MCI Confers Professorship to Jan Back

The Entrepreneurial School® Appoints Dr. Jan Back as Professor

In recognition of his achievements in research, teaching, and his contributions to the further development of The Entrepreneurial School®, Jan Back (Department of Environmental, Process & Energy Engineering) has been awarded the title of Professor by MCI. In the presence of colleagues and companions, the award was presented by MCI Rector Andreas Altmann and Franz Pegger, Head of the Academic Council. In his inaugural lecture, he provided insightful perspectives on his research work.

Jan Back completed his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Environmental, Process & Energy Engineering at MCI. He subsequently earned his PhD in Chemistry from the University of Innsbruck. During his academic career, he gained international research experience as a Visiting Researcher at the University of Strathclyde and was also involved in applied research and industry.

His research focuses on innovative technologies for sustainable water treatment, particularly membrane technology, adsorption processes, and advanced oxidation processes. As a project leader, he is responsible for research projects such as “PFASelect“ (Interreg Bay-Aut) and “BorN-To-Degrade” (FFG Bridge), and has contributed to additional projects including “PFAS-Trap” (KPC Contaminated Sites Research).

In 2022, he received the Award of the City of Innsbruck for Research and Innovation in recognition of his work. He is also the author and co-author of numerous scientific publications and regularly serves as a reviewer for leading academic journals.

Since 2020, Jan Back has been teaching and conducting research at MCI as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Environmental, Process & Energy Engineering. His teaching focuses on chemical environmental engineering and includes subjects such as membrane technology, water treatment, and conceptual process design. He also contributes his expertise to the MCI research focus area Energy & Process Technologies.

In his inaugural lecture, titled “Here to Stay: Forever Chemicals and Environmental Pollutants in Research and Teaching”, he highlighted the pervasive role of PFAS in everyday life and the environment, outlined removal technologies – particularly adsorption using novel sorbents – and discussed further strategies for eliminating environmental pollutants in both research and practice.