Dr. Alberto Bezama

Biography

Alberto Bezama has 15 years of experience in contaminated site management, waste management, and cleaner production, with over 10 years in sustainability assessment. He holds a degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Concepción, Chile, and earned a PhD in Mining Metallurgical Sciences with a focus on Industrial Environmental Protection from the University of Leoben, Austria. From 2006 to 2010, he worked at the Environmental Sciences Center EULA-Chile at the University of Concepción, where he was appointed as a tenured Assistant Professor in Environmental Engineering. During his time in Chile, he established and led research groups focused on solid waste management and risk assessment of contaminated sites, providing scientific and technical support to industry and public institutions. From 2012 to 2025, he was a researcher in the Department of Bioenergy at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) in Leipzig, Germany, where he led the Working Group on Systems Analysis in Bioeconomy starting in 2015 and was appointed Deputy Head of the department. His research focused on developing and applying life cycle-based tools to evaluate regional impacts of implementing bio-based technologies within the broader context of bioeconomy and circular economy strategies. In August 2022, he was appointed as W2-Professor of Bioeconomy Systems Analysis in the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at the University of Rostock, Germany, while holding a joint appointment at UFZ. By 2025, he will assume the role of Full Professor and Associate Dean of Sustainability at the Schulich School of Engineering, leading the Sustainable Systems Engineering program.

Research Interests

Experience