Dr. Jonas Jose Perez Bravo is a Research Assistant at the University of Mons. He earned his Ph.D. in Engineering from the University of Buenos Aires in 2019. He was a CONICET Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute of Chemistry and Drug Metabolism (IQUIMEFA), University of Buenos Aires (2019–2022), and he was involved in the modification of biopolymers employing green solvents, also, as the addition of nanoparticles to obtain nanostructured composites to provide innovative solutions for water treatments during this period. His focus has been on chemical modification and cross-linking of polymers, dispersion of nanomaterials in polymer matrices, and their characterization using various techniques. He has also been awarded BEWARE Fellowships (MSCA COFUND) at the University of Mons (UMONS) in an intersectoral project with TotalEnergies.The project aims to investigate the degradation profiles of different polyolefin grades and to correlate how their inherent parameters affect their mechanical recycling.

Dr. Caroline Gerbehaye has been a Technical Advisor at Plastics Recyclers Europe since October 2023. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry, Master’s degree in Chemistry, and Ph.D. in Materials Science from the University of Mons in 2016, 2018, and 2023, respectively. During her Ph.D. period, she engaged in the development and validation of solid-state post-synthetic modification method from batch to continuous processes to inherently modulate the properties of aromatic semi-crystalline polyesters.

Dr. Jean-Marie Raquez is a researcher at the Laboratory of Polymeric and Composite Materials. He completed a Ph.D. in Polymer Science from the University of Mons, his main areas are the chemical modification and synthesis of polymer-based (nano)-composites issued from renewable resources using reactive extrusion processing. He has also been in charge of national and regional projects, programs with industries, and European Projects (FP7).

Dr. Rosica Mincheva is an Associate professor at the Laboratory of Polymeric and Composite Materials, Université de Mons. She received her PhD degree in polymer chemistry from the Laboratory of Bioactive Polymers, Institute of Polymers-BAS, Sofia, Bulgaria. In 2007 she moved to a postdoctoral stay at the University of Mons where she is now an Associate professor. Her research covers sustainable macromolecular chemistry and process engineering, physicochemical and thermomechanical characterization, and preparation of micro- and nanostructured ecofriendly materials by different methods including melt processing, mechanochemistry and electrospinning.