Max Planck Institute Magdeburg welcomes Sohini Kar-Narayan as new director

Materials scientist strengthens basic research in the engineering sciences in Magdeburg

Materials scientist Professor Sohini Kar-Narayan, Ph.D., has accepted the appointment as new director and Scientific Member at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics of Complex Technical Systems and joined the board of directors of the Magdeburg-based institute on August 25, 2025. Sohini Kar-Narayan will head the new Materials Systems Engineering research department.

“We are delighted that Sohini Kar-Narayan has accepted our offer and would like to extend a warm welcome to her and her family in Magdeburg and at our institute,” said Prof. Dr. Peter Benner, Managing Director, at the first joint working meeting of the directors and research group leaders on August 28, 2025. “The staff at our institute will actively support Ms. Kar-Narayan, her new team and her department as they settle in Magdeburg and at our MPI.”

“I am excited to be here and express a massive thank you to everyone I met here and the warm welcome and and support to me, my family and new team members. I look forward to collaborating with all of you.” stated Sohini Kar-Narayan to the board of directors and the staff during her stay in Magdeburg.

Sohini Kar-Narayan is currently Professor of Device Materials in the Department of Materials Science & Metallurgy at the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom. There she leads an interdisciplinary research group working on functional nanomaterials and devices for energy, sensing and biomedical applications.

Until September 30, 2025, Sohini Kar-Narayan will perform her duties at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics of Complex Technical Systems on a part-time basis and will continue to work at the University of Cambridge until she takes up her full-time position in Magdeburg. She will assume her position as director on a full-time basis from October 1, 2025.