See https://www.bmftr.bund.de/DE/Ministerium/Hausleitung/hausleitung.html for further details.

Before founding the think tank Future Cleantech Architects, Peter Schniering has worked on accelerating cleantech innovation ever since completing a PhD on “Climate Policy and Technology” at Bonn University, Germany.

He served as consultant to both the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Secretariat in Bonn and the International Energy Agency (IEA) in Paris, working on topics from hydrogen infrastructure to carbon capture and storage. Upon completing the Carlo-Schmid-Fellowship Program by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes, he joined Roland Berger, a leading European strategy consulting firm. His work with utilities and technology providers across Europe focused on the cost side (LCoE) and scalability of cleantech.

During the past years, Dr. Schniering served as Advisory Board Member to the World Economic Forum’s Sustainable Energy Innovation Panel and as Evaluation Board Member to the Forum’s Sustainable Energy Innovation Fund (SEIF). He has been supporting the expert panel of the Solar Impulse Foundation since 2018. In 2022, he was awarded membership in the Futurity Fellows cohort by BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt and is a member of the foundation’s Global Responsible Leaders network. In 2024, he was appointed as third-party expert on transformational technologies by the German federal government. From January 2025 to December 2026, Dr. Schniering will serve as a member of the Advisory Committee of the United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS).

Dr. Schniering continues to consult a family-run SME company that he used to co-run, gives lectures on cleantech, and occasionally supports other non-profit organizations in strategic matters.

Beatrice Coda currently holds the position of Head of Unit of the Clean Energy transition Unit in the directorate General for Research and Innovation at the European Commission. As senior expert, Beatrice has more than 25 years of experience in the energy sector, spanning from R&D to deployment of energy infrastructures and technologies. Prior to her current function, Beatrice has held several positions at the European Commission dealing with energy research, climate policy and trans-European energy networks, and she has been managing the CEF Energy Programme for 7 years at CINEA. She has a Master’s degree in chemical Engineer, a PhD in Energy technologies and a postgraduate diploma in Economics.

Alexander Grablowitz is Head of Unit for EU R&I policy in the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) since September 2021. At EU level, he is alternate delegate for ERAC, German member of the ERA forum and Member States co-Chair of the Partnership Knowledge Hub (PKH).

With a European Master’s Degree in Environmental Management and a diploma in molecular biology and biochemistry, Alexander Grablowitz works since 1999 for the German Research Ministry, first in sustainability research and since 2008 in international and European cooperation. He was twice seconded to the European Commission as national expert, first to the JRC Sevilla between 2005 and 2008 working on ERA related topics and between 2016 and 2019 on R&I partnerships.

Theopolina Kapani currently serves as the Head of Technical and Construction at the Namibia Green Hydrogen Programme, where she plays a pivotal role in advancing Namibia’s green industrialization ambitions. With a background in engineering, infrastructure advisory and development, she facilitates the development of sustainable and impactful infrastructure.

Theopolina has built an impressive career spanning Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, where she gained extensive experience in renewable energy, industrial construction, and large-scale infrastructure projects. Her exposure has equipped her with world-class expertise in green hydrogen technology, synthetic fuels, and sustainable industrial practices.

Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Christian Sattler studied chemistry in Bonn, Germany and joined the German Aerospace Center DLR in 1997. He was guest scientist at Unversidade Federal de Uberlândia, Brazil. From 2015 to 2022 he was professor for solar fuels production at TU Dresden, Germany, from 2021 to 2023 Divisional Board Member for Energy and Transport of DLR, and since 2021 he is Director of the DLR Institute of Future Fuels and professor for solar fuel production at RWTH Aachen University, Germany. He is Vice-President of the Hydrogen Europe Research association and as an ASME lifetime fellow member of the ASME Clean Energy Technology Group.

John Szabo is a Research Scholar at DIW Berlin, where his prime focus is the political economy of hydrogen in Europe. He is a DAAD GH2 Fellow in Berlin, Germany throughout 2024–2025, as a part of which he has worked on hydrogen-relevant chapters of a monograph titled An Environmental History of Gas in Europe in addition to other projects that explore how various interest groups are shaping the European hydrogen scene. He obtained his PhD from Central European University and has been a Fellow at the Institute for World Economics in Budapest.

