Classical density functional theory (DFT) is a microscopic approach for determining the average density distribution of a classical many-particle system in an arbitrary external potential. The approach is embedded in the framework of statistical mechanics and thermodynamics and is extremely powerful: Not only can one use it to accurately determine particle distributions, but one additionally gets thermodynamic quantities such as interfacial tensions, pressures and adsorptions. The applications of DFT have been numerous since its inception in the late 1970s, and in the last couple of decades the area has a renewed vigour thanks to the extension of the theory to cover dynamical non-equilibrium phenomena. This important extension is known as dynamical density functional theory (DDFT).


The goal of this workshop was to bring together mathematicians, physical scientists, materials scientists, and engineers working on developing and applying DFT and DDFT to discuss recent advances and to stimulate future work.

The workshop featured three plenary talks, giving overviews of (D)DFT from different perspectives, and laying the foundations for interdisciplinary conversations. There were also a number of contributed talks and ‘lightning’ talks to highlight a particular aspect discussed at the workshop, or a topic for future discussion. There was also be a public lecture by Priya Subramanian (University of Oxford) on Tuesday 4 May on ‘Wielding the knowledge of what is not possible’.