Congratulations to Dr. Xuan Liu for an Excellent PhD Defense. Xuan has successfully defended her PhD thesis, supervised by Prof. Marc Koper and Prof. Bert Weckhuysen. In her thesis, Xuan devised an in-situ interfacial pH sensor and visualized the evolution of interfacial pH during the electroreduction of CO2 to CO and H2 evolution. She found

Cell Symposium, in partnership with Utrecht University, announces a crucial scientific gathering focused on “Chemical Solutions for a Sustainable Plastics Future,” to be held October 13-15, 2025, in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. While plastics remain fundamental to modern life, their environmental impact poses significant challenges to ecosystems, wildlife, and planetary health. The symposium arrives at a

Congratulations to Dr. Rafaël Vos for an Excellent PhD Defense. Rafaël has successfully defended his PhD thesis, supervised by Prof. Marc Koper and Prof. Bert Weckhuysen. In his thesis, Rafaël has examined the effect of temperature and pressure on the electrochemical CO2 reduction across eight sections. The work begins with an introduction to the field

Congratulations to Dr. Joren Dorresteijn for an Excellent PhD Defense. Joren has successfully defended his PhD thesis, supervised by Prof. Bert Weckhuysen, prof. dr. Eelco Vogt, and dr. Florian Meirer. In his thesis, Joren extended knowledge on how support materials influence heterogeneous olefin polymerization catalysts. He investigated the physical and chemical parameters of both industrial

Congratulations to Dr. Ellen Sterk for an Excellent PhD Defense. Ellen has successfully defended her PhD thesis, supervised by Prof. Bert Weckhuysen, prof. dr. Eelco Vogt, dr. Ivo Filot and dr. Jaap Louwen. In her thesis, Ellen advanced the fundamental understanding of the structure-sensitive reaction mechanism of the Sabatier reaction (CO2 methanation). She studied four

Congratulations to Dr. Thimo Jacobs for an Excellent PhD Defense. Thimo has successfully defended his PhD thesis, supervised by Prof. Bert Weckhuysen and dr. Ward van der Stam. In his thesis, Thimo investigated the catalytic conversion of CO2 into value-added chemical building blocks, developing and applying spectroscopic methods to track catalyst performance. He focused on

Congratulations to Dr. Huygen Jöbsis for an Excellent PhD Defense. Huygen has successfully defended his PhD thesis, supervised by Prof. Bert Weckhuysen, prof. dr. Eelco Vogt, and dr. Eline Hutter. In his thesis, Huygen investigated the photoconversion performance of halide-elpasolite semiconductors, which are proposed as more stable and less-toxic alternatives to lead-halide perovskites. His research

Congratulations to Dr. Sander Vonk for an Excellent PhD Defense. Sander has successfully defended his PhD thesis, supervised by Prof. dr. Alfons van Blaaderen Prof. dr. Bert Weckhuysen, and dr. Freddy Rabouw. In his thesis, Sander explored luminescent nanomaterials, focusing on semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) and lanthanide-doped nanocrystals (NCs) to advance renewable energy technologies. He

We congratulate Carolin Rieg to her award for her poster “Advanced characterization methods for coke deposits on Ni-Mo/Al2O3 and Ni/Al2O3 extrudates for the catalytic upgrading of fast pyrolysis bio-oil” at the 2nd YOURHETCAT Conference in Szeged, Hungary. Carolin’s work focuses on elucidating the complex nature of catalyst deactivation during bio-oil upgrading processes, which is impeded

The Dutch Polymer Institute (DPI) has awarded its prestigious 2024 Golden Thesis Award to dr. Maximiliaan (Max) Werny for his outstanding doctoral research. Werny’s PhD thesis, titled “Probing the Morphology, Composition and Temperature of Olefin Polymerization Catalyst Particles with Microscopy and Spectroscopy”, was completed at the University of Utrecht under the guidance of prof. dr.