Bert Klumperman studied Chemical Engineering and Chemistry at the University of Twente (Enschede, the Netherlands). After his MSc graduation he worked at DSM Research (Geleen, The Netherlands) as a Research Associate. In 1994 he obtained his PhD degree from the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) under the joint supervision of Prof AL German (Eindhoven), and Prof KF O’Driscoll (University of Waterloo, Canada). He then moved to academia and worked at TU/e from 1995 until 2012.

In 2006 he was awarded a South African Research Chair by the National Research Foundation and the Department of Science and Technology. Since 2007 he is an A-rated scientist by the NRF. In 2012, Bert was awarded a second doctorate (DSc) at Stellenbosch University with Prof PE Mallon as promoter. He received various awards, including the Gold Medal of the South African Chemical Institute (SACI) in 2013, the SASOL Chemistry Innovator of the Year medal in 2015, the prestigious National Science and Technology Forum (NSTF) Lifetime Award in 2016 and the John FW Herschel medal of the Royal Society of South Africa in 2018. His current research interests are reversible deactivation radical polymerization (RDRP), the SMALP technology and on-demand reversible hydrogels.