René H. Reich
Researcher
Digital Circular Economy
About me
I am a passionate researcher in the field of sustainability and information systems. My main research interests and publications are in the digitalization of circular economies. Currently, I am part of Prof. Karel Van Acker's Sustainability Assessments of Materials and Circular Economy group at KU Leuven. My Ph.D. thesis focuses on the design of digital solutions to benefit circular economies. In my doctorate, I have guided over ten master’s thesis students and lectured various classes. I have led research, digitalization, and consulting projects. I have been a reviewer for the Journal of Circular Economy, Procedia CIRP, the European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS), and Resources, Conservation and Recycling. I am passionate about teaching, research communication, like science slams, and research exploitation by giving policy briefings and industry workshops.
Interests
- Sustainability
- Circular Economy
- Green Economy
- Sustainable Development Goals
- Environmental, Social, and Governance
- Green Information Systems
- Green Information Technology
- Green Business Process Management
- Natural Language Processing
- Knowledge Representation
- Data Governance
- Desing Science Research
- Qualitative Research
- Computational Methods
Education
Master of Science
in Materials Engineering
KU Leuven, 2021
Master of Science
in Sustainable Materials
Montanuniversität Leoben, 2020
Bachelor of Science
in Materials Science
Montanuniversität Leoben, 2018
Upcoming presentations & conferences
Tech4CE @ ECIS 2024
ECIS workshop Technology as an Enabler for Circular Economy
16 June 2024, Paphos, Cyprus
ECIS 2024
European Conference on Information Systems
13-19 June 2024, Paphos, Cyprus
LCE 2024
CIRP Conference on Life Cycle Engineering
19-21 June 2024, Turin, Italy
Research
For four years, I have been working on the interdisciplinary project Datafication of the Circular Economy. The project is strategic basic research funded by the KU Leuven. My project partner is Charlotte Ducuing at the Center for IT & IP Law. Within the project, we have been working on:
-
- Data management and data ecosystems
- Circular Economy governance and reporting
- Notion and Concept of Product Passports
- Product Passports and data governance
- Data sourcing for circular economy
Furthermore, I contributed to the following research projects:
-
- Circular Economy Monitor of the Flemish Government
- Flanders Make's explorative study on Digital Product Passports 4 Sustainability
I supervised the following master's thesis projects:
Circular economy digitization by matching industry resource, material, product, and waste streams Roelants, Hannes (2024). Master in Artificial Intelligence. |
Information and data architecture of circular economy indicators Blloku, Mariza; Kaimi, Fabio; Santos Salazar, Maira (2024). Master in Information Management. |
Data ecosystem of the circular economy monitor Flanders Cornelissen, Thomas; De Sitter, Sarah (2024). Master in Information Managment. |
Environmental Impacts of Data Transmission Holla, Navaneeth (2024). Master in Sustainable Materials. |
Environmental Impact Assessment of Silicon Wafers Production and Supply Chains in the Semiconductor Industry Ahmed, Abullah Ahsan (2023). Master in Sustainable Materials. |
Classification of Circular Economy Indicators for Organization Management Delaiti, Davide (2023). Master in International Business Economics and Management. |
Digital Product Passport Policy in Europe: Potential Shift towards Circular Product Strategies Ayan, Joelle (2022). Master in Sustainable Territorial Development. |
Teaching
