Advisory Panel

Susan Mallan brings more than 25 years’ experience in the energy sector to her advisory roles on energy developments across Australia. She has worked in listed, privately owned and Government corporations across the upstream exploration and development, power generation and electricity sectors. She has led teams in commercial, project management, technical, operational services and corporate functions.

A qualified mechanical and petroleum engineer with a Masters in Business Administration, Susan has worked extensively across Australia, the Middle East, Indonesia and North America. Susan holds a Company Directors Diploma from the Australian Institute of Company Directors and is a member of QUT’s Science and Engineering Faculty Academic Board, UNSW’s School of Petroleum Engineering Industry Advisory Board and the Women in Mining & Resources Queensland Committee.

Dr Godfrey’s career has been built in business, innovation investment and technology development fields. He has focused on the advancement and commercialisation of technologies (particularly new energy technologies – renewable, enabling and low emission fossil), investment readiness of products and companies, and innovation policy and programs.

In addition to his full-time management, technical and consulting roles since 1980, Bruce has been a member of assessment committees for numerous Commonwealth and Victorian government R&D and innovation and deployment support programs across a wide range of energy technologies including solar, wind, geothermal, marine, biofuels, fuel cells, hydrogen, battery storage, enabling and distributed energy resources integration and brown coal utilisation. He understands well the opportunities and challenges for developers and suppliers of new and renewable energy technologies, products and services that are used in or could penetrate energy supply chains in Australia and overs

Bruce is a Fellow of the Academy of Technology and Engineering (ATSE). He has Chaired Expert Working Groups for the Australian Council of Learned Academies (ACOLA) on Delivering Sustainable Urban Mobility (2015) and on Energy Storage (2017). He is Chair of the Board of Energy Renaissance Pty Ltd and is a Non Executive Director of the Future Battery Industries Cooperative Research Centre Limited.

Geoff is a mechanical engineer, and has specialised in energy efficiency since 1985.

He is the founder and MD of Genesis Now (1991), which has completed over 2,500 energy efficiency and renewable energy projects in most industry sectors. He has won industry awards including national energy efficiency champion, and is recognised as a leader and innovator in energy efficiency.

Geoff also co-founded six clean-tech companies, is an early stage investor in renewable energy companies, and is an active member of the Melbourne Angel Investor group.

Mr Cawley has technical energy experience from well or mine, through processing and transmission, to generation, with an extensive knowledge of energy use in the resources and industrial sectors.

He also has a strong exposure to renewables including the design and construction of a pilot biodiesel plant, detailed peer review of a solar flagship CST plant and multiple analyses of renewable options in the industrial and resources sectors.

Mr Cawley’s commercial experience includes the purchase and re-development of a gas turbine cogen plant, founding and leading a specialised energy efficiency engineering business for 13 years and recently, the successful founding and funding of a start-up with an efficiency focus. Mr Cawley’s capabilities in the emerging energy sector are underlined by his election to the well-contested board of the Energy Efficiency Council of Australia three times.

Mr Cawley also has significant firsthand experience of innovation within the energy sector, with several new technologies and solutions delivered by his company as well as the new start-up.

Peter is a Director and co-founder of Seed Advisory having established it in 2008. Peter has over 25 years’ experience including 20 years in the energy sector. His work focus within the energy industry has included advisory and direct energy retail and wholesale experience in executive management positions at EnergyAustralia, AGL, Pulse Energy, United Energy and IKON Energy.

Peter’s experience in the energy industry spans the energy value chain and covers strategy, risk management, policy and regulatory development, retail marketing, wholesale trading, analysis and corporate development.

He has worked with start up, small, medium and large companies including corporate consumers, retailers, networks, wholesale market participants, market operators, regulators, governments and investors. He has a detailed understanding of the Australian energy and renewable energy sectors covering the National Electricity Market, the Northern Territory Market and the West Australian market. Peter is also an actuary with strong quantitative and risk management skills.

Mr Frearson has significant expertise in developing and commercialising renewable energy technologies. His experience includes prefeasibility through to construction management of renewable energy generation projects.

