LECTURERS

ORCID ID: 0000-0001-5078-7751

Professor Bartáček is involved in various processes of recycling resources from tap water. These include energy-positive or energy-saving processes (anaerobic fermentation, bioflocculation, nitritation-anammox), grey water recycling or the production of specific organic substances. In recent years, he has also been intensively involved in so-called Wastewater-Base Epidemiology. In particular, the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in wastewater and sewage sludge and the monitoring of the occurrence of viral epidemics (SARS-CoV-2, MPOX) in wastewater. Within the framework of these activities, he collaborates with other universities and a number of state research organizations and participated in the establishment of the Czech Antibiotic Resistance Platform CZEPAR.

ORCID ID: 0000-0002-0919-8493

He completed his Master’s degree in 1996 and his PhD in 1999. Both graduated at the Institute of Water and Environmental Technology (UCT Prague). Since January 2001 he has been an assistant professor at the Institute of Water and Environmental Technology (UCT Prague).

He deals with the problems of industrial wastewater treatment and physico-chemical processes of wastewater treatment. In recent years, his work has focused mainly on the area of advanced oxidation processes (AOP) based on the application of ozone and hydrogen peroxide.

In the field of water analysis, he specializes in the determination of adsorbable and extractable organically bound halogens (AOX and EOX).

ORCID ID: 0000-0003-2026-8365

Assistant Professor, Department of Sustainable Fuels and Green Chemistry, Member of the GreenCats team

Born in 1978 in Hanoi, Vietnam

ORCID ID: 0000-0001-9428-8655

In his professional activities, Vladimír Kočí focuses on the Life Cycle Analysis of products, services, and technologies, in general, the issue of product ecology and sustainability. Vladimír is a full professor of environmental chemistry and technology. Vladimír lectures on Product Ecology at the University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague (UCT Prague) and the Faculty of Architecture of the Czech Technical University in Prague, the Faculty of Science of Charles University and the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design. Vladimír has developed dozens of LCA studies for both commercial and non-commercial entities. From 2014-2022, he held the Dean of the Faculty of Environmental Chemistry and Technology UCT Prague position. He currently works as the head of the Department of Sustainability and Product Ecology of UCT Prague http://supre.vscht.cz/. Vladimír successfully solvers several national and international research projects focused on LCA. Vladimír is an independent reviewer of LCA and EPD studies for The International EPD System®.  

ORCID ID: 0000-0002-5725-7371

Assistant professor in the Department of Water Technology and Environmental Engineering & Co-leader of the research group on Anaerobic Biotechnology. 

I teach Communication and Writing Skills for Engineers, but also in other programs, I teach Environmental Engineering and Water Management Projects.

I am heavily involved in research into the anthropogenic water cycle including antibiotic resistance, virus detection and wastewater-based epidemiology, energy efficiency of wastewater treatment and nitrogen removal and recovery.

I am always open to collaborations on MSc theses. If you are enthusiastic about some water-related topics, don’t hesitate to contact me and let’s chat about your interests.

https://tvp.vscht.cz/department/people/kouba-vojtech

ORCID ID: 0000-0003-2996-7824

Professor Kubička deals with the use of heterogeneous catalysis for the conversion of substances obtained from biomass processing into valuable chemicals and advanced biofuels. This includes the selective hydrogenation of phenolic and furanic substances into potential monomers usable in the production of bioplastics and the deoxygenation (total hydrogenation) of phenolic and furanic substances into components of future aviation biofuels. The subject of the research is the development, characterization and testing of catalysts in these reactions.

In his research, he emphasizes the sustainability and effectiveness of the chosen methods and raw materials in accordance with the principles of green chemistry. As part of his activities, he cooperates with many Czech and foreign universities. He is the chairman of the Catalysis expert group at the Czech Chemical Society (ČSCH) and the representative of the Czech Republic in the European Federation of Catalytic Societies (EFCATS).

