René Van Berkel

Dr René Van Berkel is an SEI Affiliated Researcher at SEI Asia. He joined the SEI Asia Centre in August 2023. His areas of academic and professional interest cover circular economy and resource efficiency, (cleantech) innovation and responsible business conduct, particularly in business and industry with a particular focus on the Asia and Pacific regions.

Dr Van Berkel holds since 2023 an international expert position at the School of Global Studies, Thammasat University (Thailand) and became founding co-convenor of the ASEAN Circular Economy Business Alliance in 2024 and a member of the International Resource Panel in 2025.

Dr Van Berkel completed in 2023 15+ years with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), covering assignments as UNIDO Representative for India and South Asia, as chief technical advisor on industrial resource efficiency in Indonesia and as Unit Chief/global lead for resource efficient and cleaner production at UNIDO’s headquarters in Austria.

Earlier academic assignments included two years as senior research consultant on sustainable technology development and assessment for the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO, Australia), over seven years as Professor of Cleaner Production at Curtin University of Technology (Perth, Australia) and ten years in different research and research leadership roles in cleaner production and industrial environmental management at the University of Amsterdam (The Netherlands).

Dr Van Berkel holds a PhD in Environmental Science from the University of Amsterdam (The Netherlands) and a Master’s in Environmental Hygiene from the Wageningen Agricultural University (The Netherlands).