Ian obtained his bachelor degree in bioscience engineering in 2009 at Ghent University. He then started a master’s program of bioscience engineering (environmental technology). He worked on his master thesis during his stay at Université Laval.

His project was to do comparative life cycle analysis (LCA) of multiple treatment options for waste sludge generated by the wastewater treatment plants of Québec City. Nowadays, the waste sludge is thickened, dried and co-incinerated with the municipal solid waste. The LCA study should examine the ecological advantages of other treatment options. One of the the treatment processes under investigation was the consecutive anaerobic digestion, composting and spreading on agricultural land of the waste sludge, preferably called ‘biosolids’.