Dr Nadine May has been a senior scientific officer at the DLR Project Management Agency in the European and International Cooperation Department since 2020 and leads the office in Dresden. She has been responsible for the implementation of the ERA pilot initiative “Agenda process on Green Hydrogen” as well as its transition into the new SET Plan IWG on hydrogen. She has also been in charge of the conception of the international Green Hydrogen Innovation Congress 2022 and 2024 in Saxony. She has extensive experience in innovation and research management, particularly in the fields of renewable energies and electromobility. As an environmental scientist, she has dedicated herself to the holistic environmental evaluation of future technologies. Dr Nadine May studied Geoecology at the Technical University of Braunschweig and received her doctorate from the Faculty of Environmental Sciences at the Technical University of Dresden in 2019.

Anna is Programme Director in the Research Careers Group at the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation, DFG), which she joined in 2013 after completing a binational PhD. Her work focuses on strategies for academic career development in DFG funding programmes and on tailored information services for early-career researchers. She also coordinates Research Training Group proposals, a programme supporting universities in establishing structured doctoral training. More information on her talk can be found at https://www.dfg.de/en/research-funding/funding-opportunities/research-careers.

See https://www.hi-ern.de/profile/wasserscheid_p for further details.

Environmental Manager graduated from the Federal Institute of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Júlia holds a master's degree in water and coastal management from the WACOMA Erasmus Mundus program, and is currently a PhD candidate in Political Science at the University of Galway (Ireland).

She began her research on renewable energy during her undergraduate studies, researching wind energy at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ -GESEL), always with a focus on both technical and socio-economic dimensions. After spending two years focusing on the offshore wind energy sector during her master’s, her current research focuses on science, technology, and innovation (STI) policy, exploring the intersection between green hydrogen innovation and the future of for solar fuels and chemicals. Her work analyses EU policies and incentives for groundbreaking technologies, including discussions on the national/regional/local innovation systems, clusters and associations, foresight techniques and strategic planning tools.

Author of publications on industrial symbiosis, offshore wind energy, national hydrogen strategies, and more, Júlia brings a policy perspective to technical debates on the energy transition.

Ms Katarzyna Anna Gryc works as Policy Officer in the Directorate-General for Energy of the European Commission, unit dealing with the Research, Innovation, Digitalisation and Competitiveness. She has graduated from Institut d’Etudes Politiques Sciences Po in Paris with cum laude and also holds a post graduate degree from Gdańsk University of Technology in the Offshore Energy. She has contributed to the development of the Hydrogen Strategy and its successive implementation as a starting point of the uptake of the renewable and low carbon hydrogen economy aiming at replacing fossil based commodities. She contributes to the work of the Clean Hydrogen Joint Undertaking, a public private partnership between the European Commission and the private sector, fostering RD&I in the field of hydrogen technologies and fuel cells and their main end uses. She is a co-author of the series of Clean Energy Observatory Reports of the Joint Research Centre in the field of hydrogen and electrolysis (see: CETO reports 2024 - European Commission). She contributes to the implementation of the Net Zero Industry Act. Previously, she worked in the field of alternative fuels infrastructure including the development of electromobility in Europe (Sustainable Transport Forum) and in the field of the trans-European transport network. Personally, she is interested in the clean energy transition and enabling technologies and policies. Additionally, she practices running and is a certified yoga teacher as self development.

