Chief Operating Officer, Almatis, Germany

Dr Alessio Scarsella, is a graduate of the University of Adelaide and holds a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering, PhD in Chemical Engineering and Master of Business Administration. He has been working in the mining, minerals, energy and chemical sectors for over 20 years. Dr Scarsella started his career in the power generation sector in Australia then progressed with Rio Tinto, Outotec and Metso, to hold global leadership positions resulting in the establishment of several operations around the world that have contributed significantly to the global production of Aluminum.  

Dr Scarsella now holds the position of Chief Operating Officer for the world’s largest Specialty Alumina Producer, Almatis, and oversees the global operations, of 8 sites world wide.   

Head of New Technology (Pyrometallurgy), Mintek, South Africa

Buhle Xakalashe is Head of New Technology in the Pyrometallurgy Division at Mintek, South Africa. He holds a BEng in Chemical Engineering from the University of Pretoria and an MSc Eng in Materials Technology (silicon and ferroalloy production) from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. With over 20 years of R&D experience in pyrometallurgy, he has worked with institutions including SINTEF, RWTH Aachen University, KU Leuven and the National Technical University of Athens. His work spans silicon, ferroalloys, titanium-bearing ores and secondary resource recovery. Buhle has co-authored more than 40 peer-reviewed papers and actively contributes to international minerals industry conferences and professional committees.  

Head of Center for Energy Systems and Strategy, Cranfield University, UK

Prof Ozkan holds a Chair in Sustainable Energy Transitions and is Head of the Centre for Energy Systems and Strategy at Cranfield University. She leads the economics, policy and markets work package and serves as UK National Director in the HyPT Center. Building on her interdisciplinary training as an urban planner, her research focuses on energy systems modelling and the spatial dimensions of energy transitions and their policy implications. Using mixed methods, she develops socio-technical frameworks, models and analytical tools. She has led and contributed to several projects on the development of the hydrogen economy in the UK, including transport and domestic sectors. Prof. Ozkan holds a PhD in Regional Planning from University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.  

Executive Director, Center for an Arizona Carbon-Neutral Economy, Co-Director of ASU LightWorks®, Professor of Practice, School of Molecular Sciences; and Senior Futures Scientist, Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory at Arizona State University (ASU), USA

Ellen B. Stechel is the Executive Director of the Center for an Arizona Carbon-Neutral Economy, Co-Director of ASU LightWorks®, Professor of Practice, School of Molecular Sciences; and Senior Futures Scientist, Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory at Arizona State University (ASU). With a Ph.D. in chemical physics from the University of Chicago, her career has afforded her opportunities to build and/or coordinate research programs at a national laboratory, industry, a U.S. government agency, and now in higher education; in both basic and applied research; policy and commercialization of emerging technologies; and in multi-disciplinary R&D strategy and management. Her current research focuses on materials and systems design for solar technologies for producing sustainable liquid hydrocarbons from carbon dioxide, hydrogen from advanced water splitting, clean water, renewable ammonia, and for thermochemical and chemical energy storage. 

Research Director, Energy Technologies at CSIRO, Australia

Daniel leads CSIRO's Energy Technologies Program, a portfolio of applied R&D across solar PV, solar thermal, bioenergy, hydrogen and carriers, and CO2 capture and utilisation. A focus of this work is the reduction of costs and technical risks associated with the decarbonisation of industry and transport sectors, in particular heavy industry, aviation fuels, and shipping.  

CEO, HILT CRC, Australia

Jenny has over 20 years of experience as an Engineer and Non-Executive Director, with expertise in decarbonisation and the energy transition. Jenny is currently the CEO of HILT CRC, a Co-Operative Research Centre that brings industry, universities and government organisations together to identify and de-risk decarbonisation pathways for Heavy Industry. Prior to this, Jenny worked across the energy industry at AEMO, the Australian Energy Market Operator where she focused on increasing renewable penetration in the Victorian transmission network, and at ExxonMobil, specialising in international joint venture and asset management. Jenny is also currently a Non-Executive Director at Gippsland Water.

Originally graduating from the University of Adelaide with a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) & Bachelor of Science, Jenny is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD), a Fellow of the Engineers Australia, and has completed an Executive MBA from Melbourne Business School and postgraduate studies into Climate Change Policy at the Australian National University.

Senior Engineer and Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Curtin University, Australia

Lina Hockaday has 18 years of pyrometallurgical research experience in the non-ferrous industry. She joined Mintek in 2002 after obtaining her B. Chem.Eng. (Minerals Processing) and M.Sc. in Extractive Metallurgy at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa. During 2002 to 2010, she worked in the commercial projects group on various projects including the recovery of precious metals in liquid iron and the smelting of ores to produce design specifications of an industrial ferrochrome DC arc furnace. From 2011 to late 2015, she took a break from work and had two delightful children, now aged 13 and 10. From 2015 till 2021, she has been involved in research of new technologies for titanium metal production, chlorination of titanium dioxides in a fluidized bed, and the applications of concentrating solar energy in mineral processing. In 2023, she obtained her PhD Mech Eng with the thesis entitled “Solar Thermal Treatment of Manganese Ores”. Dr Hockaday resigned from Mintek in June 2021 to move with her family to Perth, Australia. Since Oct 2022, she has been employed at Curtin University as a senior engineer and postdoctoral research fellow executing two HILT CRC projects involving the low-carbon upgrading of iron ores. 

General Manager, Green Iron Initiative, Australia

John is a highly regarded iron and steel industry professional with over 35 years of experience in applied technology and development and technical / operational leadership roles. Since 2022, he has been heading ZEN Energy’s Green Iron Initiative Project. Between 2008 and 2022, he was the Metallurgy Manager Ironmaking for OneSteel / Liberty at Whyalla.

John’s deep technical expertise has seen him work with BHP, OneSteel, Arrium, Liberty and now ZEN Energy. Commencing his career in 1988 with BHP as a Process Development Scientist in Ironmaking Technology, he steadily progressed, developing capabilities across the full ironmaking process and representing the industry at a global level.

POSCO Future Steel Research Institute, South Korea

General Manager - Planning and Business Development, GFG Alliance

Wayne has over 25 years’ experience in general management and senior executive roles within multiple industries across Australia and overseas, including iron and steel, large scale manufacturing and automotive. In his current role he is responsible for planning and business development in the GFG’s Industrial Planning Office. This includes oversight of the Australian and global program management offices, along with industry stakeholder engagement and strategic projects in Australia. 

Co-Director, Centre for Energy Technology, Adelaide University

Research Director, HILT CRC, Australia

Professor G.J. 'Gus' Nathan is Fellow of the Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering and of the Combustion Institute, an ARC Discovery Outstanding Researcher Awardee (Fellowship) and founding director of The University of Adelaide’s Centre for Energy Technology, who is listed in the top 2% of scientists world-wide both by Elsevier and Stanford University.