Energy Transitions in the Context of Climate Change and Sustainable Development

PhDr. Irina Gusačenko, Political Officer, EU Delegation to the State of Kuwait and the State of Qatar.
Mrs. Irina Gusačenko has been working in the field of diplomacy for over 13 year. She held various positions at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, where she was in charge of diverse portfolios ranging from promoting relations of the Czech Republic with the EU and the Middle East to Russia and Belarus. She represented the Czech Republic abroad, first as the Political Officer at the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Moscow and then as a Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of the Czech Republic to the State of Kuwait and the State of Qatar. While working at the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Prague, Irina was involved in academia as an external lecturer of  EU related studies at the Metropolitan University Prague. Irina has also published  academic papers on EU related matters. In 2019, she joined the team of the newly opened EU Delegation to the State of Kuwait and the State of Qatar as a Political Officer, where she works, among others, on promoting EU-Kuwait relations in the field of green and digital transformation. Qualified with a Master of European Studies from College of Europe in Bruges and Philosophiae Doctor in European Studies from Charles University in Prague, she is fluent in Czech, English, French and Russian.

Dr. Abdul Sattar Al-Taie, Executive Director, QNRF
Dr. Abdul Sattar Al-Taie is the Executive Director of Qatar National Research Fund. He earned his B.Sc., MSc, PhD, DIC and A.C.G.I in Chemical Engineering from Imperial College, London. Prior to his formative work at QNRF, Dr. Al-Taie held key positions in Iraq with the Ministry of Oil, Iraqi Atomic Commission, Ministry of Industry & Minerals, and the National Committee for Technology Transfer. During his tenure in Iraq, he supervised the execution of numerous strategic projects. Moreover, he played a key role in a number of strategic Science & Technology initiatives. Dr. Al-Taie also taught at a number of Iraqi universities & supervised a number of MSc and PhD students. He received numerous decorations and awards throughout his career including the prestigious Science Medal of the Republic of Iraq. Since his arrival to Qatar in 2006 as a founding director, he has led the development of QNRF as a world renowned organization enabling Qatar to achieve R&D excellence by supporting original, competitively selected research that benefits Qatar in achieving its National Vision 2030 of becoming a knowledge-based society.

Frank Wouters, Director, EU GCC Clean Energy Technology Network
Mr. Frank Wouters has been leading renewable energy projects, transactions, and technology development for over 25 years. He has played a lead role in development of renewable generation projects valued at over $4.5 billion. These range from small scale PV solar electrification in Uganda to the 100MW Shams I Concentrated Solar Plant (CSP) in the UAE, and strategic equity investment in the London Array, the world’s largest offshore wind project. His transactions have received multiple project finance “Deal of the Year” awards.
As Deputy Director-General of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the first global intergovernmental organisation dedicated to all renewables, he managed a US$350 million IRENA/Abu Dhabi Fund for Development project facility for RE. He appraised over 80 projects a year and recommended projects for funding, including solar PV projects in Africa. Furthermore, he coordinated with government ministers and other stakeholders to promote private sector investment for RE projects as part of the Africa Clean Energy Corridor Initiative.
Mr. Wouters has served on the board of several energy companies, including Torresol Energy (Spain and USA), WinWind (Finland and India), Masdar cvua (Netherlands), NICE (Netherlands and The Gambia) and Gorestreet Capital (UK). Qualified with a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Delft University, he is fluent in English, German and Dutch.

Dr. Mustapha Taoumi, Clean Energy Key Expert, EU GCC Clean Energy Technology Network
Dr. Taoumi has been leading Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency projects and technology deployment for over 30 years. He has worked with US AID, GIZ (Germany), JICA (Japan) and EU (DGXII) as Project and Programme Manager. He has conducted numerous feasibility and planning studies, building programs and has implemented projects on the ground. He assisted local institutions to develop strategic plans in sustainable energy. He managed numerous seminars and training workshops concerning the use of renewable energy and energy efficiency. Dr. Taoumi was also involved in several initiatives and projects with a regional scope particularly in MENA and Mediterranean regions including the Mediterranean Solar Plan (MSP). As a Regional Programme Officer for North Africa and the Middle East region (MENA) within the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the first global intergovernmental organisation dedicated to all renewables, Dr. Taoumi managed several projects and initiatives across MENA region including Renewables Readiness Assessment (RRA), assessment of local manufacturing potential in the Arab region and recently the Pan Arab Clean Energy initiative (PACE). Dr. Taoumi held several key positions including Secretary General and Interim Executive Director within the National Renewable Energy Centre (CDER) in Morocco - now transformed on a National dedicated Agency (ADEREE) as well as Executive Secretary of the Mediterranean Association of the National Agencies for Energy Conservation (MEDENER- Network). Before joining IRENA in 2010, he was nominated by the Ministry of Energy in Morocco as IRENA’s focal point and member of the IRENA’s Headquarters Selection Committee. Among other positions, Dr. Taoumi is an active member on several organisations, conferences and networks around the world including the MENAREC Conference International Steering Committee. ​Dr. Taoumi holds a PhD in Electrochemistry from the Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble (INPG) in France and master's degrees in Electrochemical Engineering and Management Science, he is fluent in English, French, Spanish as well as Arabic.

