From June 15-16, the Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) on Systems Chemistry took place, followed by the Gordon Research Conference (GRC) from June 16-21 at the University of Southern Maine in Portland, Maine, United States. Our PhD students Anna, Souvik, and Thijs and Mathijs, a junior group leader in Robot Lab participated in this conference. Thijs presented his research on the Formose reservoir computer (recently accepted in Nature!) and all of them showcased their research posters throughout the event. Wilhelm also participated as a discussion leader for the conference theme ‘Prebiotic Chemistry.’ Overall, the conference featured a diverse range of speakers presenting exciting and novel research topics, including chemical reaction networks, nucleic acid chemistry, and systems exhibiting emergent functions.