Blog
CHARMING latest network-wide event
As this is a project that aims at immersive learning, the biannual network-wide event took place this year online, using an innovative tool where the avatars of the team members could meet in the same venue and do what COVID-19 had prevented them to… Acknowledgements This project has received funding from the European Union’s EU
Best Poster Awards – Chioma Udeozor
CHARMING researcher Chioma Udeozor, won the best poster award for her poster presented at the 15th European Conference on Games Based Learning (ECGBL). The conference was hosted by the University of Brighton, UK in September 2020 brought together experts and researchers in virtual reality, augmented reality and game-based learning from various academic disciplines. During the
Best Poster Award – Sofia Garcia Fracaro
CHARMING researcher, Sofia Garcia Fracaro, has won the poster prize at the 10th ProcessNet Anual Meeting for her work titled “Preliminary feasibility study of Virtual Reality application for training of chemical operator apprentices”. Following guidelines of the “Create scientific posters with impact“ session of the Summer School: Let’s talk science, and the Mike Morrison #betterposter
Transformation of matter – from child to scientist
“Future’s Brightest Scientists” is a chemistry themed Escape Room designed to instill in children the spirit of a scientist. Find out about the event and our motivation to develop it.
Five Things we may not know about “Virtual Reality”
Behind the hype of virtual reality, there are few interesting facts that we should embrace about it..
Meet our SIM² KU Leuven colleague: Prof. Jo Van Caneghem
Jo Van Caneghem is associate professor at the Faculty of Engineering Technology at KU Leuven Campus Group T, where she heads the research group ChEMaRTS. Her work focuses on material recovery from thermally processed non-recyclable waste.
Sustainability & Sustainable Development – What Is It All About?
Sustainability and sustainable development are two very commonly used terms nowadays, up to a point that they have become somewhat of a buzzword. But what does it actually mean when something is sustainable, and what is sustainable development exactly?
Meet our SIM² KU Leuven colleague: Prof. Patrick Degryse
Patrick Degryse is professor at the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the KU Leuven and at the faculty of Archaeology at Leiden University. He is head of the Archaeometry research unit.
Can small tubes revolutionize how we recover critical metals?
Researchers within the ISOMER project are currently investigating if the use of small channels can answer the need for a process technology that can efficiently handle ionic liquids in critical metal recycling processes.
Summer School – Why should you join one?
Summer Schools tend to be interdisciplinary courses, which mean that you will meet people who work in the same area as you, and you can also work with people from different backgrounds.
Is there life beyond cement? (ETN SULTAN blog)
Cement is the most used building material in Earth. Its production and consumption are very well stablished across the countries. Can you think of a reason to change that? Find out in this ETN SULTAN Blog.
Making visually appealing scientific illustrations: a friendly tutorial for researchers
How do you prepare a visually engaging graphic? Where can we get those catchy images? Which aspects should a researcher improve concerning his images? All the quick and useful guides, succintly written in the article 🙂
A Charming way to build a bridge
The inter-sectorial and interdisciplinary Charming ETN consists of leading universities and industry participants and trains 15 ESRs in the areas of innovative chemical engineering, instructional psychology & pedagogy, and immersive technology.
Meet our SIM² KU Leuven colleague: Innovation Manager Marion Bechtold
Marion Bechtold is a new IOF innovation manager in the field of innovative materials for a circular economy. She also coordinates the Leuven Materials Research Center (MRC) and represents it at (inter)national platforms.
Meet our SIM² KU Leuven researcher: Prof. Philippe Muchez
Philippe Muchez is professor at the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the KU Leuven and dean of the Faculty of Science. His is head of the Ore Geology and Geofluids research unit. Philippe Muchez coordinates one of SIM² KU Leuven’s flagship EU projects: EU H2020 ETN SULTAN and he is a core driver
Meet our SIM² KU Leuven researcher: Giacomo Damilano
In December 2016, Giacomo Damilano started his PhD studies at KU Leuven researching the synthesis of novel Ionic Liquids starting from renewable materials, in the framework of the EU MSCA-ETN SOCRATES project. (Leuven 05/10/2018) Why did you choose to work in Belgium? I was looking for an opportunity to continue my education in the field
Meet our SIM² KU Leuven researcher: Willem Vereycken
In September 2018 Willem Vereycken started his PhD in the SOLVOMET lab supervised by Prof. Koen Binnemans (cf. Research Line 3 in SIM² KU Leuven). This week he has been nominated for short list for the “Eos Scriptieprijs 2018” for his excellent Master Thesis on the recycling of LEDs using ionic liquids (you can vote
Meet our SIM² KU Leuven researcher: Rayco Lommelen
Rayco Lommelen started his PhD in the SOLVOMET Group at SIM² KU Leuven in September 2018. He is working on the development of a better model to describe and predict solvent extractions and metal separations using basic extractants. Find out more about Rayco Lommelen and his work in the interview below. (Leuven, 4/12/2018) Why did
Meet our SIM² KU Leuven researcher: Dr. Annelies Malfliet
Dr. Annelies Malfliet is research expert at the Department of Materials Engineering, where she works in the research group of High Temperature Processes and Industrial Ecology. She coordinates the Centre for High Temperature Processes and Sustainable Materials Management (the so-called HiTemp Centre). Find out more about Annelies Malfliet and her work in the interview below.
