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Prof Dr Yvonne van der Meer (Y.)

Yvonne van der Meer is Professor of Sustainability of Chemicals and Materials at the Faculty of Science and Engineering. She is the scientific vice-director of the Aachen-Maastricht Institute for Biobased Materials and a member of the Educational Program Committee of the Master Biobased Materials. She is the research lead of  Sustainable UM2030, the university’s sustainability program.

Yvonne leads a research group comprising two assistant professors, five postdoctoral researchers, and six PhD students. 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 bio-based economy. Her group's teaching program includes biobased materials, process technology, circular economy, and sustainability courses in the bachelor’s Maastricht Science Program, Business Engineering, Circular Engineering, and Master Biobased Materials.

Since 2025, she has been the vice-president of the Royal Netherlands Chemical Society KNCV, after serving three years as the president. She is a member of the General Board of the University Fund Limburg and the Scientific Committee of the Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU). In the past years, she was also the scientific coordinator of the Biobased Value Circle, a European Marie Skłodowska-Curie Industrial Doctorate program. In addition, she is a member of the Brightlands Science Advisory Board.

Yvonne has been working in the field of sustainable chemistry for over 25 years. She is an experienced manager and scientist with a passion for sustainability. She has a talent for strategy and translating strategic goals into successful activities, knowing how to connect different parties in collaborative projects with a positive sustainability impact.

Expertises
  • Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (environmental, economic, social impact)
  • Prospective and ex-ante sustainability assessment of novel technologies and chemicals
  • Biobased economy, renewables, biorefineries
  • Catalysis for sustainable processes
  • Circular economy, value circles, circularity metrics
  • Sustainability in higher education
  • Public-Private Partnerships
  • Strategy and implementation
Career history
  • Yvonne van der Meer studied molecular sciences at Wageningen University in the specializations of chemistry and biological chemistry and graduated in molecular physics in 1996
  • She received her Ph.D. from Delft University of Technology in 2001 on research into structure-function relationships of heterogeneous NiW and CoW hydrodesulfurization catalysts, in a collaborative project with Eindhoven University of Technology
  • From 2001-2007 she worked at the Dutch Research Council (NWO) as a policy advisor and program manager for national and European public-private partnerships in sustainable and biobased chemistry
  • She was a consultant in the field of sustainable building materials and life cycle assessment at the company INTRON BV from 2007-2008
  • In 2008, she was appointed research policy advisor to the Executive Board of Maastricht University (2008-2013). She had a secondment to the Law Faculty to set up and implement a successful faculty subsidy strategy from 2008-2013. From 2011-2013 she had a secondment to Sciences for strategic advice and program development of biobased materials
  • She was Program Leader Biobased Materials at Maastricht University from 2013-2015. She co-founded the research group Biobased Materials and the Master Biobased Materials at Maastricht University. She also co-founded two research institutes: the Aachen-Maastricht Institute for Biobased Materials (AMIBM) and the Chemelot Institute for Science and Technology, both on Brightlands Chemelot Campus
  • In 2015, she became head of the Biobased Materials department and Chair of the Educational Programme Committee of the Master Biobased Materials and started her academic group on Sustainability of Biobased Materials at Maastricht University
  • In 2017, she became a full-time associate professor at Maastricht University, group head Sustainability of Biobased Materials in a Circular Economy, and scientific board member of AMIBM.
  • In 2019, she was appointed full professor Sustainability of Chemicals and Materials at the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Maastricht University
  • In 2020, she was appointed scientific co-director of the Aachen-Maastricht Institute for Biobased Materials (AMIBM), a joint institute of Maastricht University and RWTH Aachen University. In 2022, she became scientific vice-director Academic Affairs of AMIBM.
  • In 2021 she became Project Owner Sustainable Research of the Sustainable UM2030 program of Maastricht University and in 2022 she became academic  research lead of SUM2030.
  • In 2022 she was selected as a member of the scientific committee of the Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU).
  • Since 2025, she has been vice-President of the Royal Netherlands Chemical Society (KNCV). From 2022 to 2025, she was President, after joining the general board as vice-President in 2021.