Notably he was involved in the first MW scale PV plant in Australia. He has previously worked to develop innovative approaches to automation and manufacturing during his seven years at Ford.

Mr Frearson has expertise in project finance assessment, off grid and edge of grid energy projects and markets with technical expertise in solar PV, solar thermal and enabling technologies.

Kellie Larsen has over 25 years’ experience in the energy industry across a wide variety of roles. Working at the intersection of traditional fossil fuels, commodity markets and renewable energy sectors, Kellie is a trusted advisor to Boards, CEOs, and executive leadership teams across Australia, New Zealand, Asia and the UK.

Kellie provides independent management consulting advice for clients in the energy and infrastructure sectors, including renewable energy, hydrogen, fossil fuels, renewable and biofuels markets, and as well as advisory for critical energy and supply chain infrastructure clients. She specialises in executive, operational and decarbonisation strategy, including integrating ESG and sustainability issues into core business activities. Her other services include M&A advisory and change management implementation. Kellie has a Bachelor of Engineering (Chemical) from the University of Adelaide, and is a Member of the Australian Institute of Directors.

Kim is a non-executive director and advisor in renewable energy, sustainability and sailing sector. She has wide ranging commercial and legal experience encompassing the energy, mining, commodity markets, banking and finance sectors both within private sector and Government enterprises. She is a strategic thinker and innovator who has led investment strategy and business development to build new businesses across multiple geographies and new markets.

Kim has qualifications in law, natural resource economics and finance and has previously held senior executive roles are the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, Low Carbon Australia and Macquarie Bank both in Australia and the USA.

Dr Lovegrove is the Head – Solar Thermal for the UK based renewable energy consulting company ITPower. He has 28 years of experience in Solar Thermal Energy combined with 15 years of teaching experience in Energy Systems and Systems Engineering.

He was previously the leader of the Solar Thermal Group at the Australian National University. In that role he was the lead inventor and team leader of the 500m2 Generation II Big Dish solar concentrator, recognized with a Light Weight Structures Association of Australia, 2009 design award.

Dr Lovegrove has authored or co-authored more than 160 publications including 2 patents and 7 books, chapters and major public reports. He was the primary editor of the 2012 book “Concentrating Solar Power Technology” by Woodhead publishing UK. In 2012, he was a Member of the Australian Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering and Innovation Council, Expert Working Group on Climate Energy and Water Links.

Robert is an experienced economist, and commercial and regulatory advisor with expertise in regulatory policy and practice in Australia’s energy, water and transport sectors. He is expert in energy grid access regulation, having designed rules and incentive schemes, managed price reviews, and advised on regulatory, contestability and tariff strategy. He has a master of regulatory economics from Australian National University.

Over the past two decades Robert has applied his knowledge of energy policy, regulation and commercial strategy to advise clients across Australia and Asia. In recent years, he has applied himself to the electricity transmission and distribution network regulatory and pricing reforms needed to facilitate energy transition. He is recognised for his considered approach to solving commercial and policy problems, adapting and applying regulatory regimes, and engaging customers and stakeholders in business and regulatory decisions.

John has worked for over 40 years as a professional engineer and businessman holding executive‐level roles in both the public and private sector for utilities and advisory firms. John’s specific roles have included participation in Australian and international energy markets, projects and operations.

Over the last 20 years John has founded a number of highly successful consulting businesses providing strategic advice on both energy markets and electricity infrastructure to major utility and resources companies. CopperString, the largest single electricity network project in Australia, was founded by John and was designed to open up the sustainable resources corridor between Townsville and Mt Isa.

John also has investments in a number of significant energy and resources related project developments, and has played an active role in the economic development planning for northern Queensland. John travels extensively to provide strategic advice, business input and thought leadership across Australia and internationally.

Dr Watt is an energy sector analyst for renewable energy engineering company ITP Renewables. She also assists the APVI with its IEA PVPS liaison and its Australian PV Manufacturing Initiative and is a Board Member of Zero Emissions Byron, where she leads the Electric Vehicle and Emissions reporting programs.

