The symposium aims at providing a forum for researchers interested in applying advanced methods of electron microscopy and spectroscopy, including aberration-corrected electron microscopy, and in-situ characterization in the various fields of microscopies to materials research. Nowadays, this approach is of fundamental and increasing importance in different technology fields, such as electronics, optics, communications, magnetics, energy and environment and covering the wide spectrum from nanostructures in functional materials, soft matter and bioscience to structural engineered materials for industrial infrastructure. Materials research on thin films, bulk materials, surfaces, materials at the nanoscale and at the interface between physical and life sciences is of prevailing interest because of its fundamental importance in understanding the chemical and physical and life properties of materials and in evaluating their potential for technological applications. Advanced microscopic and related spectroscopic techniques play a crucial role in characterizing the microstructure/nanostructures and the structure-property relationships of materials, as well as in metrology. Current topics will be highlighted in keynote presentations given by leading invited experts. Contributions in the topics indicated below and related are welcome.