Supervising Researcher / Hydrometallurgical Extraction Processes

I am Michalis Vafeias and I hold a degree in Mining and Metallurgical Engineering. I graduated from the National Technical University of Athens in 2008. My graduation coincided with the onset of the economic crisis in Greece. As a result, after graduating, and for a period of 8 years I built an alternate professional path, working in the fields of digital project management and digital advertising. Being an engineer at heart, I decided to rejoin the Laboratory of Metallurgy of NTUA as PhD Researcher in 2017. My research interests include (but are not limited to) hydrometallurgical processing of primary and secondary raw materials, process optimization, molecular modelling, and computational applications in metallurgical systems.

Being a member of the Technologies for Sustainable Metallurgy group for the last 4 years has been a challenge and a blessing. On one hand I find myself practicing my project management skills every single day, while at the same time actively acquiring new engineering and computational skills. On the other hand, the group’s focus on the development of new, cutting-edge metallurgical technologies, allows me to be part of the process of solving some of the most pressing industrial and materials technology problems of our times. But most importantly, it is the teamwork and collaboration spirit that I find the most satisfying aspect of day-to-day work. And that is hard to find out there!