In 1981, Professor Eckhard Weidner finished his studies in Chemical Engineering at Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen and became a development engineer in the “Technology oil conversation, desalination of ocean-water” department at Kraftwerk Union Erlangen. After writing his doctor’s thesis at Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen, he was responsible for the Technical Operation Management of the High-Pressure Laboratory at the Chair of Technical Chemistry II. In 1996, he finished his habilitation on “Manufacturing of Powder by Spraying of Gas Containing Solutions”. Since 1998 he holds the Chair of Process Technology at Ruhr-University Bochum. In 2004, he was also appointed Director at Fraunhofer UMSICHT.

During his academic career, Professor Eckhard Weidner published more than 100 articles, held 38 invited lectures and filed 30 patents. He also joined numerous committees such as the Steering Committee “Produktionsforschung 2020” on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research from 2008 until 2010. Since 2004 he has been a jury member of the programme “EXIST-Forschungstransfer” (Research Transfer) of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. In 2011, he was honored with the Innovation Award of the City of Cologne (Nicolaus August Otto Preis) for environmentally-friendly tanning.