ORCID ID: 0000-0002-7032-3812

Associate Professor, School of Business UCT Prague, Marketing Management

ORCID ID: 0000-0001-5417-4223

Since 2011, I have intensively devoted myself to removing sulfide from biogas using microaeration, both in terms of technology and detailed study of the microbial community and using mathematical modeling and process control. I am currently engaged in mathematical modeling in water management, process control, and digitization. Furthermore, the potential use of electrochemistry in water management and the form of metal in waters and the environment.

https://tvp.vscht.cz/department/people/pokorna-lucie

ORCID ID: 0000-0002-2202-5140

Associate Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, Fundamentals of Chemical Engineering

ORCID ID: 0000-0002-3061-6784

Ivan Souček graduated in plastics production and processing technology and started his professional career as an operations technologist at Kaučuk Kralupy. During the 11 years there he worked his way up to head of the strategic planning department, an area he has been involved in ever since. Among his job was also negotiating with potential foreign partners and drawing up long-term strategic plans, and in 1995 this work led to Ivan being one of the first three employees to found Unipetrol and later to participate in the creation of the joint stock company Česká rafinérská. At Unipetrol, he was involved in strategic planning, research, development and investment and became a member of the Board of Directors. Other work experience includes the position of General Manager of Koramo Kolín and Česká rafinérská a.s., later in 2012-2015 managing the preparation of a large refinery project abroad. Since 2016, he has been a director of the Association of Chemical Industry of the Czech Republic, an association that provides advocacy, education support, communication with the state and European administration, and support to member organizations in selected areas related to the chemical industry. They also promote chemistry to the public and bring together companies and research institutions and schools.

Throughout his rich industrial career, Ivan has also devoted himself to his studies. After graduating from University of Chemical Technology of D.I. Mendeleev in Moscow, he took several domestic and  international managerial and economics courses – including a studies at the University of Economics in Prague, 2-year course from the DePaul University Chicago, a 2-month production management course in Tokyo, and a 1-year sector economics and management post graduated course in Milano. Finally, he successfully completed his PhD studies at the University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague, department of Economics and Management.

However, he continues to teach at University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague since 2011 and is the author of nine books on strategic planning and investment decision making and more than a hundred articles and conference papers so far.

ORCID ID: 0000-0003-2316-174X

Since 2015, he has been the guarantor of the following subjects at UCT Prague: Air Protection Technology (Czech version, Master’s program), Atmospheric Chemistry (Czech and English versions, Bachelor’s program).

From 2023, it is also the guarantor of the subject: Greenhouse gases mitigation, CO₂ capture and utilization.

In addition to the listed subjects accredited in the UCT study programs, he lectures at other educational events, such as: University of the Third Age, Summer School for Secondary School Teachers and Secondary School Students, Signal Transmit Prague, educational lectures for secondary schools as part of the project “Krušnohoří – new ideas for a sustainable future”. He regularly participates in national and international scientific conferences, the list of which is beyond the scope of this profile.

During his work in the private sector, he focused on the processes of chemical processing of precious metals and their refining, as well as the use of catalysts, especially for inorganic production, and last but not least, the chemistry of offset printing and subsequent processes.

He divides his scientific activity into two main areas. The first sphere of interest is pyrolysis/thermolysis techniques for processing mainly waste biomass with an emphasis on the use of solid pyrolysis residues. The second research area includes adsorption processes with the main focus on the separation of greenhouse gases. Outside the framework of these two directions, he also deals with other technologies leading to the reduction of the environmental impact of energy production, etc.

Recent publications include, for example:

Staf M., Miklová B., Kyselová V. The impact of variable carbonation and decarbonation conditions on the CO2 sorption capacity of CaO-based sorbents. Chemical Papers 2019, 73 (12), 3031–3042.

Hlinčík T., Tenkrát D., Staf M. The measurement of helium leakages through flange gaskets for gas-cooled fast reactors. Nuclear Engineering and Design 2020, 367, 110783.