Muriel has worked with government agencies, universities and industry in the areas of renewable energy development, policy and application since 1980. She worked at the University of NSW for 25 years, finishing as an Associate Professor in the School of PV and Renewable Energy Engineering. She established and Chaired the Australian PV Institute (APVI), acted in various committee roles, including Chair, for the Australian and New Zealand Solar Energy Society, Chaired the Policy Group for the Australian CRC for Renewable Energy, was the Australian Executive Committee member on theIEA PV Power Systems (PVPS) Implementing Agreement for 10 years, a member of the Australian Solar Institute Research Advisory Committee and member of the Solar Flagship Education Infrastructure Fund Advisory Board.

Jackie Barber has a wealth of experience having operated in energy markets for over 25 years both in the UK and Australia. She has a background in energy trading and operated at Executive General Management level at Tarong Energy Corporation and then Stanwell Corporation when the companies merged in 2011.

More recently, Jackie joined forces with fellow enthusiasts to form a new company called Energy Market Matters Australia (emma) with a focus on supporting businesses navigate the transition to a more energy efficient and sustainable future. Data wrangling, analysis, visualisation and simple communication of insights is where the journey often begins with customers. This leads to smarter procurement and investment in energy efficiency and/or new infrastructure and technology to lower the cost of energy and improve environmental outcomes.

Dr Feenan is an accomplished commercial, operations and business development manager with over 35 years’ experience across the energy and natural resources sector in Australia, Europe and USA. He has worked in small startup companies, supporting listing processes on the London and New York stock exchanges, through to multi-national operating corporations. He has deep strategic, market, financial and risk analysis experience and most recently established a heavy-duty hydrogen mobility business in Australia.

John is a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, holds a BSc (Hons) & MSc in geosciences and a Diploma of Applied Finance and Investment. John’s interest in energy technology and innovation includes successful patent applications in Australia and USA, and completion of a PhD in innovation management from UWA.

Dr Martin Atkins has over 15 years’ experience in industrial energy efficiency and decarbonisation across a range of sectors including dairy, pulp and paper, and food processing. He is currently a Senior Lecturer in Chemical and Process Engineering at the University of Waikato, New Zealand. Martin is also an assistant director of the Ahuora Centre for Smart Energy Systems based at the University. He is an active researcher in developing and applying Process Integration methods and Digital Twin tools to help assist industry to decarbonise.

He was appointed to the “Heat, Industry, and Power” Technical Reference Group at He Pou a Rangi – Climate Change Commission New Zealand, that provided expert advice to the commission as they prepared their advice to the New Zealand Government regarding carbon budgets and decarbonisation pathways and policies.

Mark Twidell has worked in the renewable energy industry for over 30 years. Mark has worked in Australia, India, USA and Europe in Solar related industry and government leadership roles.  Past roles have been Director of Energy Programs for Tesla, Managing Director of SMA, CEO of the Australian Solar Institute and a variety of leadership roles with BP Solar. He has served on the Boards of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) the Clean Energy Council (CEC).

Mark has an Electrical and Electronic Engineering degree from the University of Edinburgh and an MBA from Sydney University.

Mr Cawley has technical energy experience from well or mine, through processing and transmission, to generation, with an extensive knowledge of energy use in the resources and industrial sectors.

He also has a strong exposure to renewables including the design and construction of a pilot biodiesel plant, detailed peer review of a solar flagship CST plant and multiple analyses of renewable options in the industrial and resources sectors.

Mr Cawley’s commercial experience includes the purchase and re-development of a gas turbine cogen plant, founding and leading a specialised energy efficiency engineering business for 13 years and recently, the successful founding and funding of a start-up with an efficiency focus. Mr Cawley’s capabilities in the emerging energy sector are underlined by his election to the well-contested board of the Energy Efficiency Council of Australia three times.

Mr Cawley also has significant firsthand experience of innovation within the energy sector, with several new technologies and solutions delivered by his company as well as the new start-up.

