Klaus Mayer
Biography
Dr. Klaus Mayer, obtained his Ph.D. work in 1987 in the field of radiochemistry and analytical chemistry from the University of Karlsruhe. He then worked for two years at the Institute for Transuranium Elements as post-doctoral researcher.
From 1990-1996, he worked for the European Commission at the Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements in Geel (Belgium) on nuclear reference materials, on high accuracy measurements of U, Pu and Th, and on the coordination of support activities to Euratom safeguards and to IAEA.
In 1996, he returned to Baden and joined the European Commission - Joint Research Centre (JRC) in Karlsruhe to work on the development and application of analytical methods for nuclear safeguards purposes and for nuclear forensics. Today, he is in charge of the JRC's activities on nuclear safeguards, combating illicit trafficking and nuclear forensics and he takes the position of Head of the Nuclear Safeguards and Security Unit.
He served a chair of several international experts groups such as the ESARDA Working Group on Destructive Analysis (1997-2010) or the “Nuclear Forensics International Technical Working Group” (2004-2022). He has been frequently called upon by the IAEA as consultant in nuclear safeguards and nuclear security and contributes to the work of the “Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism” (GICNT).
In 2011, the German magazine “Focus” ranked him among the 100 most influential Germans.
From 1988 to today, he served as part time lecturer at „Fortbildungszentrum für Technik und Umwelt (FTU)“ at FZK (now KIT – Karlsruhe Institut of Technology), giving presentations related to radiochemistry.
Since 2012 he has been lecturing radiochemistry and nuclear forensics at the University of Heidelberg.
Overall, Klaus Mayer has more than 35 years professional experience in nuclear science and applications and authored in this period more than 200 scientific publications in this field, including peer-reviewed articles, book chapters and conference papers.