Staf M., Tenkrát D., Hlinčík T. Apparatus for testing He leakage through flange gaskets at elevated pressure and temperature. Progress in Nuclear Energy 2021, 139, 103831.

Staf M., Šrámek V., Pohořelý M. The Preparation of a Carbonaceous Adsorbent via Batch Pyrolysis of Waste Hemp Shives. Energies 2023, 16(3), 1202.

Staf M., Kyselová V., Searching for a cost-effective method of determining sorption properties for the industrial use of CO2 capture. Chemical Papers 2023, 77(10), 6217-6233.

Staf M., Šnajdárek L., Hlinčík T. A gasket design suitable for helium circuits of generation IV Gas-Cooled reactors. Annals of Nuclear Energy 2024, 200, 110383.

ORCID ID: 0000-0001-6036-8526

University Lecturer, Department of Environmental Chemistry, Waste Management and Treatment

University Lecturer, School of Business UCT Prague, Strategic Management

ORCID ID: 0000-0002-2270-3247

Jan Vlachý spent 25 years of his professional career in the domestic and international finance industry, gradually assuming responsibility for Treasury, Risk Management, Financial Markets and General Management. He was personally involved in numerous IPO and Structured Finance transactions, as well as in corporate reorganizations and in the implementation of the EU Capital Requirements Directive. More recently, he proceeded to pursue an academic path with research and teaching interests in Finance, Decision-making and Economic History. He also took responsibility for the development and management of international projects and study programs at the University of Chemistry and Technology Prague School of Business.

ORCID ID: 0000-0002-7516-1840

José Ramón Alvarez Saiz is a Chemical Engineering Professor at the University of Oviedo, with expertise in separation processes and membrane technology. His research focuses on applications such as industrial waste treatment, heavy metal abatement, and biorefinery processes, contributing significantly to the pulp and paper industry. He has participated in five regional, nine national, and two European projects, and has engaged in 27 industrial contracts, demonstrating a strong link between academic research and industrial needs. He has published 52 peer-reviewed articles and nine book chapters, and has contributed to 89 conference presentations. He has supervised eleven completed Ph.D. theses, with two more in progress. José Ramón holds one patent and is a co-organizer of the “Engineering with Membranes” conference series. He has been an instructor in international courses and a reviewer for Spanish and European funding agencies, highlighting his commitment to knowledge dissemination and academic excellence.

ORCID ID: 0000-0002-5357-9269

Estefanía’s scientific area is analytical chemistry, namely (bio)electroanalysis. She has developed a wide variety of electrochemical sensors, mainly enzymatic and immunosensors, for clinical applications, based on commercial electrochemical cells as transducers (mainly screen-printed electrodes), and employing diverse nanomaterials as modifiers and/or labels. In the last years, she has worked on the design and fabrication of low-cost miniaturized analytical platforms combining daily-used materials, such as paper, pins or pencil leads, with clinical, but also food and environmental applications. Estefanía also has worked on the synthesis of molecular imprinted polymers for analytical applications and the coupling of electrochemical detection to amplification reactions of genetic material.

ORCID ID: 0000-0002-3614-3076

Fernando Díez is Full Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Oviedo since 2005. He has taught since 1983 in the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Chemical Engineering. His research interests are industrial and environmental applications of heterogeneous catalytic processes (oxidation, hydrodechlorination) and development of less conventional catalytic reactors, such as reverse flow or membrane reactors. He has participated in numerous research projects with regional, national, EU or industrial funding. Author of more than 90 published scientific articles and 2 patents.

ORCID ID: 0000-0001-6056-3890

Laura Faba is an Associate Professor at the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Oviedo, a position she has held since 2021. Her research focuses on developing sustainable processes for lignocellulosic biomass valorization, including catalytic production of liquid fuels, aromatics, sustainable solvents, and, more recently, monomers for green plastics. She has co-authored over 65 scientific articles published in international journals and holds one patent. Her research career has been primarily based at the University of Oviedo, with research stays at Åbo Akademi University (Turku, Finland) and CNRS (Lyon, France).