Gauri Singh, Deputy Director-General, International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA)
Gauri Singh is a career bureaucrat with over thirty years’ experience in policy formulation, implementation and policy advocacy in the field of renewable energy, sustainable development and livelihoods. She has worked at federal level in the Government of India and in Madhya Pradesh. At federal level, in the field of new and renewable energy, she has vast experience of policy formulation, coordination, and international cooperation. Policy initiatives led by her include, the policy framework of National Solar Mission of India 2010, to build solar power capacities in India. Ms. Singh has also worked at IRENA earlier, as Director, Country Support and Partnerships and was responsible for regional and country level initiatives. She spearheaded partnerships with regional energy and economic organisations.

Dr. Haris Doukas, Associate Professor, School of Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE), National Technical University of Athens (NTUA)
He has a degree in mechanical engineering (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki – AUTH) and a PhD degree in the area of decision support systems for the sustainable energy sector’s operation (ECE, NTUA). His scientific and research expertise includes the development of decision support systems for energy and climate policy, where he has more than 15 years working experience, participating in related initiatives and projects, in Europe, in the Mediterranean basin and the countries of the Gulf. Dr. Haris Doukas has more than 100 scientific publications in international scientific journals, one Book in Greek “Decision Support Policy Models for Energy and Environmental Systems”, one open access Book in Springer “Understanding Risks and Uncertainties in Energy and Climate Policy”, presentations in international conferences, chapters, articles, etc. For his work, Dr. Doukas has received awards by the State Scholarship Foundation (IKY), the NTUA, the AUTH, the Technical Chamber of Greece (TCG) and the Hellenic Operational Research Society (HELORS) and the World Renewable Energy Network (WREN), among others. ​Dr. Doukas is the research collaboration specialist of the EU GCC Clean Energy Technology Network, since its creation in 2010.

Prof. Alain Haurie, Qatar/GCC Expert, ORDECYS, Switzerland and HEC Canada
Prof. Alain Haurie is currently CEO of ORDECSYS, Professor emeritus at University of Geneva and adjunct Professor at HEC-Montréal. He has been professor of Quantitative Methods at the Graduate Business School (HEC) of the University of Montreal, Canada (1963-89) and professor of Operations Research in the department of management studies (HEC) of the University of Geneva, Switzerland (1989 to 2005). During his academic career he has occupied positions of department chairman (1974-1976 in Montreal, 1989-1992 in Geneva) and has been the founder and first director of a research center dedicated to decision analysis (GERAD in Montreal 1980-1989), which became one of the leading research center in Canada for Operations Research. He has authored or co-authored over 200 scientific papers and co-authored 9 books. His research has been focused on applications of control and game theory to economics and management science, with a particular interest for energy and environmental modeling.

Dr. Ioannis Tsipouridis, Renewable Energy Consultant Engineer, Senior Expert, EU GCC Clean Energy Technology Network
Dr Ioannis Tsipouridis is a chemical engineer with a PhD in Solar Energy and has been actively involved with Renewables since 1978. He has served at the Public Power Corporation of Greece (PPC) in the Direction of Renewable Energy Sources, where he was engaged in the development of wind and PV parks in the Aegean and Crete in the 80’s and 90’s. Later he served as CEO of PPC Renewables (100% subsidiary of PPC) from 2010 to 2013. He is the owner and General Manager of REDPro Consultants - Renewable Energy Development Professionals (Greece) since 2014 and the owner, Editor and Content editor to Climate & Energy portal E-mc² since 2018. He has been active since 2018 in Kenya and currently holds the position of the Director of RECCReC, the Renewable Energy & Climate Change Research Center at the Technical University of Mombasa, where he is also a visiting professor. He is also the owner and Director of RED PRO Climate & Energy Consultants Ltd. (Kenya), has formed and is the Chairman of the nonprofit entity A.F.R.I.C.A. (AfricaForRenewablesInClimateAction) and is a Mentor to the International Support Network for African Development(ISNAD).He is elected Member of Greenpeace Greece Electoral Body, as of June 2020, Senior advisor to H2020/PARIS REINFORCE project as of December 2019, Senior Expert at EU-GCC Clean Energy Technology Network as of June 2018, Lead country contributor for Greece to REN21, as of November  2017 and participant at UNFCCC’s Conferences of the Parties, as of COP 21.  He has 3 children and 4 grandchildren.

