Kerstin Kuchta is head of the "Waste Resource Management" research group at Hamburg University of Science and Technology and a full professor at the Institute of Environmental Technology and Energy Economics. She is a PHD from Darmstadt University of Technology.From 2002 to 2010, she was a full professor of Energy and Environmental Management at Hamburg University of Applied Sciences and the founding Dean of the School of Engineering at Derha University in Almaty, Kazakhstan. In 2011, she moved to Hamburg University of Science and Technology to establish a new field of research on waste resources. Her research interests include recycling of post-consumer plastics, rare earth elements and key metals from secondary sources such as e-waste, bottom ash and industrial residues, bioeconomy and environmentally sound waste management.Since 2014, she has served as vice Chair of the Board of directors of the German Waste Management Industry and leads several working groups in the area of resource recovery and sustainability at regional, national and international levels.