On Friday 15^th November 2024, the Chair of Decarbonization and Transformation of Industry (DTI) offers a technical tour in collaboration with the EWI Network (Energie- und Wasserstoffallianz im Industriebogen Meißen) to industries in the Meissen District to enable students to gain first hand insights into the opportunities and challenges which energy intensive industries are facing in the region’s structural change. During the one day excursion, BTU students will have the opportunity to visit steel works (ERVIN, MANNESMANN RÖHRENWERK, Schmiedewerke Gröditz), as well as a chemical company (WACKER) and wood processing factory (kronospan). Besides a technical tour of their operations, they will also be able to engage experts onsite in dialogue to find out more about their transformation processes. This technical tour to industries in the Meissen District is offered as part of the module 13234 “Communication of Science and Technology” which is offered by DTI in the winter semester.

Alexander Buchheim, Professor for Energy and Building Technology at the Berufsakademie Sachsen (Vocational Academy of Saxony), has extensive academic as well as industry experience relating to the energy transition –especially in the field of energy and building technologies – in Germany,. In his guest lecture, he will be providing insights into actual as well as future challenges and opportunities which the Meissen District is facing. This guest lecture is offered as part of the module 13234 “Communication of Science and Technology” which is offered by DTI in the winter semester.

Date: Thursday 13^th June 2024
Time: 09:15 – 13:00
Location: ZHG Hörsaal A

Dr. Bernd Hezel researches, designs and realizes audio-visual climate communication and decision support formats at the Climate Media Factory. As a visiting professor at the Film University Babelsberg, he dealt with stories about / images of the future and operative media forms that can motivate people to imagine, negotiate and create alternative futures. Previously, he worked at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research on a decarbonization model for Europe and made it interactively accessible for decision support. He contributed to award-winning theatre productions and wrote and directed many animated short films, several of which won international festivals. He also received a doctoral degree from Heidelberg University for work in quantum theory.

In his guest lecture, Dr. Hezel will give an illustrated insight into the Climate Media Factory's approach to climate communication and share some practical learnings, before giving some theoretical background on the necessity of a major transformation, the barriers to action in the context of the climate crisis and on good ingredients of communication formats to overcome those. The illustrative and theoretical parts will be followed by a hands-on practical exercise.

This guest lecture is offered as a session in the module 13234 “Communication of Science and Technology” which is offered by DTI in the summer semester. As Dr. Hezel will be sharing insights relating to climate communication and practical learnings for science communication, this session will be open to all interested participants from BTU.

Date: Thursday 6^th June 2024
Time: 09:15 – 12:00
Location: ZHG Hörsaal A

Katie Myers is a journalist, documentarian, and playwright in Knoxville, Tennessee, in the U.S.  Previously, she worked as a climate solutions reporting fellow at Grist, and a reporter at WMMT 88.7 FM, an eastern Kentucky community radio station. Her work has appeared in the BBC, National Public Radio, and the New Republic, among others.  She is traveling through Germany and Poland this spring on the Transatlantic Media Fellowship, a grant program through the Heinrich Boell Foundation to encourage journalistic exchange between Europe and the U.S.  She has also received fellowships from the Society for Environmental Journalists, the Solutions Journalism Network, and America Amplified. She reports on legacy coal mine impacts, labor issues in E.V. transition, the intersections of climate disaster and the rural housing crisis, and critical minerals mining, among other topics in the energy transition field.

This guest lecture will concern Katie's work reporting on energy transition and coal politics in the coalfields of Central Appalachia, where coal's ongoing decline has contributed to fiscal and environmental problems for the region's largely rural communities, which have, in the past, been termed "internal colonies" for resource extraction by theorists and environmental activists. She'll also discuss environmental journalism as a means of science communication - what roles journalists can play in helping the public to understand science, technology, and health, particularly in this acute moment of climate crisis and fossil fuel transition.

This guest lecture is offered as a session in the module 13234 “Communication of Science and Technology” which is offered by DTI in the summer semester. As Ms. Meyer will be sharing insights relating to communication of environmental issues as well as on energy transition and structural change in coal regions, this session will be open to all interested participants from BTU.

Date: Thursday 6^th June 2024
Time: 15:30 – 18:30
Location: LG 1A Hörsaal 1

The Chair of Decarbonization and Transformation of Industry (DTI) at Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg (BTU) is pleased to host Dr.-Ing. Florian Keller, Deputy Head of the Technology Assessment Division at the Institute of Energy Process Engineering & Chemical Engineering (IEC), TU Bergakademie Freiberg – one of the leading R&D organizations in Europe in the field of circular carbon technologies – for a guest lecture on the fundamentals of environmental assessment in the process industry, with focus on fields of application and research aspects.

