Invited Speakers

Prof. Harry J. Bitter (University of Waneningen, The Netherlands)

Harry Bitter (1969) studied chemistry at the Catholic University of Nijmegen in the Netherlands. Subsequently, he performed his PhD research at the University of Twente, The Netherlands, in the group of Prof. Johannes Lercher (catalytic processes and materials). As junior staff member he continued working in the field of heterogeneous catalysis at Utrecht University focusing on the use of X-ray spectroscopy in catalysis. From 1999-2013 he was a scientific staff member at Utrecht University in the group of Inorganic Chemistry and Catalysis (group of Prof.  Krijn de Jong). Currently, Harry is full professor at Wageningen University and Research Centers. He is holding the chair ‘Biobased Commodity Chemistry’ and functions as acting chair holder ‘Biomass refinery and process Dynamics’. Within the combined chair he focuses on biobased conversions and processes on multiple length scales using a multidisciplinary approach. He (co-)authored over 200 peer-reviewed scientific publications and his current h-index is 44 (nearly 7,000 citations).

Prof. Xulian Pan (Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, CAS, China)

Xulian Pan received her Ph.D. in Chemistry (Membrane and membrane catalysis) from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (China) and the Franhofer Institute of Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology (Germany) in 2001. Currently, Xulian Pan is Full professor at the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China. Her research interests are focused in the synthesis and functionalization of nano-structured carbon-based materials and confinement effects for several applications in the field of heterogeneous catalysis. Furthermore, she is co-author of several reviews and about 70 publications on International Journals and was invited speakers of various international meetings, workshops and symposia on catalysis. Her current h-index (Scopus database) is 23 (about 3,000 citations).

Prof. Gabriele Centi (University of Messina (Italy)

Gabriele Centi (1955) is Full professor of Industrial Chemistry at the University of Messina, Italy. He was the coordinator of the Network of Excellence on catalysis IDECAT, of the EU Large Collaborative projects NEXT-GTL and INCAS, and of various other EU projects. He is author of over 380 scientific papers in international journals, editor of 10 books, chair of the editorial board of the Wiley journal on sustainable chemistry (ChemSusChem), of the Elsevier (Amsterdam, The Netherlands) book series Studies in Surface Science and Catalysis, of the De Gruyter (Berlin, Germany) book series Green Energy, and of several issues of international journals. He was President of the European Federation of Catalysis Societies and the European Research Institute of Catalysis (ERIC). He is also a Director of the Catalysis Cluster within the H2020 program. His research interests cover the areas of applied heterogeneous catalysis (innovative selective oxidation processes, environmental protection and sustainable energy), chemical reaction engineering and reaction mechanisms. His current h-index is 66 (nearly 15.000 citations). Furthermore, he was invited speakers of various international meetings, workshops and symposia on catalysis.

Prof. Dmitry Y. Murzin (Abo Akademi University, Finland)

Dmitry Yu Murzin (1963) is Full professor in Chemical Technology, Laboratory of Industrial Chemistry and Reaction Engineering, Faculty of Chemical Engineering at the Abo Akademi University, Finland. He received his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the University of Moscow (Russia) in 1989. He is a member of several editorial boards and also served as VP of the European Federation of Catalysis Societies between 2009 and 2013. His research interests within the field of chemical engineering, applied heterogeneous catalysis and chemical kinetics. His laboratory developed the knowledge in catalyst development and characterization, in the kinetics and mechanism of catalytic reactions, in the kinetic analysis of complex chemical reaction networks and in the modeling and optimization of chemical reactors. The research areas form a logical path from laboratory synthesis to full-scale production. The knowledge is applied in several fields ranging from environmental protection to the synthesis of fine and specialty chemicals.

He was invited speakers of various international meetings, workshops and symposia on catalysis. He (co-)authored over 580 peer-reviewed scientific publications and his current h-index is 46 (nearly 9,000 citations).

Prof. De Chen (Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway)

Prof. De Chen (1962) is Full professor at the Norwegian University of science and Technology, Norway. His research interests are focused in four topics: 1) industrial catalysis, in particular for natural gas conversion, 2) DFT and microkinetic modeling of surface reactions and multiscale modeling, 3) catalysis for new technologies including CO₂ capture and conversion, hydrogen technology and biomass conversion and 4) synthesis and applications of carbon nanomaterials in catalysis and energy storage.  He participated more than 20 research projects, and coordinated more than 15 projects supported by KOSK, CLIMIT, RENERGI, Energix, GASSMAK, NANOMAT programs in Norwegian Research Council, national innovation centers, VISTA, and industries with a founding more than 88 000 000 kr in last 10 years. Currently he supervises 10 PhD students and 2 postdoc fellows in different projects within these four research areas. He has presented his scientific results in more than 100 national and international congresses and he was Invited Speaker in 15 international scientific events. He is author of over 210 scientific papers in international journals and his current h-index is 38 (nearly 4,500 citations).

