Without an understanding of the behaviour of structures and materials under the influence of forces, i.e. deformation and strength against fracture, and its effects on structures, the majority of civil engineering (timber, steel, concrete, ground, traffic route or hydraulic engineering) is unimaginable. The Institute of Mechanics of Materials and Structures researches and teaches the above understanding in experimental, mathematical and computational form. In this way, the foundations for safe infrastructure planning are maintained and further developed.

Simultaneous demands for economic efficiency and sustainability, however, also require further development of the materials themselves: As an internationally recognised pioneer in the field of multiscale and micromechanics as an interface between engineering, chemistry, physics and biology, the institute also sees itself as an important scientific driver of building materials technology (e.g. concrete and wood technology) in the future. In addition, it has made a unique name for itself as an exporter of modern engineering mechanical methods to biomedicine: there, a mathematical understanding of the central building materials is comparatively "in its infancy".