In terms of her academic profile, she has over 10 years of experience as a lecturer in Environmental Engineering across various bachelor’s programs. She also teaches advanced courses at the master’s level, all closely aligned with the circular economy and sustainability (e.g., Pollution Prevention and Sustainable Technologies, Advanced Technologies for Pollution Control). Additionally, she is a visiting lecturer at the Catholic University of Lille (France), where she participates in the “Green Chemistry & Sustainability Week.”

In addition to her participation in teaching activities, Laura Faba is also the Secretary of the local Academic Commission of the IMATEC Master in Oviedo, and the Coordinator of the Summer School in Circular Economy and the Summer Internship.

ORCID ID: 0000-0001-6240-2222

Alfonso Fernández González earned his BSc in Chemistry in 1997 and his MSc in Analytical Chemistry in 1999, both from the University of Oviedo. He then pursued a PhD in Analytical Chemistry at the same institution, focusing on the chemical analysis of antibiotics using organized media and biomimetic materials, and was awarded his degree in 2003. Following this, he moved to the Dresden University of Technology in Germany, where he conducted postdoctoral research for two years before returning to Spain in 2006. Upon his return, he worked at the Spanish National Council for Scientific Research and later rejoined the University of Oviedo, where he was appointed as an Assistant Professor in 2017. In 2021, he was promoted to Tenured Associate Professor. His research interests include photoluminescence spectroscopy, carbon dots, pattern recognition algorithms in analytical chemistry, and drug delivery.

ORCID ID: 0000-0001-5309-0044

Susana Luque Rodríguez is a Full Professor in Chemical Engineering at the University of Oviedo, Spain, specializing in membrane technology and process design. She earned her PhD in Chemical Engineering from the same university in 1995 and has held various academic positions there since. Her research focuses on applied membrane technology, particularly in hybrid processes. She has held several leadership roles, including Head of the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering (2016-2023), President of the European Membrane Society and since 2024 she is the Vice-Rector of Knowledge Transfer and Business Relations. She has also been involved in over 30 research projects and collaborated extensively with industry through more than 40 contracts. Her international experience includes visiting professorships and research affiliations in the USA and Europe.

ORCID ID: 0000-0002-3829-8960

Paula Oulego is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering and a member of the Technology of Bioprocesses and Reactors (TBR) research group. She earned an international Ph.D. in Process and Environmental Engineering from the University of Oviedo in 2015 and was awarded the Extraordinary Doctorate Prize in Engineering and Architecture.

She teaches courses on the fundamentals of chemical engineering, including process integration and safety, as well as the principles of bioprocess engineering. She also instructs laboratory courses on key concepts in chemical engineering, focusing on transport phenomena and fluid dynamics, and biochemical engineering, with an emphasis on bioprocesses. Additionally, she teaches food biotechnology, covering methodologies in food science, safety, hygiene, and quality, and instructs the International Summer Course in Chemical Engineering in English to students from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Iowa State University (USA).

Her research interests include advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) for industrial wastewaters and leachates, catalysis, nanomaterials, and the valorization of urban and industrial wastes within the circular economy framework. She has published over 80 scientific articles in Journal Citation Reports (JCR) journals.

ORCID ID: 0000-0002-6529-7066

Salvador Ordóñez is Full Professor at the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering of the University of Oviedo since 2012. His research interests are focused on the application of heterogeneous catalysis and chemical reactor technologies to different environmental problems (VOCs abatement, treatment of halogenated wastes, elimination of emerging pollutants in water, etc.), as well as on the development of processes based on sustainable or renewable raw materials (catalytic production of fuels and chemical products from inedible biomass, recovery of methane content in gases of mine venting, syngas upgrading to chemicals, pyrolysis oil upgrading, development of sustainable chemical hydrogen carriers). Adsorption processes, chemical processes simulation, and photocatalytic technologies also are among his research interests. He is the author or co-author of more than 250 scientific articles published in international journals (JCR-indexed journals), five patents, and several book chapters. As to the academic activity, he has taught since 1999 in the areas of knowledge of Chemical and Environmental Engineering in different B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees. Prof. Ordóñez is currently Spanish representative in the Board of the European Federation of Catalysis Societies (EFCATS). From 2019, he is collaborator (coordinator from 2024) of the Spanish Research Agency (AEI), in the area of Chemical Science and Technology (CTQ).