David Armstrong has over 35 years of experience in heavy industry and industrial markets including aluminum, steel, building products, and chemicals. With a Bachelor of Engineering (Chemical and Materials) from Auckland University, Dave has developed his skill and knowledge base with over 20 years in various operating, management and strategic roles at BHP. Followed most recently with 11 years as CEO of Queensland Nitrates Pty Ltd (QNP), a successful Wesfarmers/Incitec Pivot joint venture chemicals business. An early leader in emissions abatement implementation, an overall 66% reduction in emissions intensity has been achieved since 2011 at QNP.

Dr Watt is an energy sector analyst for renewable energy engineering company ITP Renewables. She also assists the APVI with its IEA PVPS liaison and its Australian PV Manufacturing Initiative and is a Board Member of Zero Emissions Byron, where she leads the Electric Vehicle and Emissions reporting programs.

Muriel has worked with government agencies, universities and industry in the areas of renewable energy development, policy and application since 1980. She worked at the University of NSW for 25 years, finishing as an Associate Professor in the School of PV and Renewable Energy Engineering. She established and Chaired the Australian PV Institute (APVI), acted in various committee roles, including Chair, for the Australian and New Zealand Solar Energy Society, Chaired the Policy Group for the Australian CRC for Renewable Energy, was the Australian Executive Committee member on theIEA PV Power Systems (PVPS) Implementing Agreement for 10 years, a member of the Australian Solar Institute Research Advisory Committee and member of the Solar Flagship Education Infrastructure Fund Advisory Board.

Dr Godfrey’s career has been built in business, innovation investment and technology development fields. He has focused on the advancement and commercialisation of technologies (particularly new energy technologies – renewable, enabling and low emission fossil), investment readiness of products and companies, and innovation policy and programs.

In addition to his full-time management, technical and consulting roles since 1980, Bruce has been a member of assessment committees for numerous Commonwealth and Victorian government R&D and innovation and deployment support programs across a wide range of energy technologies including solar, wind, geothermal, marine, biofuels, fuel cells, hydrogen, battery storage, enabling and distributed energy resources integration and brown coal utilisation. He understands well the opportunities and challenges for developers and suppliers of new and renewable energy technologies, products and services that are used in or could penetrate energy supply chains in Australia and overs

Bruce is a Fellow of the Academy of Technology and Engineering (ATSE). He has Chaired Expert Working Groups for the Australian Council of Learned Academies (ACOLA) on Delivering Sustainable Urban Mobility (2015) and on Energy Storage (2017). He is Chair of the Board of Energy Renaissance Pty Ltd and is a Non Executive Director of the Future Battery Industries Cooperative Research Centre Limited.

Kellie Larsen has over 25 years’ experience in the energy industry across a wide variety of roles. Working at the intersection of traditional fossil fuels, commodity markets and renewable energy sectors, Kellie is a trusted advisor to Boards, CEOs, and executive leadership teams across Australia, New Zealand, Asia and the UK.

Kellie provides independent management consulting advice for clients in the energy and infrastructure sectors, including renewable energy, hydrogen, fossil fuels, renewable and biofuels markets, and as well as advisory for critical energy and supply chain infrastructure clients. She specialises in executive, operational and decarbonisation strategy, including integrating ESG and sustainability issues into core business activities. Her other services include M&A advisory and change management implementation. Kellie has a Bachelor of Engineering (Chemical) from the University of Adelaide, and is a Member of the Australian Institute of Directors.

Dr Feenan is an accomplished commercial, operations and business development manager with over 35 years’ experience across the energy and natural resources sector in Australia, Europe and USA. He has worked in small startup companies, supporting listing processes on the London and New York stock exchanges, through to multi-national operating corporations. He has deep strategic, market, financial and risk analysis experience and most recently established a heavy-duty hydrogen mobility business in Australia.

John is a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, holds a BSc (Hons) & MSc in geosciences and a Diploma of Applied Finance and Investment. John’s interest in energy technology and innovation includes successful patent applications in Australia and USA, and completion of a PhD in innovation management from UWA.

