Basel: The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) and De Beers Technologies U.K. will host a panel of speakers on the topic of synthetic diamonds during GIA GemFest Basel 2015 on Sunday, March 22 at the Congress Center Basel in Switzerland. Tom Moses, the executive vice president and chief laboratory and research officer for GIA, will moderate the discussion with Dr. Simon Lawson, the head of technologies U.K. for De Beers and Dr. Wuyi Wang, the director of research and development for GIA. The event is free and will begin at 5 p.m. in the Montreal Auditorium, with a reception to follow.

The technology for creating synthetic diamond has improved significantly over the past decade and, as a result, gem-quality synthetic diamonds have appeared in greater quantities and received wider media exposure. Reports of synthetic stones being presented as natural, however, have raised concerns within the industry. GIA and De Beers have applied years of research to identifying these laboratory-grown diamonds, resulting in devices and methods that effectively distinguish them from natural diamonds – from the smallest melee to stones of significant size.

Wang and Lawson will speak on the latest research and identification methods, and will address how GIA and De Beers are working to meet the ongoing challenges posed by potential non-disclosure. A question and answer session will immediately follow the moderated discussion.