Krassimir P. Velikov (1970) studied chemistry at the Department of Chemistry of the University of Sofia (Bulgaria). In 1994, he obtained his M.Sc. degree in Chemical Physics and Theoretical Chemistry. In 1997, he obtained his second M.Sc. degree in Chemical Engineering. He spent three months as a visiting researcher in the Centre de Recherche Paul-Pascal/CNRS in Pessac in France working with Prof. Dr. B. Pouligny. From July 1996 to April 1997, he was appointed as a Research Associate in the Laboratory of Thermodynamics and Physico-chemical Hydrodynamics, University of Sofia (Bulgaria). In April 1998, after his military service, started his Ph.D on syntheses and assembly of colloidal particles into photonic colloidal crystals with different unit cells and stoichiometries under the supervision of Prof. dr. Alfons van Blaaderen at both Colloidal Matter,FOM AMOLF (Amsterdam) and Soft Condensed Matter & Biophysics, University of Utrecht. Subsequently, after obtaining his PhD in April 2002, he worked as Postdoctoral fellow at Utrecht University.

Since October 2002 he works at Unilever R&D division in Vlaardingen, the Netherlands, presently as a Team Leader and Science Leader Colloidal Dispersions and Nanoscale Structuring.

Since 2009 he is combining this with a part-time position at Utrecht University at the Soft Condensed Matter & Biophysics.

Since 2010 he is combining this with a special Adjunct Associate Professor position at North Carolina State University (USA) at the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering in the College of Engineering.

Since 2011 he is a program director of 5B Molecular Structure of Food program at NanoNextNL.

Research interests

• soft-condensed matter and colloidal dispersions
• nanoscale structuring
• colloidal self-assembly
• colloid and interface science of dispersions (e.g. suspensions, foams, emulsions)
• application of colloids and nanoscale structuring to control stability, appearance, texture, taste, bioavailability of bioactives
• physical-chemistry of digestion and delivery of bioactives
• formulation and delivery of functional ingredients