Ferrie van Hattum

Ferrie van Hattum (1971) studied Mechanical Engineering at the University of Twente, with a specialization in Design in Plastics. In 1995 he graduated in the field of thermoplastic composites. He continued his research in the field of nanocomposites at the Polymer Engineering Department of the University of Minho, Portugal. After he obtained his PhD, in 1999, Van Hattum started working as a researcher at the Centre for Lightweight Structures, a collaboration between TNO and Delft University of Technology, which later on continued as the independent Lightweight Structures Ltd. In collaboration with industry Van Hattum here was in charge of the research into the applications of composites.

From 2001 Van Hattum worked in Portugal, where he has been involved in a large number of projects and studies in the field of composite materials, in several positions, such as university lecturer and researcher at the Institute for Polymers and Composites from the University of Minho and as manager of the Composites Group at PIEP-Innovatiationin Polymer Engineering, a non-profit industrial research centre.

From late 2011 to September 2013 Van Hattum was associate professor at the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Minho, Portugal. In that capacity and as co-founder, he was responsible for the new university programme Product Design. In the same period he became general manager of the Design Institute of Guimaraes, an institution founded by the municipality of Guimaraes, the University of Minho and the industry, to promote innovation in design.

Van Hattum wrote a large number of scientific publications  and regularly is a speaker at international conferences.Since September 2013 Van Hattem works as a professor at Saxion’s Lightweight Structures chair.