Speakers

Henrik Lund is a Danish engineer (M.Sc.Eng.1985) and Professor in Energy Planning at Aalborg University in Denmark. He holds a Ph.D. in Implementaion of Sustainable Energy Systems (1990), and a Dr.Techn. in Choice Awareness and Renewable Energy Systems (2009). 

Henrik Lund is a highly ranked world-leading researcher. For 10 successive year, he has been listed among ISI Highly Cited researchers, ranking him among the top 1% researchers in the world within engineering, and is on the Stanford list of Top 2% Scientists. He is member of The Danish Academy of Technical Sciences (ATV) and has been awarded the Royal Order of Chivalry of the Dannebrog. 

For 15 years, Henrik Lund has been Editor-in-Chief of Elsevier’s high-impact journal Energy with annual 15000+ submissions, and is the founding editor of the journal Smart Energy. He is the author of more than 500 books and articles including the book ”Renewable Energy Systems”. 

He is also the architect behind the advanced energy system analysis software EnergyPLAN, freeware which is used worldwide, that has formed the basis of more than 300 peer-reviewed journal papers around the world.

Dr. David Parra is Head of the Hydrogen and Power-to-X Department at the Iberian Center for Research in Energy Storage (CIIAE). In this role, he coordinates a team of 20 researchers doing fundamental science and applied research, both experimentally and theoretically. 

In his own research, he develops energy system models which are interdisciplinary in nature. He integrates technical, economic, environmental and social dimensions, the latter being currently expanded. He has proven his ability to lead collaborations on projects nationally and internationally. 

Previously, he was a Senior Researcher and Teaching Fellow at the University of Geneva, Switzerland, where he coordinated the energy storage and hydrogen research since 2016. He was also a PI in the Swiss Competence Centre for Heat and Electricity Storage in Switzerland, as well as visiting researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2017, after receiving funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation to establish a new collaboration. Previously, Dr. Parra was a Post-doc at the University of Geneva (2014-2016), and got a PhD student at University of Nottingham (2010-2014).

Professor Magda Titirici completed her BSc at the University of Bucharest, her MSc jointly between the University of Rostock and University of Bucharest, followed by a PhD started at the Johannes Guttenberg University Mainz, and completed at the University of Dortmund in 2005. She did 2 years postdoc at the Max-Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam near Berlin before becoming an independent group leader at the same institute. Magda obtained her German “Habilitation” in 2013. She then moved to the UK to take a Reader position at the School of Engineering and Materials Science, Queen Mary University of London being promoted to Professor only one year later. 

In 2019 Magda moved to the Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London as a Chair in Sustainable Energy Materials. Magda has a RAEng Chair in Emerging Technologies. She also served as the Director of Research for the Chemical Engineering Department between 2020-2022. She is the President Elect of the Materials Chemistry Community Council at the Royal Society of Chemistry, a Wallenberg Initiative Materials Science for Sustainability (WISE) Guest Professor at University of Stockholm, and an International PI at the Advanced Institute for Materials Research (AIMR), University of Tohoku in Sendai Japan.

Magda is the author of over 400 papers and articles and has been included in the Global Highly Cited Researchers (Clarivate Analytics) since 2018. She is the author of 13 book chapters and one book. She also holds 7 patents. Magda has received the Rosenhein Medal from IoM3, an Honorary PhD from University of Stockholm in 2017, the Chinese Academy of Science President Fellowship, the Royal Society of Chemistry Corday-Morgen prize in 2018, a Royal Academy of Engineering Chair in Emerging Technologies fellowship in 2019, The Griffith Medal from IOM3 in 2002, The Kavli Medal and Lecture from Royal Society of Chemistry in 2022 and the Imperial President Medal for Excellent Research Team in 2023.

 Her current research interests involve sustainable materials with focus on carbon and carbon hybrids produced via hydrothermal processes, waste recycling into advance products, avoidance of critical elements in renewable energy technologies and the development of truly sustainable clean energy storage and conversion paths including alternative chemistries beyond Li, flexible and structural supercapacitors made from lignin/cellulose, carbon-based O2 electrocatalysis, CO2 capture and conversion and exploring the optoelectronic properties of nanocarbons. Her research is supported by UKRI, EU, Royal Society, Royal Society of Engineering and industry.

Chris Taylor is an accomplished professional in the energy sector, currently serving as the Technical Development Director at Vital Energi where he has been since March 2021.

Chris’s graduates with a Masters in Mechanical Engineering and began his career in power project development with Parsons Brinkerhoff and Dalkia. A later role as Technical Director at Zeus Renewables gave great exposure to a range of earlier stage technologies and the process to raise fund for development, this provided a more rounded experience covering both technical and  commercial aspect of making a successful project, product or company.

The last few years at Vital Energi Chris has exploring and developing technologies and business models within the context of the energy transition with a focus on how to accelerate decarbonisation, especially of heat.

Chris McClane is an experienced Production Engineer, and Project Manager, with 25 years’ experience working in large-scale petrochemical and oil & gas operations. Chris is currently the Interface Manger for Energy Transition Projects, working in Centrica Energy Storage’s New Energies Team. Chris has supported Rough gas field and Easington Terminal assets for over 10 years, and in recent years Chris has had responsibility for managing all stakeholder engagement and subsurface technical feasibility activities relating to Centrica’s redevelopment of Rough facilities for hydrogen-ready gas storage.