Dr. Sarah Baatout is Deputy Director of the Institute of Nuclear Medical Applications at the Belgian Nuclear Research Centre (SCK CEN), where she leads a multidisciplinary team of approximately 100 researchers. Her work focuses on advancing cancer therapies, radiopharmaceutical development, and the production of medical radioisotopes. By bridging fundamental and translational research, her team aims to improve the safety and effectiveness of innovative radiation-based treatments. These efforts are carried out in close collaboration with the European Commission, the European Space Agency, Belgian and European universities, hospitals, and research institutes.
From 2007 to 2023, Dr. Baatout served as Head of the Radiobiology Unit at SCK CEN, coordinating key research programmes in radiation biology and health.
She holds a degree in biology from the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium (1990) and earned a PhD in biochemistry with a focus on oncology.
In addition to her research leadership, she serves as Professor at both KU Leuven and Ghent University, where she has supervised nearly 30 PhD students. As Chair of the UNSCEAR, Dr. Baatout is committed to advancing scientific excellence and supporting evidence-based policymaking in the field of radiation protection.
Beyond her roles at SCK CEN and UNSCEAR, she contributes to several international advisory bodies, including those of the European Nuclear Society and the European Space Agency. She is also Secretary-Treasurer of the European Radiation Research Society and Chair of the Belgian Hadrontherapy Consortium. With over 200 peer-reviewed publications, she remains deeply committed to fostering scientific innovation and mentoring the next generation of experts in radiation science.
Dr. Baatout has been a member of the Belgian delegation to UNSCEAR since its sixtieth session in 2013. She served as Alternate Representative for the sixty-fifth through sixty-eighth sessions and has represented Belgium as the official Representative since the sixty-ninth session in 2022. Her roles also included serving as rapporteur from the sixty-ninth to the seventy-first sessions (2022–2024) and assuming the position of chair since the seventy-first session in 2024.
Dr. Geert Biermans is Head of the Impact and Site Remediation expert group at the Belgian Centre for Nuclear Research (SCK CEN). His main research focus is oriented towards environmental radioactivity and legacy remediation, sustainable management of NORM and improving radiological environmental impact assessment.
Dr. Biermans graduated from the University of Antwerp with a MSc in Cell and Systems Biology in 2009. He obtained a PhD from the Belgian Centre for Nuclear Research (SCK CEN) and the University of Hasselt on the biological effects of radiation in plants in 2013.
In 2013, he joined the Federal Agency for Nuclear Control (FANC) as expert in natural radiation, NORM and legacy sites. He later held the function of Head of the Environment and Emergency Preparedness section at FANC between 2019 and 2024.
Between 2020 and 2025, Dr. Biermans has served as a member of the Group of Experts for Article 37 of the Euratom Treaty.
Dr. Biermans has been member for the Belgian delegation to UNSCEAR since the 69th session and its alternate representative since the 70th UNSCEAR session.
