On March 4, 2024, the kick-off meeting of the new European doctoral network “Magnetic Soft Matter for Robotics” (MAESTRI) took place at the East Bavarian Technical University (OTH) Regensburg. This doctoral network responds to the existing need to train a new generation of experts in the emerging subfield of soft robotics, which is based on the control of material properties through a magnetic field - magnetic soft robotics. The materials involved are elastomers and complementary fluids filled with micro- and nanometer-sized magnetic particles. The consortium consists of seven academic and two industrial partners in five countries (Denmark, Germany, Italy, Austria, Slovenia), who come from the fields of biology, materials science, physics and robotics. Another three associated partners from the USA, Germany, and Slovenia (The Jožef Stefan International Postgraduate School) are involved in research and teaching transferable skills. In this project, Department for Materials Synthesis, JSI, (Prof. Darko Makovec, Prof. Darja Lisjak) is responsible for synthesis of the magneto-responsive materials.