Prof. Kazuhiro Takanabe has been a Professor in the Department of Chemical System Engineering at The University of Tokyo since 2018. He previously worked at the University of Twente in the Netherlands (2002-2004), at the University of California Berkeley (2006-2008), at the University of Tokyo (2008-2010), and at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) (2010-2018). He has also been an Editor of the Journal of Catalysis since September 2017.

His research topics address the important dynamic transition of energy systems using conventional fossil fuels to renewable energy, including photocatalysis for water splitting, electrocatalysis for water splitting and CO2 reduction, metal cluster chemistries, and ammonia synthesis via innovative technology.

His research group not only develops novel catalysts but also understands kinetics and reaction mechanisms at the molecular level. The research aims to bridge the gap among the fields of thermal-, electro-, and photo-catalysis, which are addressed through world-wide collaborations to achieve practical industrialisation.

Liu Bin is a leader in the field of organic functional materials, who has been well-recognised for her contributions in polymer chemistry and applications of organic nanomaterials for biomedical research, environmental monitoring and green energy. She is named among the “World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds” and the Top 1% “Highly Cited Researchers” by Clarivate. She is a prolific researcher with over 450 publications and holds 30 patents with 16 of them licensed to different companies in US, UK, and Asia. She is the founding director of National University of Singapore green energy program and the National Centre for Hydrogen Innovations.

Rüdiger-A. Eichel holds a chair for Energy Conversion and Storage at RWTH Aachen University, Germany, as full professor. In a joint appointment, he acts as scientific director of the Institute of Energy and Climate Research (IEK-9) at Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany. Prof. Eichel is founding director of the “Competence Center Electrochemical Process Engineering” (ELECTRA).

Prof. Eichel earned his diploma in solid-state physics at the University of Cologne, Germany, and obtained his Ph.D. degree in physical chemistry at the Swiss Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zürich. Prof. Eichel was qualified as a university lecturer (venia legendi) in Physical Chemistry at Darmstadt Technical University with a habilitation thesis on “Nano-scale properties of functional ceramics”. Current research interests focus on electrochemical energy conversion and storage technologies and their integration in sustainable value chains.

Gniewomir is an innovation consultant specialising in hydrogen technologies. He provides advisory and technical due diligence services to climate-focussed investors, think tanks and equipment manufacturers.

Gniewomir has dedicated the last seven years to becoming an expert in carbon-neutral hydrogen. His experience spans roles in energy consultancies, think-tanks, start-ups and venture funds. Notably, he has advised the UK, German, and EU governments on many aspects of their hydrogen strategies, including market development, taxonomy, and the design and deployment of incentive schemes. He has two masters degrees; one in chemistry, the other in climate change & finance.

Julian Atchison manages global communications for the Ammonia Energy Association (AEA). He is responsible for programming content at the AEA’s conferences & online events, and is the chief editor for an upcoming series of technical & industrial whitepapers.

Since 2020 Julian has maintained & developed one of the AEA’s core functionalities as a trade association: knowledge stewardship. The AEA now boasts over 200 members from across the globe, in a network that encourages knowledge-sharing, mutual support and advocacy. As a result, Julian is considered one of the key subject matter experts in the emerging ammonia energy space. He also keeps the AEA membership network closely connected to upcoming university R&D, as well as start-up companies. Julian is an alumni of the University of Melbourne, with qualifications in Zoology, Chemistry and History.

Professor Huot’s main research interest is hydrogen storage in metal hydrides. From 1995 to 2004, he was a researcher at Hydro-Québec where he mainly studied magnesium-based nanocrystalline alloys for hydrogen storage. Since 2004, he has been a professor at UQTR and member of Hydrogen Research Institute. His expertise is solid-gas interactions, metal hydrides, and material characterization. He has been an invited researcher at the Institute for Energy Technology (Norway), Federal University of São Carlos (Brazil), National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (Japan) and Université de Bordeaux (France), Institut NÉEL (France), Max Plank Institut fur Kohlenforschung and Helmut-Schmidt University (Germany). According to the Mendeley database, he is in the top 0.5% most cited scientists in the field of material science (rank 877 over 177931). He has published more than 210 papers and is co-inventor of 10 patents. In 2018 he received the prize of achievement in research from the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières.

