The aim of the Institute of Physics of Materials of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, v.v.i. (IPM ASCR, v.v.i.) is to elucidate the relation between the behaviour and properties of materials and their structural and microstructural characteristics. The Institute of Physics of Materials of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, v.v.i., has been active in the interdisciplinary field of materials science since its foundation in the year 1955. The position of the institute in this rather broad scientific field lies prevailingly in the research of metallic materials. There are two main research areas: (i) physical nature of processes taking place in metallic materials during creep, fatigue, creep/fatigue and under other types of mechanical loading (ii) structure of materials and selected thermodynamic, diffusion and magnetic properties.