Prof. Hubert Gijzen

Prof. Hubert Gijzen Prof. Hubert Gijzen holds a PhD in Environmental Biotechnology, and has an established career of over 34 years in both academics and in international cooperation. He has worked in academic institutions and universities, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in Embassies and in International Institutes abroad, and the United Nations. Throughout his career, he has lived and worked in various countries and regions in Africa, South America and Caribbean, South Asia, South-East Asia and Europe, in a range of senior functions as Full Professor and Chair in Universities, as a diplomat, Regional Representative, Team leader, and currently as UNESCO Regional Director and Representative. He has implemented short missions to over 100 countries, and has developed and managed large capacity building, research and cooperation programmes and projects, including the EU funded R&D project SWITCH on “Water in the City of the Future”, for which he served as Project Director, and which earned the IWA Sustainability Award in 2012.

Besides his current work as UNESCO Regional Director and Representative, he continues to hold positions as full Professor at UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education (since 1995) and at Wageningen University. Hubert has published over 400 articles and books, and presented numerous keynotes in the fields of water management, microbiology, environmental sciences, biotechnology, and sanitary and environmental engineering. He also covered topics on international cooperation, sustainable development, the MDGs, SDGs and climate change. He serves in various international advisory functions and on Boards of prestigious Institutes and programmes.

Hubert Gijzen joined UNESCO in 2006 as Director of the UNESCO Regional Science Bureau for Asia and the Pacific, based in Jakarta. Besides, he was the UNESCO Representative for Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Timor Leste. Since 1 January 2015, Hubert was appointed as the Regional Director of the newly established UNESCO Regional Office for Southern Africa in Harare and UNESCO Representative to Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe, and to SADC. He also serves on the UN Regional Directors team for Eastern and Southern Africa (UNDG-ESA).