About “Michiel Dusselier”

Prof. Dr. Ir. Michiel Dusselier is the research group leader and assistant Professor at KU Leuven.

Michiel has a MSc in Bioscience Engineering (KU Leuven, 2009) and studied in part at the Technische Universität München. He obtained his Ph.D. in 2013 under the guidance of Profs. Sels and Pierre Jacobs on the topic of tailoring catalytic routes toward lactic acid and biobased plastics, resulting in a patented new process, now sold to industry. In 2014–15, he performed postdoctoral work with Prof. Mark Davis at the California Institute of Technology, studying the synthesis of small-pore zeolites, the elusive GME zeolite and methanol conversion. He is an honorary fellow of the Belgian American Educational Foundation (B.A.E.F. boat of 2014) and secretary of the Dutch Zeolite Association.

Michiel co-founded the new Center for Sustainable Catalysis and Engineering (CSCE) in 2019. He is focusing on zeolite synthesis methods, reactor design, functional biodegradable plastics and heterogeneous catalysis (CO₂ activation). In particular, he is enthusiastic about elaborate synthesis-structure-activity relations and bottom-up catalyst design. He has (co)authored over 60 peer-reviewed papers, including in Science, Angew. Chem., J. Am. Chem. Soc, Chem. Rev., Nature Energy, Energy Environ. Sci.  etc; 8 book chapters and 7 patents of which one transferred to industry. Together with JP Lange, he edited the book Biodegradable Polymers in the Circular Plastics Economy, published by Wiley in 2022. He is the holder of an ERC starting Grant (2020) called Z-EURECA, studying unusual reactors for zeolite synthesis. The work has been recognized by several prizes, including the ACS Breen memorial award in 2013, the 2016 Incentive Award of the Belgian Chemical societies ft. ChemPubSoc, The Da Vinci Award of KU Leuven and the EOS Pipet of 2016. Michiel was laureate of the 2018 New Scientist Science talent competition (Netherlands) and honorary entry (top 3) of the 2019 ExxonMobil Chemical European Science & Engineering Award. In 2021, he received the alumni award in applied sciences of the Belgian American Educational Foundation. In 2022 he received the Young Researcher Award of the International Zeolite Association.  He is a member of the Early Career Advisory Board of ChemCatChem.