On the morning of January 27, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council held the 2025 Spring Festival reception at the Great Hall of the People. XI Jinping, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, Chinese President, and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, delivered a speech. Premier LI Qiang presided over the gathering. ZHAO Leji, WANG Huning, CAI Qi, DING Xuexiang, LI Xi, and HAN Zheng attended the event. Mark van Loosdrecht, a Dutch expert and distinguished professor at Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture (BUCEA), was invited to attend the reception as a representative of Chinese Government Friendship Award winners.
The Ceremony of the Chinese Government Friendship Award was held in Beijing on January 25. WANG Xiaoping, Minister of Human Resources and Social Security, presented the award to Academician Mark van Loosdrecht. This is the first time BUCEA has been honored with this award. President ZHANG Dayu attended the event.
WANG Xiaoping, Minister of Human Resources and Social Security, presenting the award to Professor van Loosdrecht
BUCEA President ZHANG Dayu and Professor van Loosdrecht
The Chinese Government Friendship Award is the highest honor given by the Chinese government to foreign experts who have made outstanding contributions to China’s modernization and reform and opening up. Since its establishment in 1991, 1,998 experts from over 80 countries and regions have been conferred this award.
Mark van Loosdrecht is a world-leading expert in wastewater treatment, and a professor of Environmental Biotechnology at Delft University of Technology. He is a distinguished fellow of the International Water Association (IWA) and a member of both the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Netherlands Academy of Engineering. He is also an international academician of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and the Chinese Academy of Engineering. He has received multiple major international awards in the field of water research, including the Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew Water Prize, the IWA Distinguished Fellows, and the Stockholm Water Prize (hailed as the Nobel Prize of the water industry). He has also been awarded the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Orange-Nassau, the NWO Spinoza Prize (highest scientific award in Dutch academia), the First Beijing Science and Technology Award Zhongguancun Award for International Cooperation, and the Beijing Great Wall Friendship Award.
Professor van Loosdrecht has long been engaged in water environment management research, specializing in integrating fundamental scientific research of complex bioengineering systems with the development of new technologies and processes. Since 1999, he has been promoting collaborative research between the Dutch and Chinese governments, cultivating high-level professionals for China. BUCEA Professor HAO Xiaodi was his first Chinese PhD student. In 2002, Professor van Loosdrecht was appointed as a visiting professor at BUCEA. Over two decades of collaborative exchanges, he has established close ties with the university, achieving fruitful collaborative results. In 2016, he represented Delft University of Technology to co-establish the “Sino-Dutch R&D Center for Future Wastewater Treatment Technologies” with BUCEA and the Beijing Capital Eco-Environment Protection Group, engaging in long-term, stable fundamental research and technology transformation. They jointly developed the new-generation wastewater treatment technologies with independent intellectual property rights. These technologies have been applied in various practical engineering projects, leading to breakthroughs in areas such as aerobic granular sludge, carbon emission reduction, resource and energy recovery, and smart control. The “Blue Water Factory” technology framework has been formed, which has set a global benchmark for sustainable wastewater management.
On January 23, before attending the Ceremony of the China Government Friendship Award, Academician Mark van Loosdrecht was warmly received by BUCEA President ZHANG Dayu and Vice President CHEN Zhaohui, who expressed their sincere congratulations. ZHANG Dayu emphasized that the China Government Friendship Award is the highest honor given to foreign experts, and that Academician Mark van Loosdrecht is fully deserving of it. As a world-leading expert, Academician Mark van Loosdrecht has shown great warmth and friendship towards China and has been dedicated to the education, science and technology sectors. For many years, he has worked wholeheartedly to develop important international scientific and technological cooperation platforms for BUCEA and promote scientific, educational, and cultural exchanges between China and the Netherlands. President ZHANG Dayu expressed heartfelt gratitude to him on behalf of BUCEA for his significant contributions.
