Jessica Shaw MLA is the Member for Swan Hills in the WA Legislative Assembly and Parliamentary Secretary to the Premier and Minister for State and Industry Development, Jobs and Trade, Federal-State Relations and Public Sector Management.

Prior to entering Parliament, Jessica was a senior commercial executive in the energy industry for over a decade. Her early career was in foreign affairs and trade, as Political and Economic Attaché to the British High Commission and for the Australian Senate’s Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee.

Jessica has undergraduate honours degrees in law and politics, a Masters in Law from the University of Cambridge and has studied energy policy, climate science and economic development at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

Jessica is a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and was honoured to be admitted as a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Energy in 2019.

Nick Smith is the Managing Director of Global Decarbonisation Advisory, bringing together people, projects and capital to accelerate decarbonisation in an economical and sustainable manner across the world.

Nick is the current President of the International Association for Hydrogen Safety (HySafe), is a member of the International Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association’s Technical Committee and has extensive experience as an executive and non-executive director predominantly in Australia.

Nick is recognised for delivering world leadership in decarbonisation across the energy sector and mineral extraction and processing sector in Australia. Prior to commencing GDA, Nick held a range of senior executive and leadership roles across government, gas and construction materials sectors delivering strategy, policy and commercial advice along with full accountability for business performance and profitability.

Nick holds a Masters degree in Business Administration, is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Energy.

Rachelle is a passionate energy transition champion and clean energy leader. She is an experienced professional with over 20 years’ experience working in the energy and minerals processing with significant experience in provision of technology and engineering solutions for complex projects and operating environments. She believes building long-term meaningful relationships is critical to enable sustainability and energy transition to net zero emissions. 

Rachelle is Manager, Research and Development for Rio Tinto Iron Ore, the current chair of the Standards Australia ME-093 Hydrogen Technologies committee and a Fellow of the Institution of Chemical Engineers.

Professor Doug MacFarlane is a Sir John Monash Distinguished Professor at Monash University’s School of Chemistry. He was a BSc(Hons) graduate from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, and then undertook his PhD with the late Professor Austen Angell at Purdue University before taking up an academic position at Monash. In 2007 he awarded an ARC Federation Fellowship and then in 2012 an Australian Laureate Fellowship. His interests include the chemistry and application of organic salts including in electrochemistry applications in renewable energy storage. His current focus is on the electrochemical generation of ammonia as an energy store. He has published more than 800 papers and 30 patents and these have been cited > 80,000 times (h-index 140). He has been a Clarivate “highly cited author” since 2019. He was the Australian Academy of Science’s Craig Medalist 2018 and winner of the Victoria Prize for Science and Innovation 2018. Professor MacFarlane was elected to the Australian Academy of Science in 2007 and the Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering in 2009. His group was recently awarded the Royal Society of Chemistry’s 2023 Horizon Prize for Environment, Sustainability and Energy. He recently co-founded Jupiter Ionics P/L to scale up the ammonia production technology his group has developed.

Adam Z. Weber holds B.S. and M.S. degrees from Tufts University, and a Ph.D. at University of California, Berkeley in chemical engineering under the guidance of John Newman.  Dr. Weber is a Senior Scientist and Leader of the Energy-Conversion at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, co-Director of the DOE funded Million Mile Fuel Cell Truck Consortium and Chief Technology Officer of the Alliance for Renewable Clean Hydrogen Energy Systems (ARCHES). His current research and activities involve understanding and optimizing fuel-cell and electrolyzer performance and lifetime using advanced modeling and diagnostics, understanding flow batteries for grid-scale energy storage, and analysis of solar-fuel generators and CO₂ reduction to value added products. Dr. Weber has coauthored over 200 peer-reviewed articles and 11 book chapters on fuel cells, flow batteries, and related electrochemical devices, developed many widely used models for fuel cells and their components, has been invited to present his work at various international and national meetings, and has 6 patents. He is the recipient of a number of awards including a Fulbright scholarship to Australia, a 2012 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the 2014 Charles W. Tobias Young Investigator Award of the Electrochemical Society, the 2016 Sir William Grove Award from the International Association for Hydrogen Energy, a 2020 R&D100 award for microelectrode development, the 2023 Fuel Cell Award from the Department of Energy, and the 2023 Research Award of the Energy Technology Division of the Electrochemical Society. He is a Fellow of The Electrochemical Society.

