On 16^th April, Dr. Katharina Schlegel Thummer from Plastics Europe held an online guest lecture on "The Plastics System: Transitioning from Linear Feedstock and Production Models to Circular Solutions" to kick-off the first session of the module 14132 “Multidimensional Approaches for Technology Assessment” by DTI in the summer semester 2026.

Dr. Katharina Schlegel Thummer joined Plastics Europe as Circularity Director in December 2021. She is responsible for circularity and End-of Life of plastics, Plastics Europe’s Fact & Figures as well as its work on Global initiatives. Prior to Plastics Europe, she has been active in different functions in research and market development at BASF and Bayer CropScience. In her online guest lecture, Dr. Thummer provided students with an introduction into the plastics production process and reflection on the status quo. She also shared with students how the future could look like and what challenges are faced in transitioning the plastics system towards sustainability.  

Between mid-February to early April 2026, Prof. Lee was invited as visiting researcher at the Nanyang Technology University (NTU) in Singapore by Associate Prof. Grzegorz Lisak from the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Deputy Executive Director of the Nanyang Environment & Water Research Institute (NEWRI). NTU-NEWRI is one of the Singapore scientific partners of BTU-DTI and the Institute of Energy Process Engineering and Chemical Engineering at the TU Bergakademie Freiberg in the SG-DE collaboration on “Waste-to-Products” via gasification-bsed chemical recycling of mixed carbon waste streams for feedstock and product flexibility in Singapore which is funded under the “4^th Singapore-Germany International Collaboration on Circular Economy”.

While in Singapore, a key focus of Prof. Lee with CR-Waste2Products partners is the engagement of diverse stakeholders in Singapore from politics (e.g., the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment and its public agencies), industry (e.g., ALBA, Airliquide) and science (e.g., Singapore University of Technology and Design, A*Star SIMTech) on the topic of opportunities and challenges of chemical recycling in the form of waste gasification for enabling Waste2Products in Singapore. She also initiated the conceptualization and organization for the 1^st SG-Stakeholder Workshop on Chemical Recycling – scheduled to take place in August 2026 – with project partners NTU, Alba and AirLiquide Engineering. Additionally, she also started the planning process for the 14^th International Freiberg Conference on Circular Carbon Technologies which is scheduled to take place in Singapore in September 2027 to bring together local stakeholders along the Waste2Products value chain with the international community active in the field of circular carbon technologies.

Between 9^th and 13^th March, Prof. Lee visited Japanese stakeholders from science, industry and politics for exchanges on their research developments and advances for decarbonization and circularity. She was joined by Prof. Martin Gräbner, Director of the Institute of Energy Process Engineering & Chemical Engineering from the TU Bergakademie Freiberg. During the site visit, not only did she gain valuable insights into the innovations which are being developed and deployed by scientific (e.g., CRIEPI, AIST) and industry actors (e.g., AirLiquide Tokyo Innovation Campus, Daigas Group Carbon Neutral Research Hub, RESONAC’s Kawasaki Plastic Recycling Plant), an exchange with NEDO (New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization – the national research and development agency in Japan) also provided a deeper understanding of the diverse transformation options which are being pursued in Japan for its sustainability transformation.

On 6^th February 2026, Prof. Lee and Anouk Kruschinski from DTI visited Green Planet Energy (GPE) in Hamburg to share preliminary results obtained via a representative (online) survey on perception of renewable electricity in Germany. Survey findings provided insights into the divergence in opinions of priority issues and the energy transition, preferences for energy sources and electricity generation options, support for renewable electricity and household electrification as well as expectations for future energy mixes and price developments. DTI thanks GPE for their support in sponsoring the implementation of the online survey in Germany to enable a deeper understanding into factors facilitating and/or hindering support for renewable electricity and the progress of the energy transition in Germany.