Meet our SIM² KU Leuven colleague: Katarzyna Janusz
Katarzyna Janusz is a project manager at the Materials Engineering Department. She coordinates the EIT Labelled Master Programme on Sustainable Materials (SUMA), which is SIM² KU Leuven’s future-oriented education flagship. Find out more about Katarzyna Janusz and her work in our first SIM² KU Leuven interview of 2019. (PTJ, Leuven, 2/1/2019) Why did you choose
Meet our SIM² KU Leuven researcher: Dr. Arne Peys
Dr. Arne Peys is a postdoc at the Department of Materials Engineering (SIM² KU Leuven), where he works in the SREMat research group, which targets the valorisation of industrial residues by incorporating them in novel processes or materials. Find out more about Arne Peys and his work in the interview below. (PTJ, Leuven, 5/1/2019) Why
Meet our SIM² KU Leuven researcher: Prof. Valérie Cappuyns
Professor Valérie Cappuyns is professor at the Faculty of Economics and Business (Campus Brussels), where she manages the Department of ECON-CEDON. She is a Steering Committee member of SIM² KU Leuven and vice-coordinator of the EU Horizon 2020 MSCA-ETN SULTAN project on the valorisation of sulfidic tailings. She works in the research group CEDON (Center
Meet our SIM² KU Leuven researcher: Joren van Stee
Joren van Stee is currently doing his PhD at SIM² KU Leuven in the research group of Prof. Tom Van Gerven who leads the SIM² research line on Process Intensification. Joren is working on solvent extraction in milliflow systems to be used in the metallurgical domain (recovery and recycling of critical metals). Find out more
Meet our SIM² KU Leuven researcher: Dr. Niels Hulsbosch
Niels Hulsbosch is a FWO postdoctoral researcher at the Division of Geology. He is a member of the research group of Prof. Philippe Muchez who leads the SIM² KU Leuven research line on Geological exploration and advanced resource characterization and coordinates the ETN SULTAN project Niels focusses on developing formation models for highly-evolved magma systems
My PhD in the microwave
One of the main features of the current consumer society, is materials production for mass consumption. This results in the generation of huge amounts of (municipal solid) waste (MSW). The social, environmental and health risks linked to the disposal of waste in landfills has stimulated the European Commission to implement solid waste management policies. The
Fifty Shades of Recovered Metal
Cementation is defined as the precipitation of a noble metal when it comes into contact with a less noble one. Since Roman times, this process has been applied in many metallurgical industries for contact plating, recovering valuable metals from waste solutions etc. However it has never been used before for painting! Stelios (ESR 5), in
All roads lead to… a landfill
At present, almost all that we consume goes in a direct or indirect way to a landfill, and from there, our waste starts to degrade itself producing greenhouse gasses and leaching a lot of toxic compounds which could contaminate our aquifers, our most pure source of water. The organic material starts degrading immediately, but the other
Coping with negative feedback
“You said you worked hard? Well, maybe you need to work a little harder. Is that really the limit of your strength? Could the you of tomorrow beat you today? Instead of giving in, move forward.” After many months of article reading, experiments and data analysis, I came out with my first scientific article. Despite
Doctoral School on Cement Chemistry in Lausanne
Representing Kerneos Research and Technology Centre (Imerys Aluminates) and the SOCRATES project, I participated in April 2018 to the 4th ‘LC3 Doctoral School‘ hosted by the Laboratory of Construction Materials of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). LC3 stands for Limestone Calcined Clay Cement (LCCC, so LC3). The 4-day event was well-attended by PhD students, post-doctoral
Upcycling of residues from the plasma gasification of waste
Europe contains between 150,000 to 500,000 landfill sites, from which 90% could be “non-sanitary”. Remediation actions will soon need to take place in order to prevent any environmental and health problem that these non-sanitary landfills could cause. Enhanced landfill mining (ELFM) could be a solution to manage these landfills and also to reclaim land for
