Many engineering problems require a multidisciplinary approach and when realizing a specific solution, an appropriate material selection is an absolute prerequisite to make it a success. Professor Kim Verbeken is a materials scientist with a dedicated expertise on metallic materials. His main research focus is twofold. On the one hand, his research aims at extending the life span of materials by developing strategies for their increased resistance to environmental influences. As such possible issues with for example corrosion and hydrogen induced degradation are minimized. On the other hand, he also works on high temperature thermodynamics studying the interactions between different (gaseous, liquid or solid) phases. For this purpose, dedicated thermodynamical software is used and simulations down to the micro-scale level are performed.