IMDEA Materials Institute is pleased to announce that it has joined the European Virtual Institute on Knowledge-Based Multifunctional Materials (KMM-VIN) as a core member. The organisation operates as a pan-European virtual institute dedicated to research in advanced materials.
An international non-profit, KMM-VIN brings together 46 industrial and academic partners working collaboratively to advance research, development, innovation and training in the field of multifunctional materials.
The organisation is structured around five main areas of activity: transport, energy, biomaterials, modelling and simulation, and emerging materials for a sustainable future.
“The institute’s incorporation has been received with great interest by the other partners, due to the complementarity of its research lines,” said IMDEA Materials Senior Researcher Prof. Andrés Díaz Lantada, who was in Brussels to formalise the institute’s membership.
“In particular, several of the institute’s research groups work on the development of multifunctional or ‘smart’ materials capable of responding in a controlled way to external stimuli for a range of industrial applications, as well as on multiscale modelling of high-performance materials and structures.”
“These areas present clear synergies with the scientific activities carried out by the institutions that make up KMM-VIN,” he added.
Prof Díaz Lantada and Prof Michal Basista, CEO of KMM-VIN, welcomed the new partnership between the two institutions, which opens up new opportunities to strengthen scientific and technological collaboration at the European level.
As part of this collaboration, KMM-VIN has announced the launch of the 2026 Mobility Fellowships for Young Researchers (guidelines, application form), an annual programme designed to support the professional development of researchers with up to 10 years of postdoctoral experience.
These fellowships fund research stays of between one and two months at partner institutions within the consortium and are designed as seed projects aimed at encouraging new scientific collaborations.
One of the expected outcomes of these mobility grants is the joint publication of research results, preferably in high-impact international journals.
The call opened on February 28, and the deadline for applications is March 31, 2026.
In addition, IMDEA Materials will participate as co-organiser of the 12th KMM-VIN Industrial Workshop: Artificial Intelligence Aided Design, Modelling and Manufacturing of Multifunctional Materials and Structures, which will take place from the 26th to the 27th of May at the School of Industrial Engineering at the Technical University of Madrid (UPM).
The workshop will explore the growing role of artificial intelligence (AI) in the design, modelling and manufacturing of multifunctional materials and structures.
Discussions will focus on the use of AI in the discovery of new materials, the optimisation of metamaterials, the development of advanced manufacturing processes, and the promotion of creativity in materials science and engineering through generative AI tools.
The programme will also examine the ethical, legal and social implications of these technologies, as well as their impact on sectors such as aerospace, energy, transport, architecture and healthcare.
As a new member of KMM-VIN and co-organiser of the event, IMDEA Materials will have a prominent role in the workshop, and its researchers will benefit from a special registration fee of €150.
Registration:
https://iw12-registration.kmm-vin.eu/