"For me, the path to circular materials begins with smart design at the molecular level."

Fabian Eisenreich is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering & Chemistry and a core member of the Institute for Complex Molecular Systems at Eindhoven University of Technology. His research is driven by a clear mission: to design the next generation of sustainable polymers that truly embody circularity.

With a strong foundation in organic chemistry, polymer science, catalysis, and photochemistry, Fabian devises novel strategies for closed-loop recycling. At the heart of his work is a simple but powerful idea—using light as a precise and renewable energy source to make and break chemical bonds in polymeric materials.

His team recently reached an exciting milestone: the creation of the first light-driven, closed-loop recyclable polymer, where both polymerization and depolymerization are entirely powered by photons.

Fabian studied Chemistry at Humboldt University of Berlin, obtaining his master’s degree in 2014. He then pursued a PhD under Prof. Stefan Hecht at the same university, graduating summa cum laude in 2019. During his doctoral research, Fabian broadened his international experience with a research stay in the lab of Prof. Craig Hawker at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

In 2019, he joined the groups of Prof. Bert Meijer and Prof. Anja Palmans at Eindhoven University of Technology as a postdoctoral researcher, followed by his appointment as Assistant Professor in 2022.

Fabian has received multiple prestigious fellowships throughout his academic journey, including the Feodor Lynen fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. In 2021 he was awarded a competitive VENI research grant from NWO and in 2024 he joined a Circular Plastics NL consortium to advance sustainable chemical processes.