Bart G.J. Knols (1965) is a malariologist with a Masters degree in Biology and a Doctoral degree in Medical Entomology from Wageningen University, the Netherlands (1996). He also obtained a Masters in Business Administration degree with distinction in 2006 (Open University, UK) for which he won the prestigious international ‘MBA Student of the Year 2007 Award’.
With eleven years of working experience in East and Southern Africa he has managed large-scale research and vector control programmes when working for ministries, international or national research institutions. He has led research groups of more than 100 staff. Bart has worked for the United Nations (IAEA) as a programme manager for three years, has served as a consultant for the World Health Organization, and is currently a Board Member of the UBS Bank Optimus Foundation in Switzerland, the second largest charitable organization in that country, with 50 projects worldwide. Bart has published over 140 peer-reviewed research articles, has written 19 book chapters, and has served as senior editor on a WHO/IAEA sponsored book on implementation research. He also edited the best-selling book ‘Emerging Pests and Vector-Borne Diseases in Europe’ in 2007, and the book ‘Olfaction in vector-host interactions’ in 2010. In 2009, Bart published a popular science book on mosquitoes (Mug: De fascinerende wereld van volksvijand nummer I), now in its third print. His innovative research has earned him an Ig Nobel Prize (2006), an IAEA Special Service Award (2006), and in 2007 he became a laureate of the Eijkman medal (the highest award in the field of tropical medicine in the Netherlands). He has been a member of the Royal Dutch Academy of Arts and Sciences since 2004, and is a member of the ß-ambassador network and the Speakers Academy. Bart has been affiliated with the University of Amsterdam (Amsterdam Medical Centre) and maintains an extensive collaborative network throughout Africa. Between 2009 and 2012 he held an Honorary Professorship at the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa. Bart is also the founder and managing director of K&S Consulting, since the beginning of 2007.