Prof. Karel Friess, PhD, has been working at the Department of Physical Chemistry of the University of Chemical Technology (UCT) in Prague. Since 2011, he has led the Laboratory of Membrane Separation Processes (www.membranegroup.cz).
His research focuses on developing innovative membrane materials for targeted separation of gases, vapors, and liquids. He published more than 138 manuscripts (WoS Core Col.), 17 book chapters, and two patents. Since 2014, he has been the principal investigator of six projects funded by the Czech National Science Foundation (GAČR), including one bilateral project with KRICT in Korea, and three bilateral scientific collaborations with universities in the USA (Colorado Univ., Alabama Univ., and MIT). His academic activities include teaching (Physical Chemistry, Principles of Membrane Separation Processes, and Transport Phenomena), supervising more than 40 (Bc, MSc, and PhD) students + two postdocs, and hosting more than 20 international students from Italy, Taiwan, France, Belgium, Croatia, Poland, and Turkey. From 2015 to 2019, he served as Vice-Dean for Science and Research at the Faculty of Chemical Engineering at UCT. In 2021, he was appointed a full professor, and since 2023, he has served as an evaluator for the Czech National Science Foundation (GAČR). From 2021 to 2025, he was elected to the European Membrane Society (EMS) Council.
Since 1999, he has completed several international study stays in Germany, Italy, Belgium, Portugal, the USA, and Poland. He delivered plenary or invited keynote lectures (e.g., at KICHE Korea 2022, MELPRO Czechia 2020, and the KAUST Research Conference, Saudi Arabia 2017). Frequently, he is a scientific committee member at various international conferences, e.g., CHISA (2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, and 2020), PERMEA (2016), MELPRO (2018, 2020, and 2022), MEMPUR (2017, 2021, and 2023), NAMS (USA, 2018), EUROMEMBRANE 2024, M3-S (Poland, 2025), and MELPRO 2026.