Professor – Group Leader
E-mail: yvonne.vandermeer@maastrichtuniversity.nl
Room: 200.3.052
ORCID: 0000-0001-8230-8145
Yvonne van der Meer is Professor Sustainability of Chemicals and Materials at the Faculty of Science and Engineering. She is scientific vice-director of the Aachen-Maastricht Institute for Biobased Materials and member of the Educational Program Committee of the Master Biobased Materials. She is also scientific coordinator of Biobased Value Circle, a European Marie Skłodowska-Curie Industrial Doctorate program. She is the academic co-lead of the Sustainable UM2030 program and she is a member of the Sustainability Advisory Group of the York Maastricht Partnership.
Yvonne leads a research group with two assistant professors, three postdocs and five PhDs. The mission of her research team is to provide appropriate methods, indicators, tools and accurate sustainability assessments to support the transition from a linear and fossil-based to a circular and biobased economy. Her group’s teaching program includes biobased materials, process technology, circular economy and sustainability courses in the bachelors Maastricht Science Program, Business Engineering, Circular Engineering and the Master Biobased Materials.
Since 2022, she is president of the Royal Netherlands Chemical Society KNCV. She is a member of the scientific committee of the Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU) and a member of the Global Challenge Group on Responding to Climate Change of the Worldwide Universities Network. In addition, she is a member of the Chemelot Circular Hub and member of the Brightlands Science Advisory Board.
Yvonne has been working in sustainable chemistry for over 22 years. She is an experienced manager and a scientist with a passion for sustainability. She has a talent for strategy and translating strategic goals into successful activities where she knows how to connect different parties in collaborative projects with a positive sustainability impact.
Expertise
- Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (environmental, economic, social impact)
- Prospective and ex-ante technology assessment
- Biobased economy, renewables, biorefineries
- Catalysis for sustainable processes
- Circular economy, value circles, circularity metrics
- Sustainability in higher education
- Public Private Partnerships
- Strategy and implementation