SusMax:The First Max Planck Network for Circular Materials Science 

• The Idea: Designing materials with built-in circularity and sustainability—longer-lasting, more efficient, and easy to reuse with minimal loss.
• The Network: The first Max Planck research network dedicated to developing sustainable materials, founded through an interdisciplinary collaboration of six Max Planck Institutes and open to new partners from across the Max Planck Society.
• Call for Proposals: Submissions for joint projects involving at least two MPIs open on 23 October 2025 and close on 5 December 2025.

What is SusMax?

‘SusMax’ is the first Max Planck research network dedicated to developing sustainable materials. Its urgent and transformative goal is to rethink and redesign materials for a circular economy, moving beyond finite resources, single-use products, and energy-intensive production. The network is now seeking to attract new partners from across the Max Planck Society. Directors, group leaders, postdoctoral researchers, and PhD students are all welcome to participate in our activities.

Sustainability by Design — Three Research Axes

SusMax is rooted in a simple yet compelling idea: we must use natural resources more carefully and repurpose materials for long-term, flexible use. Key raw materials are limited, harder to access, and increasingly tied to geopolitical tensions. Traditionally, sustainability has been an afterthought, a reactive strategy to manage leftovers. SusMax reverses that logic. It champions 'built-in sustainability’, materials designed from the ground up to last longer, work more efficiently, and be reused with minimal loss. Scientists embed these principles at the microstructural level to ensure circularity is a core function of the material itself, not an add-on.

A closer look at SusMax’s three main research areas shows how performance and sustainability go hand in hand:

• Sensing-Based Programmable Behavior: materials that sense, adapt, and self‑heal
• Recyclability and Sustainability of Material Systems: durable, repairable, easy to reuse
• Controlled Disintegration and Disassembly:  clean breakdown and material recovery

The SusMax Network's steering committee is led by an interdisciplinary board of directors from the six founding institutes: the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces (Potsdam), the Max Planck Institute for Sustainable Materials (Düsseldorf), the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society (Berlin), the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research (Mainz), the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics of Complex Technical Systems (Magdeburg), and the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology (Jena).

Why join SusMax?

Our vision is to establish more than just a research network. We see it as a call to action, based on the belief that science must engage with the broader systems it seeks to transform, including consumer behaviour, industrial practice, policy, and public understanding. This is why SusMax will establish a dedicated platform for dialogue and collaboration, connecting policymakers, NGOs, and industry leaders to shape and co-develop new approaches to sustainable materials.

Multiple postdoctoral positions will be funded through a combination of central Max Planck Society funds and contributions from participating institutes. We strongly encourage applications from young PIs, as we believe their ideas will drive innovation and collaboration.

What’s upcoming?

Our next call for proposals is planned for 23 October 2025.  If you are interested in submitting a proposal, we encourage you to collaborate with colleagues from other MPIs, including those from different sections, to develop a joint project. At least two MPIs should be involved in each SusMax project. More information can be found here.

Please feel free to contact us with any questions at info@susmax.org.

Further information can be found on our website.