Dr. Keller completed his Ph.D. on the topic of life cycle assessment of chemical recycling processes. As a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Chair of Energy Process Technology (EVT) at IEC, he has extensive experience in the modelling and evaluation of innovative processes in the field of chemical process engineering. He also teaches modules on technology assessment and process chain modelling at the TU Bergakademie Freiberg.

The guest lecture by Dr. Keller is offered as a session in the module 14132 “Multidimensional Approaches for Technology Assessment” which is offered by DTI in the summer semester. As Dr. Keller will be sharing insights relating to fundamentals of environmental assessment, his lecture is of potential interest for other BTU students and staff who are active in this area. As such, this session will be open to all interested participants from BTU.

Date: Thursday, 23^rd May 2024
Time: 15:30 – 18:30
Location:  LG 1A Hörsaal 1

The Chair of Decarbonization and Transformation of Industry (DTI) at Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg (BTU) is pleased to host Maike Horlacher (Manager Sustainability Consulting) and Fabian Loske (Manager for Business Development – Sustainability Consulting Group) from Sphera –a leader in the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) space and licensor of the GaBi Software for life cycle assessments.

Ms. Horlacher has a B.Sc. in Environmental Engineering from the BTU Cottbus and a M.Sc. in Environmental Engineering with a focus on Sustainable Engineering and Environmental Analytics from the TU Berlin. With more than 9 years of experience in life cycle assessments (LCA), she has managed numerous LCA and sustainability projects for industry clients and the public sector, and has extensive experience in chemical recycling, water foot printing and Life Cycle Data Automation.

Mr. Loske holds a degree in Environmental Engineering from the University of Stuttgart, with studies in the University of Adelaide/South Australia. After starting his career at the Fraunhofer Department Life Cycle Engineering in Stuttgart, he joined Sphera about 8+ years ago. After delivering projects as Senior Consultant, he is now appointed Manager for Business Development in Sphera’s Sustainability Consulting Group, focusing on renewables, consumer goods, polymers and chemicals.

In their guest lecture, they will provide insights into how data and tools could be leveraged to identify and improve environmental impacts in the chemical industry. Besides providing an introduction to sustainability assessments – in particularly LCA – they will also share important methodological considerations in the application of LCA to chemical recycling. Last but not least, they will illustrate the practical applications of LCA with industry case studies.

The guest lecture by Sphera colleagues is offered as a session in the module 14132 “Multidimensional Approaches for Technology Assessment” which is offered by DTI in the summer semester. As Ms. Horlacher and Mr. Loske will be sharing insights relating to ecological aspects related to the decarbonization and sustainability transformation of carbon intensive industries, their lecture is of potential interest for other BTU students and staff who are active in this area. As such, this session with Sphera will be open to all interested participants from BTU.

Date: Thursday, 2^nd May 2024
Time: 15:30 – 18:30
Location: Online (Webex Link)

The Chair of Decarbonization and Transformation of Industry (DTI) at Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg (BTU) is honored to host Dr. Raoul Voss – Senior Consultant for Sustainability at Capgemini Engineering, a world leader in R&D services for engineering – as an invited speaker on Thursday, 2^nd May 2024, to share his experiences in multidimensional sustainability assessments for innovative chemical processes and concepts.

Dr. Voss completed his PhD at the TU Munich in 2023 at the Chair of Circular Economy. He also conducted research at the Institute of Energy Process Engineering and Chemical Engineering (IEC) at the TU Bergakademie Freiberg and at the Fraunhofer IMWS.

In his guest lecture, Dr. Voss will provide an overview of the economic pillar of the triple bottom-line concept of sustainability in the context of innovative chemical recycling techniques. The session will also include interactive work tasks. Hence, interested parties are encouraged to bring their notebook or tablet with them for onsite exercises.

The guest lecture by Dr. Raoul Voss is offered as a session in the module 14132 “Multidimensional Approaches for Technology Assessment” which is offered by DTI in the summer semester. As Dr. Voss will be sharing insights relating to economic aspects related to the decarbonization and sustainability transformation of carbon intensive industries, his lecture is of potential interest for other BTU students and staff who are active in this area. As such, this session with Dr. Raoul Voss will be open to all interested participants from BTU.