funchal, Madeira Island, organized by the Sociedade Portuguesa de Electroquímica (SPE), Electrochemistry branch of the Real Sociedad Española de Química (RSEQ) and Centro de Química da Madeira (University of Madeira).

The islands of Madeira and Porto Santo were officially discovered by the Portuguese navigators Tristão Vaz Teixeira, Bartolomeu Perestrelo and João Gonçalves Zarco in 1419 and are considered the first territorial discovery of the period of the “Portuguese Age of Discovery”. With a subtropical-Mediterranean climate, a laurisilva forest considered by UNESCO a World Natural Heritage, 2170 km of levadas (aqueducts) to carry water from the northwest to the agricultural regions in the south, well served by infrastructures (airport, roads, industrial free zone, hospitals, university), and well connected by direct flights from the main European cities and other countries, the Madeira Islands attract not only tourists from all over the world and during the entire year but also people that want to work and live in a safe and beautiful region.

The main city, Funchal, with five centuries of history, located in a beautiful natural amphitheater, maintains the charming of the old times but remains open to the modernity. Together with one of the few and emblematic buildings that survives from the early period of Madeira colonization (the Gothic Sé Catedral de Nossa Senhora da Assunção from the late fifteenth-century), we are involved by the view of the white villas, tropical gardens, modern buildings and an astonishing sea view with modern cruise ships and ancient boats.

We are very happy that the XIV IME & XVII MPES will take place in the beautiful and charming city of Funchal.

I am delighted to welcome all of you in Madeira Island for the XIV IME & XVII MPES and I wish you a very pleasant scientific and social stay.

João Rodrigues,

Chairman of the XIV IME & XVII MPES,

Funchal, Portugal