Good, high-quality teaching is essential to me. Already early on, working as a tutor for high school and college students financed my studies. I have over 240 hours of adult education training and over 400 hours of contact hours teaching experience. Since February 2018, I am a certified trainer in adult education. I contributed or gave the following courses at universities:
Mathematics 1 |
Mathematics 2 |
Project Work and Problem Solving 2 |
Thermodynamics and Kinetics |
Materials: Properties, Selection and Sustainability |
Metals Production and Recycling |
Sustainable Materials Management |
Python for Materials Science |
Furthermore, I supervised more than seven master's thesis projects in the master's programs of:
-
- Artificial Intelligence
- Information Management
-
International Business Economics and Management
- Materials Engineering
-
Sustainable Territorial Development
- Sustainable Materials
Recognitions & Destinctions
' stroke='rgba(60%2c100%2c198%2c1)' stroke-width='0.527778' stroke-miterlimit='1.5' stroke-linecap='square'/%3e%3cpath d='M13.7291 31.9877L13.6023 31.8147L13.4071 31.9034L9.89045 33.5016L14.0111 17.2167L20.2646 18.9923L16.143 35.2808L13.7291 31.9877Z' fill='rgba(255%2c255%2c255%2c1)' stroke='rgba(60%2c100%2c198%2c1)' stroke-width='0.527778' stroke-miterlimit='1.5' stroke-linecap='square'/%3e%3cpath d='M16.7321 3.01926C17.9475 1.80868 19.8765 1.80868 21.0919 3.01926C21.787 3.71152 22.7534 4.03482 23.7109 3.89538C25.3854 3.65154 26.9459 4.81886 27.2381 6.53378C27.4052 7.51445 28.0025 8.36085 28.8567 8.8275C30.3506 9.64353 30.9467 11.5323 30.204 13.0965C29.7793 13.991 29.7793 15.0372 30.204 15.9317C30.9467 17.4959 30.3506 19.3847 28.8567 20.2007C28.0025 20.6674 27.4052 21.5138 27.2381 22.4944C26.9459 24.2093 25.3854 25.3767 23.7109 25.1328C22.7534 24.9934 21.787 25.3167 21.0919 26.009C19.8765 27.2195 17.9475 27.2195 16.7321 26.009C16.037 25.3167 15.0706 24.9934 14.1131 25.1328C12.4386 25.3767 10.8781 24.2093 10.5859 22.4944C10.4188 21.5138 9.82153 20.6674 8.96727 20.2007C7.47341 19.3847 6.87733 17.4959 7.62001 15.9317C8.04471 15.0372 8.04471 13.991 7.62001 13.0965C6.87733 11.5323 7.47341 9.64353 8.96727 8.8275C9.82153 8.36085 10.4188 7.51445 10.5859 6.53378C10.8781 4.81886 12.4386 3.65154 14.1131 3.89538C15.0706 4.03482 16.037 3.71152 16.7321 3.01926Z' fill='rgba(60%2c100%2c198%2c1)'/%3e%3cpath d='M18.9972 8.97217C18.9972 10.3722 19.5389 11.7151 20.5028 12.7045C21.4667 13.6939 22.9139 14.2499 24.2778 14.2499H24.1389C22.775 14.2499 21.4667 14.806 20.5028 15.7954C19.5389 16.7848 18.9972 18.1277 18.9972 19.5277C18.9972 18.1277 18.4556 16.7848 17.4917 15.7954C16.5278 14.806 15.0861 14.2499 13.7222 14.2499H13.8556C15.2194 14.2499 16.5278 13.6939 17.4917 12.7045C18.4556 11.7151 18.9972 10.3722 18.9972 8.97217Z' fill='rgba(255%2c255%2c255%2c1)'/%3e%3c/svg%3e)
Best Young Presenter
September 2023
Best poster award of the Life Cycle Management 2023 conference in the category Young Scientist.
Paper-a-thon Winner
December 2022
Together with Hannah Stein and Lucian Visinescu, one of the winners of the Paper-a-thon of the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS 2022).
Best Poster
September 2023
Best poster award of the Life Cycle Management 2023 conference in the category Overall Winner.
Science Slam Winner
November 2021
Winner of the first Una Europa PhD Slam within the Berlin Science Week.
2nd at Science Slam
March 2023
I won 2nd place in my science slam on the datafication of the circular economy at the Phaeno Science Center in Wolfsburg, Germany.
Master's Thesis Scientia Award
September 2021
Scientia Fond Award in the category Engineering And Natural Sciences for my master's thesis "Datafication of material mechanisms in nuclear environment"