In May, Prof. Dr. Eduard Arzt joined the Department as Part-Time Professor of Functional Microstructures, marking a return to the institution where he conducted his PhD research under the guidance of Prof. Hellmut Fischmeister. With a distinguished international career spanning academia and research leadership, he will strengthen the Department’s global partnerships and contribute to shaping the evolving field of materials science as it increasingly converges with digital technologies. This appointment complements his ongoing engagements as Affiliate Faculty at the University of California San Diego and as a principal collaborator at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Already in January, Dr. Verena Maier-Kiener assumed her position as Associate Professor of Scale-Bridging Materials Testing. Building on her successful research career in Leoben, she has pioneered innovative testing methodologies and generated fundamental insights into the behavior of advanced materials testing under extreme conditions. Her work has been instrumental in advancing our understanding of deformation and plasticity across a wide range of length scales. Finally, in June, Dr. Nina Schalk was also promoted to Associate Professor of Functional Surfaces and Interfaces. Her research has generated game-changing insights into microstructure formation, nanostructure engineering and functional properties in complex coating systems, driving the development of multifunctional thin films for tribological and energy-related applications. She will further strengthen the Department’s expertise at the intersection of fundamental research, industrial innovation and sustainability.