Prof. Emile Cornelissen is a Principle Scientist at KWR Water Research Institute in the Netherlands (since 2003) and part-time Professor at the Particle and Interfacial Technology (PaInT) Group at the University of Ghent in Belgium (since 2017). He works also as a Visiting Scientist at the Singapore Membrane Technology Centre (SMTC) at the NTU in Singapore (since 2014).

He obtained his Chemical Engineering MSc (1992) and PhD degree (1997) at the University of Twente (the Netherlands) in the field of Membrane Science and Engineering. His past and current research topics include membrane fouling and cleaning, rejection of emerging contaminants (e.g. PFAS) by pressure, electrical and osmotic driven membranes and developing innovative membrane based concepts, such as (i) use of air/water to control spiral wound membrane fouling, (ii) fluidized ion exchange, (iii) osmotic membrane processes (forward osmosis on activated sludge and waste water) and (iv) salinity driven membrane processes for water and energy production (reverse electro dialysis and pressure retarded osmosis). His research bridges science to practice, and a strong collaborative research link is established with the water sector (BTO/TKI via KWR), material and system suppliers and industrial end-users.

He (co-)supervised 9 PhD-students (of which several Wetsus PhD-students) and is now currently supervising 8 PhD-students at PaInT. He published more than 129 papers in well-respected scientific journals (h-factor of 44), co-filed 5 patents and written three book chapters. He received several innovation awards in the field of water treatment and membrane science and engineering.