Affiliation: RWTH-Aachen University, Biofilm Engineering

Since 2021, Dr. Peter Desmond is a Research Group Leader in Biofilm Engineering at RWTH-Aachen University and a recipient of the German University Excellence Initiative (JPI) fellowship. He is also Visiting lecturer at RWTH-daughter University, German University of Technology, Oman. At RWTH-Aachen, Dr. Desmond leads the Biofilm Engineering group (www.biofilmresearch.com), where research efforts focus on; (i) compositional-structural-mechanical characterization of co- and counter-diffusional biofilms, (ii) system integration of biofilm processes in novel platform reactor technologies (e.g., membrane biofilm reactors (MBfRs), membrane bioreactors (MBRs)), (iii) Mechanisms of solute transport in dense membranes (e.g., membrane contactors, NF/RO) applied to water treatment and resource recovery. At GU-Tech Oman, Dr. Desmond translates fundamental research findings from his group at RWTH into regional-specific solutions for the Sultanate of Oman and the GCC. Dr. Desmond receive his Ph.D. from ETH Zurich in 2018 at the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology. Before moving to RWTH-Aachen, Dr. Desmond was head of Research and Process development for MMS AG membrane systems, Switzerland where he led numerous international consultancy projects relating to industrial separation processes using advanced membrane processes spanning food/beverage, chemicals and waste2resource applications.