Felix Heubner is a chemical engineer specialising in energy technology, simulation techniques and the interaction of hydrogen with metals. He holds a PhD in materials science from the University of Technology in Dresden. After graduation, he moved to applied research at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials IFAM. He led projects in the field of hydride technology and finally a working group in hydrogen storage technology and systems. In addition to thermolysis, innovations such as the hydrolysis of solid hydrogen carriers were investigated up to high TRL with industry.

Today, Felix Heubner is head of the Department “Hydrogen Technology” at Fraunhofer IFAM. He leads an interdisciplinary team of scientists, engineers and lab technicians. The department is active in application-oriented research in alkaline electrolysis (AEL/AEM) and innovative hydrogen carrier materials for hydrogen storage, compression and purification applications.

Mr Cawley has technical energy experience from well or mine, through processing and transmission, to generation, with an extensive knowledge of energy use in the resources and industrial sectors.

He also has a strong exposure to renewables including the design and construction of a pilot biodiesel plant, detailed peer review of a solar flagship CST plant and multiple analyses of renewable options in the industrial and resources sectors.

Mr Cawley’s commercial experience includes the purchase and re-development of a gas turbine cogen plant, founding and leading a specialised energy efficiency engineering business for 13 years and recently, the successful founding and funding of a start-up with an efficiency focus. Mr Cawley’s capabilities in the emerging energy sector are underlined by his election to the well-contested board of the Energy Efficiency Council of Australia three times.

Mr Cawley also has significant firsthand experience of innovation within the energy sector, with several new technologies and solutions delivered by his company as well as the new start-up.

Kim is a non-executive director and advisor in renewable energy, sustainability and sailing sector. She has wide ranging commercial and legal experience encompassing the energy, mining, commodity markets, banking and finance sectors both within private sector and Government enterprises. She is a strategic thinker and innovator who has led investment strategy and business development to build new businesses across multiple geographies and new markets.

Kim has qualifications in law, natural resource economics and finance and has previously held senior executive roles are the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, Low Carbon Australia and Macquarie Bank both in Australia and the USA.

Dr Martin Atkins has over 15 years’ experience in industrial energy efficiency and decarbonisation across a range of sectors including dairy, pulp and paper, and food processing. He is currently a Senior Lecturer in Chemical and Process Engineering at the University of Waikato, New Zealand. Martin is also an assistant director of the Ahuora Centre for Smart Energy Systems based at the University. He is an active researcher in developing and applying Process Integration methods and Digital Twin tools to help assist industry to decarbonise.

He was appointed to the “Heat, Industry, and Power” Technical Reference Group at He Pou a Rangi – Climate Change Commission New Zealand, that provided expert advice to the commission as they prepared their advice to the New Zealand Government regarding carbon budgets and decarbonisation pathways and policies.

David Armstrong has over 35 years of experience in heavy industry and industrial markets including aluminum, steel, building products, and chemicals. With a Bachelor of Engineering (Chemical and Materials) from Auckland University, Dave has developed his skill and knowledge base with over 20 years in various operating, management and strategic roles at BHP. Followed most recently with 11 years as CEO of Queensland Nitrates Pty Ltd (QNP), a successful Wesfarmers/Incitec Pivot joint venture chemicals business. An early leader in emissions abatement implementation, an overall 66% reduction in emissions intensity has been achieved since 2011 at QNP.

Jean-François Douce has over 17 years’ experience working within ArcelorMittal in France and Luxemburg. During his 16 years in research and development, he has developed expertise in the ironmaking field, mainly focused on raw materials valorization and sintering of iron ores.

He also led the ironmaking team at Maizières-lès-Metz research lab before becoming the technical leader for iron ore within the sourcing department of ArcelorMittal. He holds an engineering degree from “Ecole des Mines de Nancy” and a Doctor in energy and mechanics.