Dennis studied business engineering at RWTH Aachen University, specializing in mechanical/energy engineering, and completed his doctorate on hydrogen infrastructure systems at Forschungszentrum Juelich in 2012. During this time, he also conducted research as an expert in an annex of the IEA on the topic of wind power electrolysis and during a research visit to Japan, funded by the DAAD, on new, dry-running hydrogen compressors. After his doctorate, he became a project engineer at the Air Liquide Group in Düsseldorf in the area of product & business development for hydrogen as an energy carrier, where, among other things, he helped to set up filling stations. When he moved to Hamm University of Applied Sciences, he became Professor of Energy Management and Head of the research department. During this time, he developed, among other things, a hybrid process for the highly efficient liquefaction of hydrogen. After returning to industry, Dennis joined the product development team at Westenergie AG (formerly innogy SE), E.ON's largest subsidiary, where he helped drive the new hydrogen business area for the entire E.ON Group as Senior Hydrogen Expert. The focus of his work was the economic supply of green hydrogen via on-site electrolysis and steam reforming for end customers, which included both technical innovations and new business models. In June 2021 Dennis joined Uniper SE where he leads the Technologies & Logistics team at Uniper Hydrogen GmbH. Main topics of the team are carriers for hydrogen (NH3, LH2, LOHC, synFuels), import/export terminals and the technical processing, e.g. ammonia cracking and hydrogen liquefaction. Both the evaluation of possible variants and the subsequent realization are part of the work.

Dr. Eva Schmid leitet das Arbeitsgebiet Wasserstoff und Resilienz im Bereich Zukunft der Energieversorgung der Deutschen Energie-Agentur. Mit den fünf Teams „H2-Monitoring & Evaluierung“, “H2-Technologien und Wertschöpfungsketten”, “H2- Märkte und Regulierung”, „Wasserstoffderivate“ und “Resilienz” unterstützt das Arbeitsgebiet insbesondere die Bundesregierung bei der Umsetzung der Energiewende. Dr. Eva Schmid hat an der TU Berlin promoviert und hält einen M.Sc. in Econometrics and Operations Research, sowie einen B.Sc. in International Business von der Universität Maastricht.

Berufliche Stationen vor der dena waren Teamleitung Deutsche und Europäische Energiepolitik bei der zivilgesellschaftlichen Organisation Germanwatch sowie Forscherin beim Potsdam-Institut für Klimafolgenforschung im Team Energiestrategien Europa und Deutschland als Postdoc, sowie im Team Nachhaltige Lösungsstrategien als Doktorandin.

Nach 15 Jahren Arbeitserfahrung in Forschung und Umsetzung der Energiewende hat sich Dr. Eva Schmid einen fachlichen Hintergrund in Energiesystemmodellierung, partizipativen Energie- und Klimaschutzszenarien, Stromnetzentgeltsystematik, der Umsetzung gesellschaftlicher Wandelprozesse, Beteiligungsprozess und sozialer Akzeptanz für die Energiewende sowie Raumfahrtbasierte Lösungen für die Energiewende erarbeitet.

Magnolia Tovar is an international expert in industrial decarbonization and clean energy transitions, with over 23 years of experience across more than 20 countries. A Chemical Engineer by training, she currently serves as Director of Technologies and Impact at Future Cleantech Architects (FCA), where she leads strategies to close the innovation gap in hard-to-abate sectors such as heavy industry, hydrogen, and transport.

Throughout her career, Magnolia has held senior roles at leading organizations including the Clean Air Task Force, KBR, KBC, and Albemarle Catalysts. She has advised governments, financial institutions, and civil society on policies and technologies to achieve net-zero emissions, with a focus on hydrogen deployment, carbon capture, and systems-level energy transition. Her leadership has driven global consulting initiatives worth over $100 million.

She has participated in high-level climate forums including COP and the World Bank, where she advocated for advancing pragmatic, science-based solutions towards hydrogen decarbonization and deployment.

Dr. Xavier Montagne, Chemical Engineer, Doctor in Chemistry, is an expert in Energy and currently serves at the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research as an expert in New Energy Technologies, for which he was the Deputy Scientific Director of the sector "Energy, Sustainable Development, Chemistry, and Processes" within the General Directorate of Research and Innovation. Dr. Xavier Montagne joined the "Energy" sector of the Ministry of Research in 2013 after a career at IFP Energies nouvelles, where he notably served as Deputy Scientific Director. He has significantly contributed to the development of biofuels and renewable energy sectors. He is an expert who contributes strongly on hydrogen pathway development. He is also involved at the European level, through notably the FCH JU.