Kees Roest PhD BSc

Kees Roest has worked at KWR since 2008 and was among the pioneers in KWR’s wastewater research. On the Energy and Circular Systems team, he works on sustainable transitions, with a focus on innovative wastewater and water treatment concepts and the reuse of water, energy and materials, such as nutrients, cellulose and metals. His research activities used to mainly involve basic research, for example, his PhD research on environmental microbiology at WUR, or the coaching of doctoral students at KWR. Currently his work is increasingly applied in nature. Examples include the CoRe Water pilots at several locations (TKI CoRe Water), the struvite collection pilot at Schiphol (TKI Sustainable Airport Cities), small-scale loop closure (TKI Cleantech Playground North Amsterdam), research on metals in the water cycle (TKI Metals), and cellulose collection at WWTP Aarle Rixtel (Screencap EU project). In addition, in the Circular Water 2050 project, as part of the Water in the Circular Economy (WiCE) programme, he is looking at the water cycle of the future and how it fits into a circular Netherlands. Besides his role as researcher and project manager, Kees is also coordinator of the KWR TKI (Top Sector Alliance for Knowledge and Innovation) Water Technology programme, in which we initiate public-private partnership (PPP) projects in consultation with end-users and businesses. In all of these roles, Kees has contact with many organisations in the Netherlands and abroad, ranging from small to large companies, to universities and government organisations. He is also active for KWR in ReCirc Singapore and the Watershare Energy & Resource Recovery Community of Practice, which promotes the sharing of knowledge and expertise in the field of the reuse of materials from the water cycle. In his various roles, Kees plays an important part in the setting up of new projects, but also in their successful execution and completion.