Jean-Marie Dubois heads the institute "Jean Lamour" at the University of Nancy, France. He is a Distinguished Research Director at the National Center of Scientific Research (CNRS) in Paris, permanent invited professor of Dalian University of Technology, China, and acting coordinator of the Complex Metallic Alloys Network of Excellence of the European Union. His research interests focus at the interplay between structural complexity in metals and alloys, electronic structure, bulk and surface properties and potential for technology. In recognition of his lifetime achievements in the field of quasicrystals he received, among others, the 2007 Mehl award from the Minerals, Metals & Materials Society.

Esther Belin-Ferre was a Research Director at the CNRS from where she officially retired in 2005. She currently works at the Laboratory of Physical Chemistry - Materials and Radiation, in Paris. Her research is dedicated to the investigation of the electronic structure of solids, prominently quasicrystals and complex alloys, using a variety of spectroscopy techniques. She has authored more than 200 scientific publications and edited three books.