Dr. Giuliano Giambastiani (Institute of Chemistry of OrganoMetallic Compounds, ICCOM-CNR, Italy)

Dr. Giambastiani (1970) graduated in Chemistry from  the University of Florence and received his Ph.D. in Chemistry in 2000 from both the University of Florence (Italy) and the University of Pierre et Marie Curie – Paris IV (France). After a period as Premier Assistant à la Faculté des Sciences at the University of Lausanne (UNIL) and a post-doctoral position at the University of Milan, he joined in 2002 the ICCOM group (Institute of Chemistry of OrganoMetallic Compounds) at the Italian National Research Council (CNR) where he holds the position of Senior Researcher since 2007 (ICCOM Nanomaterials & Catalysis Group - www.iccom.cnr.it/giambastiani). His current scientific activity spans from organic and organometallic synthesis and catalysis (homogeneous and heterogeneous) to the preparation and characterization of technologically advanced catalytic materials and composites based on functionalized carbon nanostructures such as carbon nanotubes, graphene, graphene-oxide and fullerenes. He is author of more than 100 peer-reviewed scientific contributions, 4 books, 6 book chapters and 13 patents (8 with international application – WO). His works received more than 2000 citations and his activity is ranked with an H index of 23 (from Scopus Database).

Prof. Leon Lefferts (University of Twente, The Netherlands)

Leon Lefferts (1960) was trained as a chemical engineer at Twente University and received his PhD in 1987. The Royal Dutch Chemical Society awarded his thesis with the first Catalysis Prize of the section Catalysis. He organized several national and international meetings, including Europacat II in Maastricht. He continued to specialize on heterogeneous catalysis and joined the DSM Research laboratories (1987-1999), working on catalyst characterization, hydrogenation, slurry phase catalysis, carbon supported metals and kinetics. He was appointed full professor “Catalytic Processes and Materials” at Twente University in 1999. He is member of the board of NIOK and had several functions including chairman of the board of the Catalysis Section of the Royal Dutch Chemical Society. He has been visiting professor at Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2005-2007. He acted as director of the research institute IMPACT (2010-2011) and the Green Energy Initiative (2013-present) at the University of Twente. He was appointed as a Finnish Distinguished Professor in 2011 as a visiting professor at Aalto University in Helsinki. His research interests within the field of applied heterogeneous catalysis include: selective oxidation, catalysis for sustainable processes for fuels and chemicals. He (co-)authored over 200 peer-reviewed scientific publications and three patents and his current h-index is 33 (nearly 4,000 citations).

Prof. Philippe Serp (University of Toulouse, France)

Philippe Serp is Full professor of Inorganic Chemistry at Ecole Nationale supérieure des Ingénieurs en Arts Chimiques et Technologique at the Toulouse University. He was the recipient of the Catalysis Division of the French Chemical Society Award in 2004, and the APDF ‘‘Celestino da Costa/Jean Perrin’’ award in 2005. His current research interests in Laboratoire de Chimie de Coordination (UPR 8241 CNRS) include nanocatalysis, gas phase preparation of nanostructured catalytic materials and the understanding of homogeneous catalytic reactions, fields in which with co-workers he has published over 130 papers, among them 5 review articles, 12 book chapters and 13 patents. His current h-index is 35 (nearly 5,000 citations).

Dr. Jean-Philippe Tessonnier (Iowa State University, USA)

Jean-Philippe Tessonnier is Carol & Jack Johnson Faculty Fellow at the Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering at the Iowa State University (USA). After obtaining his PhD in France, he spent 7 years at the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society in Germany, where he worked on the synthesis and functionalization of carbon nanotubes (group of Prof. Robert Schlögl). He has already published 60 papers in this field and holds 2 patents. His group aims to develop new strategies at the frontier between chemistry, chemical engineering and material science to design carbon-based catalysts for the sustainable production of fuels and chemicals. He partook in several national and international collaborations involving metal and metal oxide nanoparticles on carbon nanotubes. Currently, Jean-Philippe is Associate professor at Iowa State University working in the field of nanomaterials for biomass conversion. His group is involved in both the NSF-Engineering Research Center for Biorenewable Chemicals (CBiRC) and the US Department of Energy Ames Laboratory. He (co-)authored over 60 peer-reviewed scientific publications and 4 patents. His current h-index is 26 (nearly 2,000 citations).

Prof. Ovidiu Ersen (University of Strasbourg, France)