Dear Conference Guests,

On behalf of the DPG, I would personally like to welcome you to the virtual DPG Spring Meeting of the Surface Physics Division.

I am very pleased that despite the ongoing pandemic, we are able to hold this DPG Spring meeting with an outstanding program of keynote lectures, mini-symposia, interactive poster sessions to promote the exchange that is so important for science. This is invaluable, especially for the next generation of physicists for further scientific development and career planning, as at these DPG Spring Meetings, young researchers can present their theses to a larger scientific audience for the first time and able to network with potential employers.

However, our conference season this year also shows the great potential for innovation that lies dormant in the DPG. Thanks to the extraordinary commitment of our members, new and digital formats for events were developed and implemented in the Corona pandemic in a very short time. These are not only temporary alternatives, but can also help to increase the overall reach of the DPG events in the future - and thus the visibility of physics in politics and the public. This is of great importance for a society that relies heavily on the discoveries and innovations of the natural sciences and benefits from their findings, which are needed to address current and future societal challenges.

In short, we need physics as part of our culture today more urgently than ever!

For the success of this DPG meeting, I would therefore like to express my great gratitude to all those involved. I would also like to especially thank the Wilhelm and Else Heraeus Foundation for their generous support of all DPG meetings. My special appreciation goes to the responsible program committee, Prof. Karsten Reuter (Director of the Theory Department, Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society, Berlin) and Prof. Dr. Ulrike Diebold (Deputy Head of the Surface Physics Division, Institute of Applied Physics, Vienna University of Technology). I would like to thank the staff of the DPG office for their support and supervision of all DPG spring meetings.

Dr. Lutz Schröter
President
Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft e. V.