Education
- PhD, Cell and Molecular Biology, 1999 — University of Bremen, Germany. Thesis: antibiotics as environmental pollutants.
- Diploma in Biology, 1994 — quantitative structure-activity relationships of non-ionic surfactants.
About
Thomas Backhaus
Chair for Ecotoxicology and Environmental Risk Assessment, RWTH Aachen University. Affiliate Professor, University of Gothenburg.
Thomas Backhaus is Chair for Ecotoxicology and Environmental Risk Assessment and leads the Institute for Environmental Research at RWTH Aachen University in Germany, a position he has held since 2023. He is also an Affiliate Professor at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, where he was Full Professor from 2011 to 2023 and directed the Centre for Future Chemical Risk Assessment and Management Strategies (FRAM) from 2016 to 2023.
His research addresses one central problem in environmental sciences. The environment is exposed to complex mixtures of chemicals, while risk assessment and chemical regulation still largely evaluate substances one at a time. Across three decades he has worked to close that gap, from the toxicology and ecotoxicology of chemical mixtures and the concepts that predict their combined toxicity, to the regulatory instruments, such as the mixture allocation factor (MAF), that could put those concepts into practice.
He advises European and international bodies on chemical risks, including the European Commission's Scientific Committee on Health, Environmental and Emerging Risks (SCHEER), the German Environment Agency's Human Biomonitoring Commission, and the Swedish Toxicological Council.
64
h-index
> 19,000
citations
30+
years in the field
Citation metrics per Google Scholar, as of July 2026.
Career
- 2023 –Chair for Ecotoxicology and Environmental Risk AssessmentInstitute for Environmental Research, RWTH Aachen University
- 2023 –Affiliate ProfessorUniversity of Gothenburg, Sweden
- 2016 – 2023Director, Centre for Future Chemical Risk Assessment and Management Strategies (FRAM)University of Gothenburg, Sweden
- 2011 – 2023Full ProfessorDepartment of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
- 2005 – 2011Assistant, then Associate Professor of EcotoxicologyUniversity of Gothenburg, Sweden
- 2000 – 2005Lecturer and Research AssociateInstitute for Cell Biology, Biochemistry and Biotechnology, University of Bremen, Germany
Selected advisory roles
- European Commission, SCHEER (since 2022)
- Human Biomonitoring Commission, German Environment Agency (since 2023)
- Swedish Toxicological Council (since 2021)
- Senior Editor, Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management
Contact
- thomas.backhaus@rwth-aachen.de
- Institute for Environmental Research, RWTH Aachen University, Worringer Weg 1, 52074 Aachen, Germany