Prof. Dr. Frank De Proft

After obtaining his Master’s degree in Chemistry with a graduate thesis in synthetic organic chemistry at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), F. De Proft turned to theoretical chemistry for his PhD research in 1991, where he became interested in the so-called density functional theory. During his PhD studies, he was appointed as a predoctoral fellow at the Research Foundation-Flanders, Belgium (FWO).  He obtained his PhD in Sciences at the VUB in 1995 and was appointed as FWO postdoctoral researcher from the period 1995-1999.  In 1996, he conducted a postdoctoral stay in the group of Prof. Robert G. Parr (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA), a leading authority in the field of quantum chemistry and the founding father of conceptual DFT, funded by a Fulbright award for research and a NATO fellowship. In 1999, F. De Proft got tenure at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and subsequently went through the ranks of associate professor (2005), professor (2010) and full professor (2018). He was the 2007 Laureate of the Royal Flanders Academy of Sciences and Art in the Division of Natural Sciences (Most promising researcher in Flanders under the age of 40 in the division of Natural sciences).During his career, study visits were conducted, among others, in the group of Prof. Paul von Ragué Schleyer (University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany) and Prof. David J. Tozer (Durham University, UK). In addition, he was twice invited professor in France [Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris (2006) and Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (2014)].

The candidate’s basic research strategy has always involved the coupling of a fundamental research line, focusing on the development, implementation and computation of reactivity descriptors and concepts to gain insight into the reactivity of atoms, molecules and solids, with a more applied part, situated in various domains of chemistry, ranging from inorganic via organic to biochemistry and catalysis, nearly always in direct collaboration with experimentalists.