Mustafa Mert Tezer completed his Bachelor of Science on Civil Engineering from Özyeğin University, Istanbul. Through his undergraduate studies, he worked as a research assistant at Construction Materials Research Group (CMRG) Özyeğin on self-healing for cementitious materials and recycled aggregates. Despite his interests in the laboratory, he also had a chance to explore the FMCG sector with an internship at PepsiCo. After graduation, he pursued his Master of Science in Civil Engineering at Özyeğin University, Istanbul. He received funding from The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) and the title of the project was ‘’Development of 2-Phase Biological Self-Healing Agents for Cement-Based Mortar’’. This enhanced his knowledge both on microbiology and cementitious materials. He also developed his communication skills further by working as a Graduate Teaching Assistant for Construction Materials laboratory sessions. As Early Stage Researcher of SMARTINCS, Mert will work on the development of a commercially valuable bacteria-based self-healing system for cementitious materials at Avecom while pursuing his PhD at Ghent University.