Spas Kolev graduated from Sofia University (Bulgaria) and completed his PhD degree at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics (Hungary). He is an Honorary Professor of Chemistry in the School of Chemistry and in the Department of Chemical Engineering of the University of Melbourne and Fellow of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute.

Most of his research is focused in the areas of flow analysis techniques, including paper-based microfluidics; chemical sensors, development of polymer inclusion membranes for separation or synthesis of metallic nanoparticles; and phytoremediation and phytomining. He has published 216 refereed journal articles, 6 book chapters and has co-edited a book entitled ‘Advances in Flow Injection Analysis and Related Techniques’ (Elsevier, 2008). He has given over 60 invited, keynote or plenary lectures at international conferences.

Spas Kolev is the Founding Editor-in-Chief of the journal Membranes (Impact Factor 4.106) and member of the editorial or advisory boards of Analytica Chimica Acta, Talanta, Sensors, Environmental Modeling and Assessment, and International Journal of Analytical Chemistry.

He is the recipient of the Medal of the Japanese Association for Flow Injection Analysis, Lloyd Smythe Medal and the Environmental Chemistry Medal (both from the Royal Australian Chemical Institute), Ronald Belcher Memorial Award (Talanta), Max O'Connor Prize (La Trobe University, Australia), and Grimwade Prize in Industrial Chemistry (The University of Melbourne).