Dr. Hatem Mheni, Senior Program Manager SAH, QNRF
Dr. Hatem Mheni is actually Senior Program Manager at QNRF in charge of Social sciences, arts and humanities portfolio. He was full Professor of Economics at the High School of Commerce of Tunis at Manouba University in Tunisia. Professor Hatem overarching research and teaching interests are about the economic and social impacts of the digitalization of the economy, S&T indicators and innovation policy. He also worked on energy and water economic issues as part of the sustainable development of Africa. He was the principal councillor of the Tunisian Minister of scientific research and technology in matter of S&T planning (June 2004-January 2007) and the former general manager of the Tunisian National Observatory of Sciences and Technology (January 2007-March 2009). Hatem MHENI was member of the Advisory Steering Committee of the Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation Indicators (CESTII) in South Africa, the Technical Group of the African Observatory of Science, Technology and Innovation (AOSTI) located in Equatorial Guinea, the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Arab League for Culture and Science Organization (ALECSO) and some scientific and economic research networks. He published more than 50 papers in peer review journals.

Dr. Ahmed Badran, Associate Professor of Public Policy at Department of International Affairs, College of Arts and Sciences, Qatar University
Dr. Ahmed Badran is an Associate Professor of Public Policy at Department of International Affairs, College of Arts and Sciences, Qatar University. Dr. Badran holds a PhD degree in Public Policy from the University of Exeter, the United Kingdom. Dr. Badran’s research interests extend to cover different areas of the regulatory governance and politics of regulation in liberalised public utilities. That includes telecoms, water, and energy sectors particularly in transition and developing economies.

Dr. Ahmed Khalifa, Associate Professor of Economics, Qatar University
Ahmed Khalifa is an Associate Professor of economics at Qatar University.  He is also the lead principal investigator for three research projects for QNRF and overseas with combined budgets over $3,000,000 (NPRP9, NPRP10 and NPRP12C) and has led numerous funded research projects throughout the Middle East (KFAS, KFUPM, SABIC and GE).  Khalifa has published his research in leading economics journals including: The Energy Journal (IAEE), Energy Economics, Energy Policy, Economic Modelling, International Review of Economics and Finance among others.  Khalifa received his Master of Economics from Texas A&M University in 2004, and his PhD in economics from Colorado State University in 2009.  Prior to joining Qatar University in 2013, he was an assistant professor at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania and the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals between 2009-2013.

Dr. Lanouar Charfeddine, Associate Professor of Economics, College of Business and Economic, Qatar University
Dr. Lanouar Charfeddine is an Associate Professor of Economics at the College of Business and Economic of Qatar University. He holds a Ph.D in Economics (applied Econometrics) in 2007 from University Paris II – Pantheon – Assas, France. His research interest include applied econometric models, environmental sustainability, energy economics and financial inclusion. He has published more than 40 articles in these topics in internationally respected peer-reviewed journals such as the journals Energy Economics, Cleaner Energy Production, Energy Policy, Energy, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Review, Economic Modelling, , among many others. He has awarded several grants from Qatar Foundation, Qatar Financial Center (QFC) and Qatar University. He is actually serving as editor in the Cogent Economic and Finance Journal.

Dr. Antonio Sanfilippo, Chief Scientist, Qatar Environment & Energy Research Institute (QEERI)
Dr. Antonio Sanfilippo is Chief Scientist at Qatar Environment & Energy Research Institute (QEERI), where he leads the Energy Management Program. While at QEERI, he has been awarded several grants from Qatar National Research Fund, and presented with the 2020 Qatar Innovation Leadership Award by the World Innovation Congress. Prior to QEERI, he was Chief Scientist at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in the US, where he was awarded the 2008 Laboratory Director’s Award for Exceptional Scientific Achievement. While at PNNL, he led research projects for the Dept. of Homeland Security, the National Institutes of Health, the Dept. of Energy, the National Science Foundation, and a four-year laboratory initiative on predictive analytics. Dr. Sanfilippo has also held positions as Research Director in the private sector, Senior Consultant at the European Commission, Research Supervisor at SHARP Laboratories of Europe, and Research Associate at the Universities of Edinburgh and Cambridge in the UK. He holds MA and MPhil degrees from Columbia University in the US, and a PhD in informatics from the University of Edinburgh.