Robert Sporken
Board member
Full professor at UNamur
Namur Institute of Structured Matter
President of the Belgian National Committee for Pure and Applied Physics
(image credits (c) Benedicte Maindiaux)
Robert Sporken is full professor at the Department of Physics of the University of Namur (UNamur), where he was Dean of the Faculty of Sciences (2008-2011 and 2019-2023) and Vice-Rector for Human resources (2011-2015). He has a degree in physics (Licencié en Sciences Physiques) and holds a doctoral degree in Sciences (Ph.D.). He is president of the Belgian National Committee of Pure and Applied Physics and honorary member of the Belgian National Committee of Crystallography. From 1997 until 2021, he was adjunct professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
His research focuses on (i) surface analysis by electron spectroscopies and scanning tunnelling microscopy, (ii) heteroepitaxy of compound semiconductors on silicon, and (iii) the effect of materials properties on functioning of electronic devices. He is member of the Belgian Federal Council on Science Policy and was member of Commission E2 (Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry) of FWO from 2001 until 2009.