Biography

Ignaas VERPOEST is emeritus-professor at the Department of Materials Engineering at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. As a full professor (till 2013) he was performing research in textile based, nano-engineered and natural fibre composites. Author of 370 journal papers and 4 books, he also holds 15 patents. As emeritus professor, he has a special interest carbon and natural fibre composites, and in the relation between composites and design(ers).

He was president of the European and International Society for Composite Materials (ESCM and ICCM), won several awards, a.o. the Descartes Prize for Science Communication of the European Commission, and is co-founder of two spin-off companies ( Econcore and Rein4ced).

About KU Leuven

The research on polymer matrix composites in the Composite Materials Group in the Department of Materials Engineering (MTM) of KU Leuven was started by Prof. Ignaas Verpoest in 1982. Now, the Composite Materials Group(CMG) is one of the worldwide recognised centres for composite materials research, which hosted Toray Chair for Composite Materials from 2012 to 2022 . Our research on composites ranges from very fundamental to very applied and/or industry oriented studies. There are currently five main research themes in our group: micro- and mesostructural design of composites, process and application development, biobased and sustainable composites, physical chemistry of interfaces, composites inspired by nature.