On April 15th, 2025 we gathered in Rotterdam to celebrate the 10-year journey of the Multiscale Catalytic Energy Conversion (MCEC) research center — a decade of interdisciplinary research, collaboration, and innovation.

The Final Symposium was a wonderful opportunity to reflect on MCEC’s scientific journey, the milestones we’ve achieved, and the vibrant community we’ve built along the way.

The afternoon was filled with inspiring talks by the MCEC principal investigators:
Bert Weckhuysen; Albert van den Berg and Mathieu Odijk; Detlef Lohse; Hans Kuipers; Emiel Hensen; and Alfons van Blaaderen.

We were also proud to hear from our alumni, who shared their journeys beyond MCEC and how their experiences shaped their careers:
Jeroen Vollenbroek – Former PhD the University of Twente and Utrecht University, and now Assistant Professor at UMC Utrecht, and Researcher at the University of Twente
Penbe Merve Durubal – Former PhD at Eindhoven University of Technology, and now CFD Engineer at CelSian

A big thank you to all speakers, organizers, participants, and everyone who contributed to the success of this event — and of MCEC over the years. It was a truly memorable celebration of science, memories, and reconnection. 💫

After a decade of impactful and innovative research, the MCEC Research Center is now entering its final phase.

Since 2024, our center has made significant contributions to scientific advancements, thanks to the dedication and hard work of everyone who has been part of this journey.

Now it’s time to reflect on and celebrate these achievements.

Stay connected for more information about a final event coming in 2025!

“For outstanding achievements and leadership in the field of sustainable chemistry and catalysis research”, prof. Bert Weckhuysen (UU) is being honored the 2023 Chemistry Europe Award.

Chemistry Europe, an association of 16 chemical societies from 15 European countries publishing a family of high-quality scholarly journals and the magazine ChemistryViews, recognizes outstanding contributions to chemistry with its new Chemistry Europe Award. The award ceremony will be held in August, during the 49th IUPAC World Chemistry Congress (IUPAC|CHAINS2023) in The Hague, The Netherlands. Bert Weckhuysen will receive the award and give a lecture.

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In our latest MCEC Newsletter you can read about:

• Catalysis Connected 2022
• MCEC @ Weekend van de Wetenschap 2022
• Ferdy Coumans (TU/e) visits University of Hokkaido in Sapporo Japan
• Scientific Research Community: WOG – Catalysis for Carbon Capture and Utilisation (CCU)
• MCEC Publications

Important dates:

• Now – January 31 2023: Abstract submission EuropaCat
• Now – February 15 2023: Abstract submission IUPAC CHAINS
• March 6 – 8 2023: NCCC, The Netherlands’ Catalysis and Chemistry Conference

Get in touch with us on LinkedIn!

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In the second phase of MCEC, we have welcomed many new members. In this rubric we will introduce them to you. 

Yali Tang (TU/e)

… is assistant professor at the research group Power & Flow of Prof. Niels Deen in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at TU Eindhoven.

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The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) has granted a Vici grant to Prof. Pieter Bruijninx of Utrecht University for his research project:

Circular-by-design: making chemical building blocks and materials more sustainably

Pieter Bruijnincx: We need to change the way we meet our society’s demands for carbon-containing materials. In this project, we put circularity central to molecular redesign of the chemicals and materials we daily use and develop new synthesis strategies to produce them more sustainably.

Many congratulations Pieter!

Modern society heavily relies on transportation. The internal combustion engines that power most vehicles emit gaseous pollutants that are harmful to human health and to the environment. Catalytic removal of toxic carbon monoxide (CO) from exhaust fumes is typically done with expensive noble metals as one of the key components of automotive catalytic convertors. For his PhD research, Valerii Muravev explored ways to improve the efficiency of costly catalysts by optimising the use of noble metals in convertors. Muravev recevied his PhD cum laude on November 26th 2021.

Read the article.

Have a look at the latest MCEC Publications (September – November 2021).

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The purpose of the MCEC Lecture Series is to show our PhD candidates what the possibilities are after completing their PhD.

Upcoming lectures:
– (tentative) January 2022 – Ivan Devic
– March 3 2022 – Evgeny Uslamin