University Teacher, Laboratory of Process and Systems Engineering

https://research.abo.fi/en/persons/frej-bjondahl/publications/

Professor, Laboratory of Industrial Chemistry and Reaction Engineering

Henrik Grénman Dr.Sc. (Chem.Eng.) is the first in Finland to hold a professorship in the relatively young field of Chemical Process Intensification, which focuses on cross-disciplinary approaches to enhance the productivity of industrial processes. His research interests are largely focused on the development and intensification of selective biorefinery-related processes, including direct conversion of CO2, with the help of catalysis, reactor development,  unconventional energy forms, and novel integration of reaction and separation technologies, as well as continuous processes.

https://research.abo.fi/en/persons/henrik-gr%C3%A9nman/publications/

Professor, Laboratory of Industrial Management

Magnus Hellström is a Professor at the Laboratory of Industrial Management. His research interests revolve around business model changes when the industry (notably the marine/maritime industry or more broadly, the blue economy) adapts to a demand for more sustainable products and operations and to the principles of a circular economy. His current research projects can be divided into two distinct but connected streams. The first stream focuses on the shift in business models when industrial companies move towards service provision and smart and autonomous solutions. The second research stream focuses on sustainable (and circular) business models in industrial settings, especially in the maritime industry and on the need for reducing emissions (notably GHG) in shipping. 

Discipline-wise his research embraces areas typical to industrial management and engineering institutions, meaning innovation and technology management, industrial marketing (B2B), and to some extent operations and project management. 

https://research.abo.fi/en/persons/magnus-hellstr%C3%B6m/publications/

Professor, Laboratory of Industrial Chemistry and Reaction Engineering

Dmitry Yu. Murzin is a Professor at the Laboratory of Industrial Chemistry and Reaction Engineering and his research is mainly focused on chemical technology with the emphasis on heterogeneous catalysis. 

https://research.abo.fi/sv/persons/dmitry-murzin/publications/

https://users.abo.fi/dmurzin/

Senior University Lecturer, Laboratory of Natural Materials Technology  

https://research.abo.fi/en/persons/maristiina-nurmi/publications/

Senior University Lecturer, Laboratory of Industrial Management  

https://research.abo.fi/sv/persons/jonas-spohr/publications/

Project Researcher, Laboratory of Industrial Management

Anastasia Tsvetkova, Dr. (Tech.), is a docent and University Researcher at the Laboratory of Industrial Management, Åbo Akademi University, within the profile area ‘The Sea.’ Her fields of expertise include business ecosystem redesign with a focus on institutional work, governance mechanisms and supra-organizational strategy. She is specifically interested in exploring the complex change processes related to the introduction of solutions that contribute to the sustainable development in energy and logistics industry contexts, including green technologies, sustainable urban mobility, and clean shipping. She has led and participated in many projects related to decarbonization and digitalisation is maritime transportation and shipbuilding. Anastasia has been teaching in courses ‘Sustainable Business’, ‘Smart and Sustainable Maritime Business’ and more recently ‘Innovation and Industrial Change’.

https://research.abo.fi/en/persons/anastasia-tsvetkova/publications/

Senior University Lecturer, Laboratory of Industrial Chemistry and Reaction Engineering

https://research.abo.fi/en/persons/johan-w%C3%A4rn%C3%A5/publications/

University Lecturer, Laboratory of Molecular Science and Engineering

https://research.abo.fi/en/persons/maria-zevenhoven/publications/

Professor, Laboratory of Process and Systems Engineering

https://research.abo.fi/en/persons/cornelis-a-p-zevenhoven/publications/