Prof. Dr. Raul Bermejo receives the ERC Consolidator Grant for the project "CeraText" (Tailoring Microstructure and Architecture to Build Ceramic Components with Unprecedented Damage Tolerance). Prof. Bermejo will explore new concepts to make ceramic components more damage tolerant and reliable. In doing so, Bermejo is taking his cue from nature. For example, one can learn a lot from the internal structure of a mussel shell: In the event of local damage, cracks are deflected by the many ultra-thin layers in the shell. This prevents spontaneous total failure. He is trying to transfer this principle to ceramic materials for technical applications. With the ERC grant, Prof. Bermejo will create "bio-inspired" multilayer structures, similar to those found in shells or bones, to investigate the underlying strengthening mechanisms. Fundamental design guidelines will be established according to which future ceramic components (e.g. by 3D generative manufacturing processes) could be built.