23 Apr 2026

SETAC Thanks Karel De Schamphelaere for His Leadership During a Time of Transition

Bart Bosveld, SETAC Global Executive Director, and Tamar Schlekat, SETAC Scientific Affairs Director

Long-time SETACers do not need an introduction to Karel De Schamphelaere as he is a SETAC fixture. Those few who don’t know him, should know that he is an established environmental scholar (ORCiD) and devoted SETAC volunteer.

Karel has been a member of SETAC since his student days at Ghent University in Belgium. After graduating, he remained at UGhent, where he is now Associate Professor heading the Laboratory for Environmental Toxicology (GhEnToxLab). Throughout his academic career, he has been an active and committed SETAC volunteer. He has chaired numerous sessions at SETAC meetings, and in fact, will attend his 26th consecutive SETAC Europe annual meeting in Maastricht, not including many other SETAC meetings in other regions. He also co-chaired the 2017 SETAC Europe Annual Meeting in Brussels. Karel participated in several SETAC workshops, which have had far reaching regulatory outcomes advancing Environmental Quality Through Science®. He also proudly and solemnly accepted the “Save the Alage” award at a SETAC workshop for his persistent insistence that impacts on the primary food sources should be considered in risk assessment of higher tier organisms. Beyond these lighter moments, his scientific work has earned formal recognition through several prestigious awards, including the Best Publication Award for “An approach to assess the regulatory relevance of micro evolutionary effects in ecological risk assessment of chemicals: a case study with cadmium” in 2014 and the SETAC/ICA Chris Lee Award for Metal Research in 2003.

In addition to advancing science under the SETAC umbrella, Karel has also served for many years on SETAC governance. He served nine years as a board member for SETAC Europe and five years for global SETAC, including one year as President of each board. He was also a founding member of the SETAC-affiliated International Board of Environmental Risk Assessors (IBERA) and chaired that board. (There is a pattern). Early last year, when SETAC Europe was in need of an Interim Executive Director, everyone naturally looked to Karel, who graciously stepped up and offered to fill the position till May of this year.

As Interim Executive Director, armed with his understanding of environmental science, he brought ideas of topical meetings and webinars. On the management side, he dove into spreadsheets and challenged staff to find ways to cut costs to keep meeting registration fees low. He was hands on and didn’t hesitate to pitch in and help staff execute the board's vision. On behalf of SETAC members, we thank Karel for leading SETAC Europe through transition!

Karel will remain a fixture at SETAC and surely will find more ways to serve the society.