Prof. Dr.-Ing. Christoph Leyens studied metallurgy and materials engineering at RWTH Aachen University, where he obtained his diploma in 1993 and his doctorate in 1997. Prof. Leyens has held the Chair of Materials Engineering at the Technical University of Dresden since 2009 and has been Director of the Institute of Materials Science since 2011. In addition, he has been a member of the institute management since 2016 and sole director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS Dresden since 2018.

His research work is documented in more than 340 publications, 23 books and book chapters and 12 patents. Prof. Leyens' research focuses on laser processes and surface technology, microstructure-property relationships of metallic materials, lightweight and high-temperature materials and additive manufacturing.