Ashish Lele is the Director of the CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory (NCL) in Pune, India. He is a leading expert in alternative energy systems, with a particular focus on the hydrogen ecosystem, new manufacturing paradigms, climate change, and the circular economy. He has a robust background in polymers and advanced materials, exploring the structure-processing-property-performance relationships. Lele holds a B. Chem. Eng. from the University of Bombay and a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Delaware. His career includes significant roles such as Senior VP at Reliance Industries Ltd and Chief Scientist at NCL. He has received numerous accolades, including the Eminent Engineer Award (2023) and the Infosys Prize (2012). With over 79 publications, 7 patents, and 17 PhD graduates under his mentorship, Lele continues to drive innovation and strategic technological development in his field.

Professor Joe Howe is the Zero Humber Professor of Industrial Decarbonisation; Chair of the research and innovation of Mission Innovation clean hydrogen mission and member of the UK Green Skills Delivery Group: Hydrogen Skills workstream.

David Norman is the Chief Executive Officer of Future Fuels Cooperative Research Centre (CRC). David is responsible for implementing the vision and mission of Future Fuels CRC and managing its research operations including over 120 industry initiated projects enabling the use of hydrogen and biomethane in Australia’s energy networks.

David is an experienced research and industry leader. Previously Chief Executive Officer of Energy Pipelines CRC, David then lead the successful bid to create Future Fuels CRC. David has over 20 years of experience in senior positions in the global energy industry, spanning an array of commercial, managerial and technical roles.

David graduated in Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering from the University of Melbourne and has completed a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) from Deakin University. He is a member of Engineers Australia and the Australian Institute of Energy.

Torben R. Jensen obtained a PhD degree in materials chemistry at University of Southern Denmark (1999) and then joined Risø Natl. Lab. as a post doc, where he changed research topic to biophysics. He became Assistant Prof., at Chemistry Department, Aarhus University and associated to The Interdisciplinary Nanoscience center (iNANO) in 2000. Since then, he has assembled a unique and productive independent research group within energy materials science. The research achievements led to a Doctor of Science degree (D.Sc.) in 2014 and promotion to Professor in 2016. The research group has focused on the chemistry and physics of hydrogen and synthesised multitudes of new metal hydrides by combining solvent-based methods, mechanochemistry, and solid-gas reactions, etc. They also infiltrated hydrides in nanoporous scaffolds and conducted systematic studies of properties as a function of pore size and surface area to investigate the nano effects. The group lately discovered extremely dense packing of hydrogen in nanoporous matter and that weak dihydrogen bonds in the solid state facilitate fast cationic conductivity and demonstrated the hydrides are functional battery materials. They successfully made lithium and magnesium solid state batteries based on hydrides. Prof. Jensen published >310 research papers which received >16350 citations

Dr Alfonso Chinnici is a distinguished Senior Lecturer in Sustainability, Net-Zero, and Energy Innovation at the University of Adelaide and an executive member of its Centre for Energy Technology. Employing cutting-edge research methodologies and fundamental engineering principles, he drives the advancement of ground-breaking clean energy technologies, prioritising the pivotal transition towards a net zero economy. At the forefront of his pursuits are the production and application of hydrogen and alternative energy carriers, alongside initiatives targeting the decarbonisation of carbon-intensive industrial processes, energy networks, and transportation systems. His expertise includes sustainable heat/mass transfer and reaction engineering, combustion science and solar thermal energy, circular economy practices, and environmentally conscious metal/mineral processing techniques. He has published over 80 publications in leading international journals, 4 patented innovations, 20 commissioned industry reports, and secured over $10 million in R&D funding. Presently, he occupies a leadership research role within the Australian Heavy Industry Low-Carbon Transition CRC, collaborating closely with industry leaders to drive impactful net-zero initiatives. He is a former investigator within Future Fuels CRC, and has also made significant contributions to international initiatives, notably the Mission Innovation ARENA program on green fuels and the Global Net Zero Industries Mission, further establishing his global recognition and influence. Beyond academia, he has lent his expertise as a high-profile consultant to esteemed organisations such as the International Energy Agency and the Government of South Australia, advising on critical aspects of hydrogen, ammonia, green metals, and critical minerals supply chains.

Dr Liezl Schoeman is the Team Leader of the Hydrogen & Gasification Materials group within CSIRO Energy Technologies. Her team’s research includes metal membrane technology for pure hydrogen production, metal hydride compression and hydrogen embrittlement for utilisation in industrial networks. Her research interests include material science, corrosion & embrittlement and surface chemistry of metals and coatings. She leads projects within Energy Technologies, the Hydrogen Future Science Platform and in collaboration with a range of commercial & industry partners and academia. Her current focus is combined hydrogen and bioenergy utilisation and integration in heavy industrial applications at-scale and her experience spans design, technology development and implementation of optimised solutions in decarbonisation pathways.

