Prof. Dirk Poelman studied physics and obtained his Ph.D. on rare earth doped sulfide electroluminescent thin films at Ghent University (Belgium). Since 2001, he is tenured at Ghent University, where he is leading the research group Lumilab. He is a senior professor since 2020. Currently, he is chair of the Department of Solid State Sciences at Ghent University. Dirk Poelman has experience in different fields of solid state physics research, including thin film deposition and optical characterization, photo-, electro- and cathodoluminescent and photochromic materials, structural and electrical defects in semiconductors, photocatalysis for air purification and x-ray analytical techniques and. His current research is focused on inorganic phosphors for white LEDs and displays and infrared-emitting luminescent materials for medical imaging. He has (co)organized numerous conferences, such as EL2002 (Int. Conf. on Electroluminescence), ICTF14 (Int. Conf. on Thin Films) and "Phosphoros", the first international conference on persistent luminescence in 2011, and has chaired the ICOOPMA conference in Ghent in 2022. Dirk Poelman is member (and former president) of the Belgian National Committee for Crystallography and holds several administrative functions at the university. He has been editor of the Journal of Luminescence and is academic editor of the MDPI journals Materials, Photochem and Radiation. In addition, he lectures numerous courses, mostly for large groups on Bachelor level. In the rare cases he has spare time, he likes hiking, electric guitar playing, singing and building audio equipment.