On its trip to various institutions, the DGM Expert Committee on Hybrid Materials and Structures met at the University of Augsburg on 21 February 2024. Prof. Kay Weidenmann, who holds the "Hybrid Materials" chair at the Institute for Materials Resource Management (MRM), which is a perfect fit for the expert committee, was the local organizer and host of the meeting. The recently completed premises of the institute offered participants an attractive atmosphere. The lecture program ranged from the presentation of topics worked on in Augsburg to the use of shape memory wires in composite materials and 3D printing of metal-polymer composites. A DFG-funded three-way collaboration presented the latest research results on aluminum-CFRP composites. At the end of the lecture program, Prof. Ralf Cuntze presented an exciting overview lecture on the topic of analogies and discrepancies of failure criteria for isotropic and anisotropic materials. In the concluding tour, those present were able to gain an impression of the institute's newly equipped laboratories.

In the discussion about the forms of future expert committee meetings, various options for meetings on site, online or in hybrid formats were discussed. As a result, it was decided to alternate between purely face-to-face meetings and web meetings. In future, the meetings will therefore take place once a year with alternating hosts on site and a second time a year purely online. This form of hybrid organization offers potentially interested parties the opportunity to first get a taste of an online event without much effort, before deciding whether attending a face-to-face meeting seems worthwhile. Personal contacts can then be established and expanded much more easily. Accordingly, the next meeting of the FA is planned for fall 2024 at the DLR in Cologne, before an online-only meeting will take place in spring 2025.