Prof. dr. ir. Iris De Graeve is head of the Department of Materials and Chemistry, and key member in the Research Group Sustainable Materials Engineering, lab Electrochemical and Surface Engineering of VUB – Vrije Universiteit Brussel. She is mainly active on surface properties and engineering of metals, including additive manufactured alloys, recycled metals, etc. She focusses on surface characterisation and surface treatments to create good corrosion resistance and other functional properties. She studies the corrosion mechanisms and the performance of the materials. In this field, she has both fundamental and industrial research projects.