Øystein Ulleberg works as a Chief Scientist at the Institute for Energy Technology (IFE) in Norway and Associate Professor at the University of Oslo (UiO). Ulleberg started his research career with a PhD in 1995 on renewable energy and hydrogen systems. For the past three decades he has been doing R&D on hydrogen systems and technology. He has also been responsible for the establishment of several large hydrogen research centers, laboratories, and demonstration projects in Norway and abroad.

Since 2017 he has been the Director of MoZEES, a Norwegian research center for climate friendly technology on zero emission transport with special focus on battery and hydrogen technology for heavy-duty transport applications. His latest large national research project  is on renewable energy hydrogen systems  (REHSYS) based on PV, wind, and water electrolysis for large-scale industrial applications.

Ulleberg has an extensive international network, with work experience from short and long research visits in the USA, Germany, Japan, and South Africa.  For more than 25 years he has supervised Master’s and PhD students at UiO and other universities in Norway and abroad and has published numerous reports and articles in peer reviewed journals.

Dr Sarb Giddey is Senior Principal Research Scientist and currently Group Leader in the Energy Technologies Program at CSIRO. With over 20 years of research and development experience in hydrogen-related technologies, Dr. Giddey’s contributions have been instrumental in advancing renewable fuels production, utilization, and battery recycling technologies. As the leader of a dynamic group with diverse expertise, he drives ground-breaking R&D initiatives to enhance energy conversion efficiencies and promote the economic viability of emerging zero-emission technologies. Dr. Giddey’s pivotal role in the development of CSIRO’s Electrolyser and fuel cell technologies has been instrumental in the establishment of the prestigious Centre for Hybrid Energy Systems (CHES) in Melbourne. His visionary approach to technology commercialization has led to the successful spin-off of two companies (Endua – https://www.endua.com/ and Hadean Energy – https://hadeanenergy.com.au/) in the electrolysis (hydrogen production) space, involving various industrial and commercial partners. Beyond his research endeavours, Dr. Giddey is a recognized authority in the hydrogen and fuel cell sector and sits on the Standards Australia committee, contributing to the adaptation of industry standards in this domain. His immense knowledge and expertise have been shared with the scientific community through over 70 refereed publications, book chapters, and several patents granted and provisional applications. The impact of his research is evident, with 6500 citations to his name, underlining the far-reaching influence of his work.

Nawshad Haque is a Principal Research Scientist at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Australia and leads the Techno-economics for Decarbonisation Team. His team is evaluating electrolysers and other associated technologies for hydrogen energy systems. Dr Haque has over 20 years R&D experience since having a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Sydney. He has played a key role in the development of CSIRO’s technology evaluation capabilities including flowsheeting, techno-economic and life cycle assessment methodologies using various databases, tools and software. Dr Haque has a strong interest in the evaluation of technologies for decarbonisation of the energy, mining, mineral processing and metallurgical industries. Dr. Haque is the Leader for the CSIRO BCSIR Bangladesh, RMIT and Dhaka University long-term collaboration program for scientific research capability development in Bangladesh. Dr Haque leads ‘India-Australia Minerals Scholar Network’ on Critical Minerals and Green Steel national research partnership to develop talents which was announced as part of the joint Prime Minister’s statements of both nations. Dr Haque has co-authored more than 120 publications attracting numerous citations. Dr Haque is currently an elected Fellow of the Australian Institute of Energy, Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and a member of the TMS. He has assisted several journals including Minerals, Journal of Cleaner Production, Drying Technology, and a regular reviewer of International Journal of Hydrogen Energy. He has served as a Director of the Board of Australian Life Cycle Assessment Society for 10 years. Dr Haque has co-supervised CSIRO sponsored 17 PhD students and over 58 vacation scholarship projects to completion. He is an adjunct academic at the Swinburne, Monash and RMIT University in Australia.

A/Prof Shaun Chan is an Associate Professor at UNSW (University of New South Wales) and a 2023 CSIRO International Hydrogen Research Program Mid-Career Fellow. His research focuses on combustion diagnostics in high-pressure, high-temperature environments. Dr Chan specializes in optical/laser-based imaging diagnostics in practical engine environments, advanced combustion strategies, and alternative fuels. Since joining UNSW, he has helped secure around $22 million in competitive external research funding, with $2.49 million as a grant or project leads.