Carsten Drebenstedt is Professor of Surface Mining at the Technical University Bergakademie Freiberg. Before starting his academic career, he had 17 years work experience in the mining industry. From 2000 to 2006 he served as Vice-Rector of Research and from 2013 – 2016 as Dean in the Faculty of Geoscience, Geoengineering and Mining. His field of teaching and research cover mine planning and technologies, ecology in mining, reclamation, mine water management, and raw material awareness. Prof. Drebenstedt supervised 44 PhD students completing their theses and worked in more than 100 scientific, educational and industrial projects. He has organised 60 national and international conferences and published 19 books and more than 490 papers in scientific journals, conference proceedings and academic publications.
He is Secretary General of the World Forum of Resource Universities on Sustainability (WFURS), and member of the Society of Mining Professors (SOMP), where he represented Europe in the Council from 2006 to 2015. He is a member of the Saxonian Academy of Sciences, the Romanian Academy of Technical Sciences, the Eurasian Academy of Mining Sciences, the Balkan Academy of Mining Sciences, the Russian Academy of Mining Sciences, the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, and the International Academy of Ecology and Life Protection Sciences. He has lectured as invited speaker in many countries, while for his contribution to teaching and research he has been the recipient of six honorary doctorates and other academic awards from several universities and mining associations around the world.