Professor at the Leibniz-Institut für Katalyse, Germany

Prof. Mathias Beller studied chemistry at Georg-August-University in Göttingen, where he received his PhD in organic chemistry in 1989. After obtaining the degree, he did a year-long research fellowship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA). He then returned to Germany and became the head of department at the Hoechst AG company. In 1996, he returned to academia, where he accepted a post of associate professor at the Technical University of Munich. In 1998, he obtained a post of professor of chemical catalysis at the Leibniz-Institut für Organische Katalyse, of which he has been the director since 2005. He also acts as the head of the Department of Applied Homogeneous Catalysis. In his scientific work, he focuses on the research into individual aspects of homogeneous catalysis, especially transition metal catalysts. He focuses on the development of new, environmentally safe catalysts and synthetic protocols with an emphasis on their application in industry. A particularly important aspect of his research is the effective transfer of results from model studies and mechanistic research to specific chemical products or processes. Prof. Beller’s research and experience are related to the Techscale project activities in the field of catalysis and single-atom catalysis, which will be implemented within WP3. Prof. Beller’s experience will also be used in the field of technology and knowledge transfer into practice.

Executive Director at the Energy Research Institute, Nanyang Technology University, Singapore

Prof. Srinivasan Madhavi graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT, Madras/Chennai, India) and received her PhD from the National University of Singapore. She is currently a professor at Nanyang Technology University (NTU), specifically at the Department of Materials Sciences and Engineering. She also heads the Global Alliance of Industries (GAIN), which is part of the President’s office, and is Director of the Energy Storage Cluster at the Energy Research Institute (ERI@N), a university-wide multidisciplinary research institute for innovative energy solutions. She also acts as a co-director of the Singapore-CEA Alliance for Research in Circular Economy (SCARCE), a joint research laboratory of French Alternative Energies and the Atomic Energy Commission (CEA, France), which focuses on the recycling of electronic waste. In her research, Prof. Madhavi focuses mainly on the synthesis, design, and production of nanomaterials that are used to improve the performance of electrochemical devices for energy storage—advanced lithium-ion batteries, supercapacitors, sodium ion batteries, or multi-valent aqueous Zn/Al batteries. An important follow-up topic for her is the recycling of electronic waste from lithium-ion batteries, for which she uses new hydrometallurgical technologies leading to a circular economy. Prof. Madhavi has published more than 290 research papers and is the author of 25 patents.

Professor at the University of Trieste, Italy

Prof. Paolo Fornasiero studied chemistry at the University of Trieste in Italy, where he also obtained his PhD in 1997. Back then, he already focused on studying heterogeneous catalysis. He spent the first year of his scientific career at the Catalysis Research Centre of the University of Reading (UK) before returning back to Trieste, where he eventually obtained a post of professor of inorganic chemistry and founded the Department of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, which he heads to this day. Prof. Fornasiero is also a visiting professor at the Italian National Council of Research (CNR) and since 2008 the scientific head of the Research Department of the Institute of Chemistry of OrganoMetallic Compounds (ICCOM). He is a member of the Italian Chemical Society, the American Chemical Society, and the European Rare-Earth and Actinide Society (ERES), as well as of the National Interuniversity Consortium of Materials Science and Technology (INSTM). In 2015, he became first the associate editor of the ACS Catalysis journal, and then executive editor (2021). In his research, Prof. Fornasiero focuses on technological applications of materials science and heterogeneous catalysis aimed at solving environmental problems. The developed materials are mainly used as innovative catalysts for hydrogen production and purification or for use in fuel cells. Prof. Fornasiero’s experience is related to activities in the area of the design and application of single-atom catalysts and thus builds on the research activities developed within WP1 and WP3.

Executive Director at the National Research Foundation, Singapore

Prof. Subodh Mhaisalkar received a bachelor’s degree from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT, Madras/Chennai, India). He obtained his master’s and PhD degrees at Ohio State University (USA). He is currently the executive director for academic research at Singapore’s largest science and research support agency—the National Research Foundation (NRF). He is also a professor in the field of energy at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore. Prior to joining the NRF in 2022, Prof. Mhaisalkar acted as NTU’s vice president for Industry Cooperation Strategy and Development. From 2010 to 2022, he also held the position of the founding executive director of the Energy Research Institute (ERI@N) at NTU. Prior to joining the academic position at NTU’s Department of Materials Sciences and Engineering in 2001, Prof. Mhaisalkar gained more than 10 years of research and engineering experience in the microelectronics industry, where he devoted himself to the development of nanomaterials and semiconductor processes, as well as to physics and the integration of basic devices. His research focuses on the development of perovskite solar cells, light-emitting devices, and printable electronics. He has mentored more than 100 Master’s/doctoral students and post-doctoral researchers. Prof. Mhaisalkar’s professional activities are related to the development of nanomaterials for semiconductor processes and follow the research activities solved WP2 and WP4. His experience will be further applied in the area of recommendations for fundraising and long-term sustainability.

Research Director at the CLEAN Centre, Normandy University, France

Prof. Svetlana Mintova studied inorganic and physical chemistry at the Technological University of Sofia, where she received her PhD in 1993. Since 2006, she has been working at Normandy University in France, where she has established the Centre for Zeolites and Nanoporous Materials Caen (CLEAN Centre), of which she is the research director. She is also a visiting professor at the China University of Petroleum, Qingdao. In her research, Prof. Mintova focuses mainly on the study of porous materials and physical chemistry, specifically in the field of research on zeolite synthesis, advanced characterizations and their applications in catalysis, separation, chemical sensors, membranes, and biomedicine. She is a laureate of the Baron Axel Cronstedt Prize awarded by the European Zeolite Associations Federation (FEZA, 2014), alongside the Donald Breck Prize awarded by the International Zeolite Association (IZA, 2016), the Shandong International Science and Technology Cooperation Award (2019), and many others. Prof. Mintova holds the position of chair of the Synthesis Commission of IZA and is a member of the Board of IZA, FEZA, and GFZ. In 2022, she received a prestigious research grant funded by the European Research Council in the ERC Advanced (ZEOLIght) category. Prof. Minta’s research and experience follow the research activities of the project realized mainly within WP3, but also the activities realized in WP2 and WP4.

Research Director at Eni S.p. A., Italy

Dr. Roberto Millini studied chemistry at the University of Pavia (1983). Later on, he worked at the Max Planck Institut für Strahlenchemie in Mulheim/Ruhr and the Institut für Anorganische Chemie—Erlangen/Nürnberg Universität. However, his path led subsequently to the Eni S.p. A. enterprise research centre in San Donato Milanese (1986), where he became the head of the Department of Physical Chemistry. Since 2014, he has been the vice-president of Renewable Energy & Environmental Laboratories at the Eni Donegani Institute (Novara, Italy) and also head of the CO2 Valorization & New Energy Vector Technologies group. His research interests are the structural, morphological, and spectroscopic characterization of heterogeneous catalysts, especially zeolites and related porous solids. He was also the president of the Italian Zeolite Association and is a member of the Synthesis Commission, International Zeolite Association. Prof. Millini’s experience builds on the scientific and research activities carried out mainly within WP3 and WP4. Thanks to his long-term experience in the field of technology and knowledge transfer into practice, we expect his contribution also to this area of the project activities.