Prof Dr Piet Lens

speakers

Prof Dr Piet Lens

Professor

Biography

Title of the speech: New anaerobic bioprocess for resource recovery from organic and inorganic solid waste

Prof.Dr.ir. Lens is established professor of New Energy Technologies at National University Ireland Galway, professor Environmental Biotechnology at UNESCO-IHE (Delft, the Netherlands), adjunct professor at Tampere University of Technology (Finland) and was previously on the faculty of the Sub-Department of Environmental Technology at Wageningen University (1999-2006), where he still has a zero nomination. Prof. Lens trained in Environmental Sanitation, then obtained his Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering at University Gent (Belgium). His research focuses on biofilms, sulfur biotechnology, metal speciation, bioavailability and removal, natural treatment systems, anaerobic wastewater and waste gas treatment for resource recovery and reuse. He is the initiator of the Marie Curie Training Site “Sulfur and Metals – HEMEP”, the Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctoral programme “Environmental Technologies for Contaminated Soils, Sediments and Solid Waste - (ETECOS3)”, the Marie Sklodowska-Curie European Joint Degree “Advanced biological waste-to-energy technologies –Abwet”, the Erasmus Mundus Master Course “International Master of Science in Environmental Technology - IMETE” and joint MSc degree programmes with the Asian Institute of Technology (Bangkok, Thailand) and University of Valle (Cali, Columbia). Besides innovative research, he is also a leader in education and capacity-building, organising numerous study-days, conferences, summer schools and short courses. He is founding Editor-in-Chief of the Review Journal “Re/Views in Environmental Science and Bio/Technology” and founding editor of the IWA Publishing series “Integrated Environmental Technology”. He serves on the editorial board of the journals Environmental Technology and New Biotechnology and performs review functions for numerous peer review journals and funding agencies. He has (co-)authored over 450 scientific publications and edited eleven book volumes. His awards include the IWA Publishing Award (2002), a Marie Curie Excellence Grant (2004) and nominations as inaugural IWA fellow (2010) and IWA Distinguished fellow (2015).