Prof. Luuk A.M. van der Wielen

Prof.dr.ir. Luuk A.M. van der Wielen is the Director of the Bernal Institute at the University of Limerick, Ireland (https://bernalinstitute.com/our_people/luuk-van-der-wielen/), and Bernal Professor for Biosystems Engineering and Design since 2017. From 1998 until 2017 as Distinguished Professor in Biobased Economy (nowadays part time) at TU Delft’s Dept. of Biotechnology (https://www.tudelft.nl/tnw/over-faculteit/afdelingen/biotechnology/research-sections/bioprocess-engineering/luuk-van-der-wielen), he headed the Bioprocess Engineering Section. His research interests include thermodynamics for bioprocesses, bioseparation/- conversion technologies, multifunctional bioreactors, miniaturized (‘on-chip’), high-throughput technology for rapid process development, analysis and development of (bio)renewables production systems, and their societal impacts. The last Google Scholar counts over 350 publications/patents as of July 2023 (7669 citations; H-index 44), but more importantly, almost 50 PhD, 75 PDEng and over 100 MSc students have graduated under his supervision.

Since 2017 Luuk van der Wielen is also the Chair of BE-Basic Foundation Board, and was 2004-‘17 director of BE-BASIC (www.be-basic.org), the globally operating private-public research organization for Biobased Sustainable Industrial Chemistry & Energy, which is based in The Netherlands with hubs in South East Asia and Brazil. He is/was member of editorial and advisory boards of several leading international scientific journals, and chaired several scientific conferences (a.o. ESBES4, BPP2005, RRB4, ECOBIO2016/-18, Braz Bioenergy S&T Conf 2017).