We are pleased to announce that Prof. Dr. Stanislav N. Gorb has been appointed Editor-in-Chief of Biomimetics (ISSN 2313-7673).

Name: Prof. Dr. Stanislav N. Gorb
Email: [email protected]
Affiliation: Department Functional Morphology and Biomechanics, Zoological Institute of the University of Kiel, Am Botanischen Garten 1–9, D-24118 Kiel, Germany
Interests: biological adhesion; functional morphology and biomechanics; evolution of structure and functions; behavior of arthropods; animal-plant interactions; friction; surfaces; tribology; biomimetics
Homepage: https://www.sgorb.zoologie.uni-kiel.de/?page_id=658

Prof. Dr. Stanislav Gorb is a Professor and Director at the Zoological Institute of Kiel University, Germany. He received his Ph.D. degree in zoology and entomology at the Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences in Kyiv (Ukraine). Prof. Dr. Gorb was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Vienna (Austria), a research assistant at the University of Jena, a group leader at the Max Planck Institutes for Developmental Biology in Tübingen and for Metals Research in Stuttgart (Germany). His research focuses on the morphology, structure, biomechanics, physiology, and evolution of surface-related functional systems in animals and plants, as well as the development of biologically inspired technological surfaces and systems. He received the Schlossmann Award in Biology and Materials Science in 1995, the International Forum Design Gold Award in 2011 and Materialica "Best of" Award in 2011. In 1998, he was the BioFuture Competition winner for the work he conducted on biological attachment devices as possible sources for biomimetics. Prof. Dr. Gorb is a Corresponding member of the Academy of the Science and Literature Mainz, Germany (since 2010), and a Member of the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, Germany (since 2011). He has authored several books, more than 500 papers in peer-reviewed journals, and four patents.

The following is a short Q&A with Prof. Dr. Stanislav N. Gorb, who shared his vision for the journal with us, as well as his views on the research area:

Biomimetics is a quickly growing and truly interdisciplinary field. It is very exciting to be involved in the latest results and developments.

My vision is (1) to maintain a balance between different disciplines (biology vs. engineering, experiments vs. theory, and basic vs. applied science); (2) to make the journal a forum, in order to unite scientists from different disciplines and parts of the world; (3) to increase the visibility and circulation of the journal worldwide.

The future of biomimetics is bright. If you look at the number of publications, patents and industrial developments inspired and influenced by biomimetics, you may immediately be convinced that the field will play an even stronger role in the future in different facets of research, and in life in general. However, biomimetics is not magic that can solve any problems in modern technology, and that is why its results/developments have to be critically considered in every single case. This is the mission of our journal.

Open access in publishing is the right way to go because it gives all scientists worldwide the chance to access the existing knowledge. However, publishers must also provide the same chance to scientists from lower-income countries to publish with discounts, or even free of charge; otherwise, we will experience an even stronger misbalance between the developed and developing world.

We warmly welcome Prof. Dr. Stanislav N. Gorb to his new role as Editor-in-Chief, and we look forward to his valuable input to Biomimetics for its continued success. In addition, we would like to sincerely thank Prof. Dr. Josep Samitier for his leadership and the exceptional work he has conducted as Editor-in-Chief in the past years.