Jean-François is passionate about the decarbonisation of the ironmaking processes, including incremental processes like energy consumption optimization and breakthrough developments like top gas recycling blast furnaces and iron electrolysis. He has also been deeply involved in several projects to minimise environmental impact of sintering by fumes treatment / recycling and steelmaking waste materials valorisation to target the “zero waste” steel industry.

Jean-Pierre (JP) Birat is an engineer, educated at Ecole des Mines, in Paris and then at the University of California in Berkeley. He has 42 years’ experience in the steel research center in Maizières-lès-Metz, known initially as IRSID and then as ArcelorMittal Research.

Following his tenure at ArcelorMittal Research, Jean-Pierre joined ESTEP, the European Steel Technology Platform, as Secretary General. He is now the owner and chief executive of IF Steelman, a consulting firm, which he created in 2013.
JP worked initially as a metallurgist and a process engineering researcher and then moved on to deal with environmental issues and their social dimensions. He teaches as an Honorary Professor at the University of Science and Technology in Beijing and also at SPEIT in Shanghai.

JP has contributed more than 600 papers to scientific journals and conferences.

Jan van der Stel works for Tata Steel Europe on the IJmuiden steelmaking site in the Netherlands. He studied applied physics at the Technical University in Delft.

Jan joined the company in 1988 and has worked in a number of positions over his tenure including roles in research and process engineering, as a project leader and R&D knowledge group leader in Blast Furnace Developments and Alternative Ironmaking.

In 2004 he became the Tata Steel project leader/ coordinator of the Ulcos Top Gas Recycling Blast Furnace (TGR-BF) project and in 2007 the consortium coordinator of the TGR-BF project, which aims to reduce the CO2 emissions of the integrated steelworks.

Today, he is a scientific fellow and knowledge group leader in ironmaking at Tata Steel R&D dealing with blast furnace and alternative ironmaking with a key focus on lowering the carbon footprint of the steelworks.

Henrik Saxén is a Professor in Heat Engineering at Åbo Akademi University, in Turku/Åbo, Finland. His main research is on modelling, simulation and optimisation of iron and steelmaking processes and energy systems. Recently his research has been focused on sustainable ironmaking, including hydrogen-based reduction of iron ores and process integration for enhanced energy efficiency.

He has guided approximately 20 doctoral works on iron and steelmaking and published more than 200 international journal papers. He has been the Principal Investigator of many national and international research projects, and panel member and reviewer of many international project applications. In 2006-2009, he was Vice Rector (Research) of his university, and presently acts as visiting professor at Shanghai University and University of Science and Technology Beijing.

Johannes Schenk has over 30 years of professional experience in technologies for ironmaking and crude steel production. He has experience in the development and implementation of innovative technologies from laboratory scale to industrial plant. The current topics in his ongoing research projects are related to CO2 lean steel production and circular economy.

Johannes worked for 18 years for the leading metallurgical plant builder Primetals Technology, Austria and held the position of General Manager and Senior Vice President for R&D there. He is currently a professor for Ferrous Metallurgy at the Montanuniversitaet Leoben and Chief Scientific Officer of the Austrian Metallurgical Competence Center K1-MET GmbH.

Prof. Christophe Coutanceau has over 20 years’ experience in academic research devoted to the synthesis of nanomaterials for electrocatalysis applied to hydrogen technologies. He is currently Professor at IC2MP (Institute of Chemistry of Poitiers, University of Poitiers-CNRS) and head of the “Catalysis and Non-conventional Media” group. He is also co-responsible for the research axis “Stationary applications” of the French Hydrogen Federation of CNRS (FRH2), Scientific delegate for the “Energy Hub” of the CNRS, and French representative at the Annex 31 (low temperature fuel cell) of the International Energy Agency.

He was appointed as President of the evaluation committee CE 05 (sustainable, safe, clean and efficient energy) of the “French Research Agency” that provided expert advice to the French Research Agency for the fundings of research projects.