The departments of a research institute are commonly dedicated to a certain scientific discipline, such as to numerical analysis or to material sciences. However, research as it is practised in the Institute of Composite Structures and Adaptive Systems comprises a lot of projects which are so thematically widespread and interdisciplinary that they cannot be adequately covered by a single department alone. If such projects reach a certain size in terms of manpower, project duration and strategic importance, it makes sense to comprehensively coordinate them from a position bridging the departments involved. The Institute has identified five fields of research for which this situation is particularly true, and appointed a research field leader for each of them. These five research field leaders supervise all projects within their focus in close cooperation with the heads of the participating departments.