Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology
(EMPA)
EMPA
EMPA, the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Material Science and Technology, is a research institution within the ETH domain and plays an important role in education, science and innovation in Switzerland. It specializes in applications, focused research and development, and provides high-level services in the field of sustainable materials science and technology. Its core tasks are innovative collaboration with industry and public institutions, ensuring the safety of people and the environment, knowledge propagation and university-level teaching.
Main activities and roles in SUNRISE
Empa, via its Environmental Risk Assessment and Management Group, is contributing to WP2 and is leading Task 2.3 “(Semi) quantitative information the stages 3 and 4 of the innovation process”. Empa will focus thereby on the environmental release of advanced materials. Via its Advancing Life Cycle Assessment Group, Empa is also contributing to WP3 and is leading Task 3.4 "Quantitative information for the last stages of the innovation process". Empa will focus thereby on identify & develop quantitative life cycle methods to assess the environmental, social & economic impacts.
Meet the EMPA team
Prof. Dr. Bernd Nowack holds a PhD (1995) in environmental sciences from ETH Zürich. He is leading the "Environmental Risk Assessment and Management" group at Empa and is adjunct professor at ETH Zürich. His research deals with environmental risks of advanced materials, nanomaterials and plastics, comprising a wide spectrum of different approaches: development of methods for material flow analysis, exposure modeling, biouptake modeling and environmental risk assessment; experimental studies about release and development of methods for SSbD.
Dr. Roland Hischier holds a PhD (2013) in environmental engineering from ETH Zürich. He is leading the "Advancing Life Cycle Assessment" group at Empa and is president of the board of ecoinvent – the Swiss-based association behind one of the most comprehensive and most transparent LCA databases worldwide. His expertise is in the areas of Life Cycle Assessment, Environmental Footprint, Material and Substance Flow Analysis, Circular Economy, applied in areas such as Nanotechnology.
Dr. Carlos E. Gómez-Camacho holds a PhD (2019) in Chemical Engineering from the Politecnico di Torino (Italy). He works with the 'Advancing Life Cycle Assessment' group at Empa, analyzing chemical, energy, and bioprocessing systems. He has gained familiarity with production systems at various scales (laboratory, pilot, full-scale), and his primary focus is currently on developing environmental sustainability methods and applying them to emerging and established technologies.
Dr. Vicenç Pomar-Portillo holds a PhD (2022) in nanotechnology from the University of Barcelona and the LEITAT Technological center. His research is focused on assessing the environmental risks associated with engineered nanomaterials employing methodologies such as release pathway analysis, release experiments and material flow analysis. His keen interest lies in leveraging the data derived from his research to promote safe and sustainable by design practices.