Annick Hubin is full professor at the Faculty of Engineering of VUB with a chair in Electrochemical Engineering, and is head of the research group SURF ‘Electrochemical and Surface Engineering’ in the department MACH ‘Materials and Chemistry’. She is mainly teaching in Bruface, the Brussels Faculty of Engineering, a joint initiative of Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), offering masters in different engineering disciplines in English. Her research is looking at the applications of electrochemical engineering in fields such as corrosion, electrocatalysis, batteries and fuel cells, sensors, and nano materials. The focus is on the in-situ characterization of the solid-liquid interfacial behavior from the macroscopic to the nanometer scale.
Since 2003, she took executive positions in the Faculty and the University in Educational Boards and also outside VUB as Vice President of the International Society of Electrochemistry. Currently she is Dean of the Faculty of Engineering for the next academic years..
Herman Terryn is full professor at the Faculty of Engineering of VUB with a chair in Surface Science and Engineering in research group Electrochemical and Surface Engineering of the department MACH ‘Materials and Chemistry’. He is teaching several courses on Material Science for the bachelor students within the Faculty of Applied Engineering at VUB. He is also teaching within Bruface, the Brussels Faculty of Engineering, at Université Libre de Bruxelles and University of Ghent. Herman is part time professor in the group Corrosion and Electrochemical of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering of Tu Delft. Currently he is cluster leader of Durability of Materials within the Dutch top research center M2i-Materials Innovations Institute. His research focuses on surface treatments, coatings and surface analysis of different materials.
In 2012 he was granted with a Methusalem project, which provides long term and structural funding for excellent Flemish researchers.
Since 2007, he is the responsible chairman for research of the Faculty of Applied Engineering within the VUB research council. He is also founder of the conference ASST-Aluminium Suface Science and Technology and representative for Belgium for the International Corrosion Council (ICC).
Iris De Graeve has been part of the research group since 1996 and holds a Ph.D. in Engineering Sciences (VUB, 2001). Since 2007 she is part-time professor in the Faculty of Engineering of VUB. She is teaching materials science and related courses (biomaterials, metal surface engineering) to the students of Engineering Sciences and Architecture of VUB, students of the VUB Solvay Business School (optional master course), students of VUB & ULB in the International BRUFACE master program, and students of VUB & UGent in the master program on biomedical engineering sciences. In the Faculty of Engineering at VUB she is also education counselor for the first year students and actively involved in the recruitment of students.
Her main research expertise is in surface engineering of metals. She is actively involved as promoter and/or scientific coordinator in several research projects, dealing with various metals and surface engineering topics (self-healing coatings, atmospheric plasma coating, chemical conversion, etching, anodizing etc.) for the creation of functional properties (corrosion protection, optical appearance, adhesion etc.). In this research field she is supervisor of several PhD students and final year master students. She is also involved in the organisation of various scientific workshops as well as renowned international symposia dealing with surface engineering of metals (International Aluminium Surface Science and Technology Symposium 2009 & 2012, International Self-Healing Materials Conference 2013).
Jean Vereecken has been full professor (Emeritus since 2007) at the Faculty of Engineering of the VUB and head of the Department Metallurgy, Electrochemistry and Material Sciences since the foundation of the VUB in 1969. He has been teaching several courses such as Materials Science and Engineering, Electrochemistry, Corrosion, Surface Engineering, Metallurgy...
His research is focused on corrosion science and engineering, electrochemical and surface engineering.
He took many executive positions in the Faculty of Engineering and in the University. He was Dean of the Faculty of Engineering (1985-1988) and Chairman of the Commission for Industrial relations of the VUB (1985-2007). He always boosted the collaboration between University and Industry. Jean Vereecken also held different executive positions in the field of nuclear energy ( AVN, VNS, Bel V, FANC).
Since 1992, he is chairman of the board of the IICB and since 2005 managing director of ICAB.
Johan Deconinck is full professor at the Faculty of Engineering of VUB with a chair in Electrical Engineering and has his research activities in the research group SURF ‘Electrochemical and Surface Engineering’. He teaches at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and at Bruface, the Brussels Faculty of Engineering. His research is for more than 30 years, focused on the numerical modeling of electrical and electrochemical systems in the field of electroplating, cathodic protection, electrochemical machining or forming and corrosion. The focus is on quantifying electrochemical processes in view of understanding and application.