Yesterday, the 1st of July, Professor Elif Emil Kaya officially joined IME as Professor. Until Professor Bernd Friedrich’s retirement at the end of February 2027, she will join the lead of IME, together with the new chair of “Heavy Metals and Steel”, who is expected to start soon as well.

Professor Kaya is no stranger to IME. Between 2020 and 2022, she worked at the institute as a Scientific Assistant, where she completed her doctoral degree under the supervision of Professor Bernd Friedrich. Following her PhD, she joined the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim as a Postdoctoral Researcher. Since September 2024, she has been a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow, conducting research at NTNU’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering.

Professor Kaya’s research focuses on the sustainable recovery of critical raw materials and the recycling of strategic metals. Her work combines pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical processes to develop efficient recycling routes for permanent magnets, solar wafers and other secondary resources, with a particular emphasis on rare earth elements, as well as resource-efficient metallurgical processing and circular economy solutions.

We are delighted to welcome Professor Kaya back to IME and look forward to shaping the institute’s future together.