KNVM

• Sep 9, 2014, 12:00:00 AM

Mark van Loosdrecht awarded NWO Spinoza Award

TU Delft environmental biotechnology professor Mark van Loosdrecht has been awarded the prestigious NWO Spinoza Prize for his outstanding contribution to scientific research. First conferred in 1995 by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), the Spinoza Prize is the highest distinction for science in the Netherlands. According to the NWO, recipients of the award are selected by an international committee on the basis of “internationally recognized quality, the ability to attract and inspire young researchers, and knowledge utilization and transfer.” Van Loosdrecht is among the 73 Spinoza laureates to have received this top honor.

Winners of this year’s Spinoza Award will each receive €2.5 million to further their scientific research. For Van Loosdrecht, this extra financing enables him to pursue research projects where funding may be difficult to obtain. “We want to gain a better understanding of microbial diversity and ecological principles in terms of the behavior of bacteria under dynamic conditions as well as understanding what is currently termed “extracellular polymeric substance’,” Van Loosdrecht says. “Based on the research insights of these projects, we hope to develop new processes that contribute to a sustainable, cyclic economy-based society.”

More information is available here.