International recognition for Professor Leyens

The renowned RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, has appointed Dresden's materials expert Christoph Leyens as Adjunct Professor. Leyens is Director of the Institute of Materials Science at TUD Dresden University of Technology and Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS Dresden.

Leyens received the honor for his collaboration with RMIT University in additive manufacturing. In recent years, he and his teams at TU Dresden and Fraunhofer IWS have succeeded in making their research internationally visible while establishing additive manufacturing as a lighthouse project at the Dresden science hub. At the Additive Manufacturing Center Dresden (AMCD), experts are researching and developing cross-process material and manufacturing solutions for innovative products that can be used in aerospace, energy and medical technology, tool and machine construction, as well as automotive engineering. The AMCD is operated by the Fraunhofer IWS and TU Dresden as a joint Competence Center. Moreover, the AMCD experts are coordinating one of Europe's largest research projects in the field of additive manufacturing: AGENT-3D. Along with 120 network partners, the project is driving the development of this rapidly growing field of technology to make way for a production process that is ready for industrial use.

“I am very pleased that RMIT University has chosen to join forces with us,” says Leyens. ”It will help to consolidate our international relations with Australia. In science, the sharing of expertise is essential.” In his role as adjunct professor, Leyens will also supervise doctoral students, who will conduct research at RMIT University in joint doctoral projects while having access to research equipment and expertise from Dresden that is not available at their own location. In return, researchers from Dresden will be given easy opportunities to conduct research in Melbourne. The great distance between Germany and Australia plays only a minor role in the collaboration between the researchers. “Additive manufacturing experts meet at conferences all over the world, whether in Dresden at our own ISAM 2019 conference, in the USA, China or Singapore,” says the Dresden materials scientist, describing the many opportunities for face-to-face meetings.  Leyens will be traveling to Australia again in June to give a plenary lecture on the development of additive manufacturing in Europe at an international conference in Melbourne. In his speech, he will particularly emphasize the strong collaboration between industry and both university-based and non-university research institutions in Germany, which he believes is a key factor to the success of German companies in the highly competitive international market.