Prof. Bert Weckhuysen (57) received his Master degree in Chemical & Agricultural Engineering with greatest distinction from Leuven University (KULeuven, Belgium) in 1991. After obtaining his PhD degree in the field of Surface Chemistry, Spectroscopy and Catalysis from Leuven University (KU Leuven, Belgium) with honours (highest degree) in 1995 under the supervision of Prof. Robert Schoonheydt, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow with Prof. Israel Wachs at Lehigh University (PA, USA) and with Prof. Jack Lunsford at Texas A&M University (TX, USA). From 1997 until 2000 he was a research fellow of the Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research (NFWO, currently FWO-Flanders), affiliated with Leuven University (KU Leuven, Belgium).
Weckhuysen is since October 1 2000 Full Professor at Utrecht University (The Netherlands). Weckhuysen has been appointed as first Distinguished Professor of the Faculty of Science at Utrecht University as of September 2012. Since January 2018 he has been promoted to Distinguished University Professor at Utrecht University. He was a visiting professor at Leuven University (KU Leuven, 2000-2005) and has done a sabbatical at Stanford University (USA) in 2012 and at ETH Zurich (Switzerland) in 2022. He has also been a visiting professor at Stanford University & SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (2013-2018), University College London (UK, 2014-2017) and ETH Zürich (Switzerland, 2022).
Weckhuysen (co-)authored ~ 785 publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals with an average number of citations per paper of ~ 81 and a Hirsch index of 123 (Web of Science, December 13 2025). Weckhuysen is also the author of ~ 20 conference proceedings publications, ~ 30 other journal publications and editorial material, ~ 30 book chapters, 5 granted patents and 10 patent applications. Furthermore, he is the (co-) editor of five books.
He serves/served on the editorial advisory boards of Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, ChemCatChem, Chem Catalysis, ChemPhysChem, Chemistry-Methods, Vibrational Spectroscopy, Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Journal of Applied Chemistry, Applied Catalysis A: General, Topics in Catalysis, Catalysis Letters, Chemical Society Reviews, Faraday Discussions, Chem, Catalysis Today, The Journal of Catalysis, Advanced Synthesis & Catalysis, ChemistryEurope and Angewandte Chemie. He is/has been chairman of the editorial board of Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, ChemCatChem and ChemPhysChem. He has been editor of The Journal of Catalysis (2017- 2022) and is currently editor-in-chief of Catalysis Science & Technology (2023-onwards)
He obtained prestigious VICI (2002), TOP (2006 and 2011), IPP (2020), GROOT (2020) and GRAVITATION (2013) grants from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). In 2012 he has been awarded an Advanced ERC Grant from the European Research Council (ERC), which was followed in 2019 by a top-up Proof-of-Concept (PoC) grant. For the initiation of innovative education programs, more specifically the Da Vinci Project, he received from the Netherlands Initiative for Education Research (NRO), on behalf of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, a Comenius Teaching Fellowship (2019) and Comenius Senior Fellowship (2021).
Weckhuysen has received several prestigious research awards, including the:
Weckhuysen was the scientific director of the Dutch Research School for Catalysis (NIOK) in the period 2003-2013 and of a nation-wide Smartmix research program Biomass Catalysis funded by the Dutch government and chemical industries (CatchBio; 2007-2016; ~29 M€; www.catchbio.com). He also directed a national Gravitation research program on Multiscale Catalytic Energy Conversions (MCEC; 2013-2023; ~32 M€; www.mcec-researchcenter.nl) funded by the Dutch government. Currently, he is the scientific director of a nation-wide Advanced Research Center Chemical Building Blocks Consortium (ARC CBBC; 2016-2026; 11 M€/year, www.arc-cbbc.nl) with a joint investment by government, businesses and universities. He was (one of) the main initiator(s) of these large research program initiatives.
Weckhuysen is also:
- An elected member of the European Academy of Sciences (Academia Europaea, 2010-onwards), the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences (KNAW, 2011-onwards), the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and Arts (KVAB, 2015-onwards); the Netherlands Academy of Technology and Innovation (ACTI, 2009-onwards) and the Royal Holland Society of Sciences (KHMW, 2010-onwards);
- An alumnus elected member of The Young Academy (DJA) of the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences (2005-2010);
- An elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC, 2007-onwards), American Association for Advancement of Science (AAAS, 2015-onwards) and ChemPubSoc Europe (2015-onwards) & an Honorary Fellow of the Chinese Chemical Society (CCS, 2020-onwards).
He is a Knight in the Order of the Netherlands Lion (2015) and received a Certificate for Achievements of the Christoffel Plantin fund for his contributions to the prestige and appeal of Belgium in foreign countries from the Belgian Ambassador in the Netherlands (2018). In 2023, Weckhuysen also received honorary professorships from Tianjin University (Tianjin, China) and East China University of Science and Technology (Shanghai, China). In 2024, he obtained a honorary doctorate (doctor honoris causa) from Ghent University (Ghent, Belgium) as well as a honorary professorship from the Innovation Academy for Precision Measurement Science and Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Wuhan, China). In 2025, Shanghai University (Shanghai, China) awarded him a honorary professorship and Antwerp University (Antwerp, Belgium) recognized him with the Francqui Chair.
Weckhuysen serves on many boards and panels for national and international research. For example, he has been president of the European Federation of Catalysis Societies (EFCATS; 2017-2023).
