The first summer school of RTG 2767 took place in the Schlosshotel Lichtenwalde on 21st/22nd of July. The full team of PhD candidates had a successful kickoff of the projects, and elected the PhD spokespersons. After a team building event moderated by Stefanie Rohac, our mercator fellows Paul Mulvaney (University Melbourne) and Erin Rathcliffe (University Arizona) contributed impulse lectures on modern trends in particle pattern formation at interfaces and characterization of electronic structure of advanced materials. We were as well glad to host the coordinator of RTG 2356 Andreas Kölditz who gave an overview of our partner RTG "Nanohybrid" at Uni Hamburg.