Surface Science Discussions: Bringing the community together

Surface Science Discussions (SSD) is an online seminar series aimed at bringing together worldwide experts and early-career researchers from the surface science community and exchanging knowledge on the recent progress in the field at the international level. The event took place for the first time during the COVID-19 pandemic and continues its mission to this day. In 2024, a Special Issue (SI) featuring articles authored by the Speakers of the first two editions of SSD-2022 and 2023-was published in the Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter. Experimental and theoretical reports constituting the issue reflect current trends in surface science studies, such as the growth, structure and physicochemical properties of supported 2D layers and molecules at surfaces,in operandomodel catalytic studies, application of machine learning to the studies of surface phenomena, and the development of novel surface investigation methods. The editorial provides a brief introduction to surface science, presents the idea behind SSD and the history of the event, and describes the articles comprising the SI, thus constituting a valuable source of information on the actual topics in the field.