Inorganic glasses and silicate melts – from theory to application

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Glass is not only one of the oldest man-made materials, glass science has also contributed greatly to the advancement of society by furthering our understanding of glasses used in optics, technology, chemistry, architecture or medicine, to name but a few. Glass constitutes a tremendously important material of our daily lives, and new challenges for glass uses arise continuously. To address current and newly arising challenges, not only glass technology is key, but particularly the science of glass. One main challenge in glass science lies in the nature of glass, which combines elements of both liquid and solid matter. In contrast to ceramics and minerals, the liquid pseudo-nature of glass allows quasi-infinite chemical compositions, and this variability constitutes a significant challenge for the prediction of glass structure and properties. Despite the enormous importance of glass research, the number of academic researchers in the field in Germany has been decreasing. In order to maintain fundamental glass research in Germany at a high and competitive level for future years, we need a strong glass science community and a basis of young scientists who are not only experts in the field but also have the opportunity to embark on an academic career in glass science. By giving excellent young postdocs the opportunity to develop their own research idea and, subsequently, submit their first grant proposal, a Workshop for Early Career Investigators can help to pave the way towards the next generation of principal investigators in academic glass research.By nature glass is situated at the border of different research fields, such as engineering, theoretical physics, solid-state chemistry or thermodynamics of geological melts. For this reason, the proposed Workshop for Early Career Investigators deliberately addresses young postdocs from all these areas to not only increase scientific exchange and interaction but, ultimately, strengthen the field of glass research in Germany.