Biography:

Karolien Vanbroekhoven is research manager in VITO in the field of sustainable chemistry. Currently she manages SPOT, a research group on sustainable polymer technologies (https://spot.vito.be/en). She is the VITO representative in Capture, a shared research platform on resource recovery in Flanders (https://www.capture-resources.be). Currently, she is responsible for the lignin program in Biorizon (www.biorizon.eu), a shared research centre aiming at industrial success of bioaromatics by 2025. Meanwhile she acts as working group leader in the European Lignocost action to coordinate the development of applications derived from lignin.

About VITO:

VITO is a leading European independent research and technology organisation in the areas of cleantech and sustainable development, elaborating solutions for the large societal challenges of today. Our knowhow and technological innovations focus on 5 fields, i.e., energy, chemistry, materials, heatlth and landuse that faciliate the transition to a sustainable society. In this transition from a chemistry perspective we enable new value chains by alternative resources and transform processes to become sustainable. VITO has 900 highly-qualified employees who work on international projects all around the world. VITO’s headquarters are located in Mol, Belgium, and the company has a subsidiary in China. The total turnover of VITO amounted to about 221 million euros in 2021.