Department Water Resources & Drinking Water

Eawag – Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology And EPFL – Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne

Prof. Urs von Gunten is a Swiss environmental chemist and since 2011 a full professor at EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) and Eawag (Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology). He obtained a diploma in chemistry in 1983 and a PhD in inorganic chemistry in 1989 from ETH Zurich. He then performed post-doctoral study at Eawag, where he became head of the chemistry department (1998-1999) and of the Water Resources and Drinking Water department (2000-2004). He then took the lead of the cross-disciplinary project ‘Drinking Water for the 21st century’ until 2008, was the head of the transdisciplinary project “Regional Water Supply Basel Country 21” and of the competence center for drinking water (2010-2017) at Eawag.

Prof. von Gunten heads the laboratory for Water Quality and Treatment (LTQE) at EPFL and the drinking water chemistry group at Eawag. His research focuses on oxidation and disinfection processes in the context of drinking water and wastewater treatments. In 2018, he published a highly cited perspective article on oxidation processes, summarizing the options and limitations of such treatments.

Prof. von Gunten received the Harvey Rosen Award in 2001, 2007 and 2015 from the International Ozone Association. He also received the ACS Award for Creative Advances in Environmental Science and Technology in 2022 and the Award for Outstanding Achievements in Environmental Science and Technology in 2023. He was a highly cited researcher multiple time between 2014 and 2021. He has co-authored 280 peer-reviewed articles and a book on ozone chemistry in water and wastewater treatment. His research is driven by fundamental understanding of chemical processes in natural and technical aquatic systems and their application in larger scales. Bridging between science and practice has been an important driver in his research.