*Editorial* **Preface of the 4th International Conference on the Challenges, Opportunities, Innovations and Applications in Electronic Textiles (E-Textiles 2022) †**

**Steve Beeby 1, Kai Yang 2, Russel Torah 1,\*, Beckie Isaia <sup>1</sup> and Theodore Hughes-Riley <sup>3</sup>**

	- **\*** Correspondence: rnt@ecs.soton.ac.uk
	- † All papers published in the volume are presented at the 4th International Conference on the Challenges, Opportunities, Innovations and Applications in Electronic Textiles, Nottingham, UK, 8–10 November 2022.

**Abstract:** The 4th International Conference on the Challenges, Opportunities, Innovations and Applications in Electronic Textiles (E-Textiles 2022) was held in Nottingham (United Kingdom) on 8–10 November 2022.

**Keywords:** electronics; wearables; smart fabrics; electronic textiles; E-textiles; sensing; healthcare devices; textile antennas; energy harvesting; printed electronics; knitted E-textiles; functional yarns

#### **1. Introduction**

The United Kingdom's E-Textiles Network was established in 2018 with the goal of building the electronic textiles community and acting as a bridge between academia and industry. A key objective of the Network was to establish an international conference on the topic where the latest research and developments could be shared and disseminated. The first E-Textiles conference was held in London in 2019, and E-Textiles 2022, the 4th edition of the conference, was held in Nottingham as a hybrid virtual and in-person event. It included a mix of invited and accepted speakers from around the world. Accepted papers were peer-reviewed, and this collection of papers from the conference presents the latest work on a range of electronic textile applications and technologies.

#### **2. Conference Days**

The event was held in Nottingham from the 8th to the 10th of November 2022. The technical program was organized into six sessions covering the following topics: sensing and embedded systems, applications and future trends, manufacturing and standards, reliability and sustainability, design and fashion, and immersive technologies.

The first day of the conference focused on E-textiles in action, where participants could bring demonstrations to showcase, and finished with a talk on E-textiles research at Nottingham Trent University.

The next two days consisted of a mixture of in-person and remote presentations, as well as a panel discussion on "Applications and Future Trends for E-Textiles", and a poster session.

There were two keynote talks, the first being on "The Challenges of Bringing Garment Based E-Textiles to the Mass Consumer Market" by Martin Ashby (Prevayl, UK). The second keynote talk, "Smart Textiles for Personalized Health Care", was presented by Dr Jun Chen (UCLA, USA).

**Citation:** Beeby, S.; Yang, K.; Torah, R.; Isaia, B.; Hughes-Riley, T. Preface of the 4th International Conference on the Challenges, Opportunities, Innovations and Applications in Electronic Textiles (E-Textiles 2022). *Eng. Proc.* **2023**, *30*, 22. https:// doi.org/10.3390/ engproc2023030022

Published: 11 July 2023

**Copyright:** © 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).

Fifty-six papers were submitted to the conference, and twenty are published in a volume of MDPI's *Engineering Proceedings* [1].

#### **3. E-Textiles 2022 Prizes**

E-Textiles 2022 awarded three prizes, which were sponsored by MDPI *Micromachines*.

#### *3.1. Best Paper Award*

**Winner:** Michelle Farrington (AFFOA, USA) "New Frontiers in Advanced Fibers and Fabrics".

#### *3.2. Best Student Paper Award*

**Winner:** Xiaona Yang (Donghua University, PRC) "Direct Wet-Spun Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes-Based p-n Segmented Filaments toward Wearable Thermoelectric Textiles".

#### *3.3. Best Student Poster Award*

**Winner:** Chengning Yao (Imperial College London, UK) "Thermally conductive h-BN/polymer composites for e-textiles thermal management".

#### **4. Committees**

*Conference chair*

Dr Theodore Hughes Riley, Nottingham Trent University *Local Organizing Committee* Prof. Tilak Dias, Nottingham Trent University Dr Yang Wei, Nottingham Trent University Dr Arash Shahidi, Nottingham Trent University Kalana Marasinghe, Nottingham Trent University Dr Pasindu Lugoda, Nottingham Trent University Jasbir Shanker, Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) Professor Steve Morgan, University of Nottingham *Technical Programme Committee* Dr Russel Torah (Chair), University of Southampton Dr Jun Chen, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Dr Jess Jur, North Carolina State University Prof. Anne Schwarz-Pfeiffer, Hochschule Niederrhein Sigrid Rotzler, Fraunhofer IZM Mark Catchpole, Conductive Transfers Dr Yang Wei, Nottingham Trent University Dr Yi Li, University of Southampton Dr Ishara Dharmasena, Loughborough University Dr Rebecca Stewart, Imperial College London Dr Debra Carr, Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) Dr Sasikumar Arumugam, University of Southampton Jessica Saunders, London College of Fashion Dr Abiodun Komolafe, University of Southampton Dr Theodore Hughes-Riley, Nottingham Trent University Dr Arash Moghaddassian Shahidi, Nottingham Trent University Jessica Stanley, Nottingham Trent University Dr Sheng Yong, University of Southampton Prof. John Wilson, Power Textiles Limited Dr Kun Zhang, Donghua University Dr Kai Yang, University of Southampton Jane McCann, University of Wales, Newport *International Conference Steering Committee*

Prof. Steve Beeby (Chair), University of Southampton Dr Kai Yang, University of Southampton Dr Jess Jur, North Carolina State University Christian Dalsgaard, Smart Textiles Alliance Malte von Krshiwoblozki, Fraunhofer IZM Prof. Vladan Koncar, GEMTEX Research Laboratory, ENSAIT Prof. George Stylios, Heriot-Watt University Dr Laura Salisbury, Royal College of Art Dr Kun Zhang, Donghua University Prof. Anne Schwarz-Pfeiffer, Hochschule Niederrhein Dr Sara Robertson, Royal College of Art Prof. Henry Yi Li, University of Manchester Dr Jun Chen, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) *Techincal Support* Beckie Isaia, University of Southampton

#### **5. Sponsorship**

E-Textiles 2022 would like to thank the following sponsors for supporting this event: MDPI *Micromachines* Softmatter Medical Technologies Innovation Facility (MTIF) It is our great pleasure to announce that the 5th International Conference on the Chal-

lenges, Opportunities, Innovations and Applications in Electronic Textiles (E-Textiles 2023) will be held in Ghent, Belgium from the 14th to the 16th of November 2023 (https://e-textilesconference.com/).

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.

#### **Reference**

1. E-Textiles 2022 Conference Proceedings. Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2673-4591/30/1 (accessed on 21 June 2023).

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