Short CV

Josef Füssl was appointed University Professor for Structure Simulation and Timber Engineering at TU Wien with effect from March 1, 2021. He is assigned to the Institute of Mechanics of Materials and Structures at the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Josef Füssl studied Civil Engineering at TU Wien, graduating with distinction in 2006. In 2010, he was awarded his doctorate (with distinction), addressing “multiscale fracture modeling of bituminous mixtures”. After a one-year research stay abroad at the University of Oxford, made possible by an FWF Erwin Schrödinger scholarship, he obtained his Venia Docendi in 2017, qualifying him to teach in the area of "Material simulation and structural mechanics". He successfully applied for a tenure-track position on the subject of "Material simulation and structural mechanics" in the same year, and since April 2019, he had been Associate Professor at the Institute of Mechanics of Materials and Structures. In 2018 he received the prestigious FWF START grant for the project "Making wood predictable through computational methods".

Since 2018, Josef Füssl has been head of the Research Unit “Structural Simulation and Timber Engineering” at TU Wien (successor of Prof. Josef Eberhardsteiner). Through the organization of several mini-symposia related to computational modeling, wood mechanics, and biocomposites at international conferences, by being the co-chair of the ECCOMAS thematic conference series CompWood “Computational Wood Mechanics”, and as a member of several scientific advisory committees, he is an internationally well-known and well-connected expert in his field. He is a board member of the research center for Geometry and Computational Design, opens an external URL in a new window, co-PI of the related FWF SFB “Advanced Computational Design”, opens an external URL in a new window, and PI of a longstanding research cooperation with the brick industry. He has been PI of projects with a volume amounting to € 5.4 M. For projects with a volume of € 3.7 M he has been the main applicant and corresponding author of the project proposal.

As the lead scientist, the groundwork for the establishment of a CD Laboratory was successfully laid during a project with HS Timber that focused on the development of wood-based biocomposites. Directed by Dr. Markus Lukacevic, the CD Laboratory for the Next-Generation Wood-Based Biocomposite was inaugurated in October 2023 and is located within the research unit of Structural Simulation and Timber Engineering.

The main concern of his research unit is to make sustainable building materials predictable through computational mechanics. A fundamental mechanical understanding increases the flexibility of use, creates trust, and lays the foundation for new material and product developments. His current focus is on wood, wood-based products, fired-clay mixtures, bricks and novel bio-composite materials. He looks into their microstructures, gains understanding of the most important mechanical processes, and connects it to their macroscopic performance.

Awards