Plenary Round Table Discussion: The Role of Solar towards a Green Transition

Professor Dr. Phoebe Koundouri is a world-renowned pioneer in innovative, human-centric, interdisciplinary systems for the sustainable interaction between nature, society, and the economy, included in the Stanford University list of Top 2% world scientists. She is Professor in Economics and Director of ReSEES Laboratory,  Athens University of Economics and Business, and Research Professor at the Department of Technology, Management and Economics, Technical University of Denmark – DTU. She is Director of the Sustainable Development Unit (SDU)  at ATHENA Information Technology Research Center. She holds a MPhil and a PhD in Economics from the University of Cambridge, and has held academic positions at the University of Cambridge, University College London, University of Reading, and London School of Economics. She is the Chair of the World Council of Environmental and Natural Resource Economists Associations (WCERE) and President (past) & Council member of the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (EAERE). She is the director of the Alliance of Excellence for Research and Innovation on Aeiphoria (AE4RIA), with more than 200 researchers and 100 large interdisciplinary projects in more than 120 countries. She is chair of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) Global Climate Hub and co-chair of SDSN Europe. She is elected member of Academia Europae, European Academy of Sciences and Arts, World Academy of Art and Science (WAAS) , InterAcademy Partnership (IAP) ,and member of the Nominating Committee for the Nobel Prize in Economics Sciences. She is Academia Europaea Representative to S20 Task Force 2 on Bioeconomy of the G20 Heads of States, Commissioner for the Lancet Commission on COVID19 Recovery, member of the Fraternal Economy of Integral and Sustainable Development of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences and member of the European Investment Bank Climate Leaders Network. She acts as an advisor to the UN, World Bank, European Commission, EIB, EBRD, OECD, WHO, and many others, including public and private international and national companies. In 2022 she received the prestigious European Research Council Synergy Grant, and in 2023, she was awarded the Academy of Athens Excellence in Science Award. 

Prof. Viktoria Martin is Professor in Energy Technology at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden. Since July 2024 she is the ISES president. A graduate from KTH (MSc in Chemical Engineering 1993) and the University of Florida (PhD in Mechanical Engineering 1998), she has pursued a career in international research collaborations within the International Energy Agency as well as the EU, providing insight into a variety of leading research and education arenas. Dr. Martin has over 25 years of experience in education, research, and entrepreneurship in the area of sustainable energy, with special focus on energy systems analysis, sector-coupling, and thermal energy storage. She is the author/co-author of 100+ publications within her research area. Equally important to research is her work on high quality education within the field, and she is presently the director of an engineering BSc degree programme in Energy and Environment, and teaches master level courses in sustainable energy systems.

Dr. Andreas Poullikkas holds a Bachelor of Engineering (B.Eng.) degree in mechanical engineering, a Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.) degree in nuclear safety and turbomachinery, a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree in numerical analysis and a Doctor of Technology (D.Tech.) higher doctorate degree in energy policy and energy systems optimization from Loughborough University, U.K. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (FIET). Dr. Andreas Poullikkas is currently the Chairman of the Cyprus Energy Regulatory Authority (CERA) and he was for several years the Chairman of the Cyprus Energy Strategy Council (both appointments by the President of Cyprus). In his professional career he has worked for academic institutions and for the industry, such as, a Visiting Faculty at Harvard University, USA, the Cyprus University of Technology (Professor of Power Systems and Chair of the Department of Electrical Engineering) and the Electricity Authority of Cyprus (founder and director of the Research and Development Department). He is the Associate Editor of the journal Discover Energy (Springer Nature) and of the Journal of Power Technologies, member of the Editorial Board of the journal Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments and the author of various peer-reviewed publications in scientific journals, book chapters, conference proceedings and the author of ten books. He is included in the World’s Top 2% Scientists and the World’s Top 100000 Researchers Lists, both published by Stanford University.

Alexandros Charalambides is an Associate Professor at the Cyprus University of Technology, working primarily on predicting energy production from solar systems and how innovation and entrepreneurship can assist in our efforts for decarbonization.  He served on the Board of the International Solar Energy Society, and from 2024, he serves on the Board of the Electricity Authority of Cyprus. He is also the founder of Chrysalis LEAP, the first cleantech accelerator in Cyprus.