DAVID OTARISHVILI

Founder K4S & Renewable Energy Program Manager

Mr. Otarishvili is a Devoted Son, Husband, and Father committed to social, environmental, and energy transition. He is an expert of the renewable energy industry with a specialization in low-carbon hydrogen value chains. With international working experience he participated in the development, financing and execution of renewable energy projects with a value of multi billion euros worldwide. He holds an M.Sc. degree in European Master of Sustainable Energy System Management (The Netherlands), and has been awarded a Holland Scholarship by Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture & Science. Beside that, he holds an international diploma for occupational Health, Safety and Environmental Management (UK).

Currently Mr. Otarishvili is working at RWE, one of the largest energy company in the world and managing hydrogen business development in the North American, European, and APAC Regions.

DR. IR. WIM VAN GEMERT

Guest Lecturer - Energy Transition

Dr. Ir. Wim van Gemert studied Chemical Engineering at the Technical University Eindhoven, The Netherlands, where he earned his PhD. Wim worked for TNO, the Dutch Organization for Applied Research and in the late eighties he joined Gasunie, a main European natural gas trading and transmission company. In many ways he has been involved in managing innovations, in a European context. Since 2006, Mr.Gemert was connected to the Center of Expertise for Energy of the Hanze University of Applied Science, Groningen, as a 'Leading Lecturer Energy Transition' and was one of the main person responsible for setting-up of Energy Transition Center "EnTranCe" by connecting a variety of partners from his personal network RenQi, an open innovation center for sustainable energy-infrastructures. Wim is a Founding Partner of ResKey International Organization for a Resilient Culture which is currently under development. For his brilliant achievements in the energy sector and sustainable development in general the commissioner of the King of the Netherlands in the province of Groningen, Dr. MJ van den Berg, awarded a Royal Honor to Dr. Ir. WJT van Gemert. Additionally for his contribution in the region of the North of The Netherlands Hanze University of Applied Sciences awarded Wim with the silver Hanze Coin of Merit.

IRAPUA SANTOS RIBEIRO

Guest Lecturer - Concentrated Solar Thermal Power

Mr. Ribeiro is a Mechanical Engineer with a Master in Renewable Energy and an MBA in Project Management. He has more than 10 years of experience in various industries such as mining, steel and railways, where he developed and implemented projects in the areas of production capacity expansion, business continuity and plant renewal. He devoted his last five years to the solar industry, where he specialized in concentrating technologies. Since 2018, he has been responsible for business development, sales and marketing strategies at Industrial Solar GmbH.

ELLIOT MORGAN

Guest Lecturer - Solar PV

Mr. Morgan holds a Bachelor's of Mechatronic Engineering from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and a Master's of Science in Renewable Energy (Photovoltaics) from Hanze University of Applied Sciences. With experience in both the software and renewable energy industries, Elliot has spent the last 4 years working in a project managerial and design capacity in the Caribbean and the Netherlands, and has deployed projects in Latin America, Africa, Europe and Asia. Elliot currently works as an Asset Manager at Sunrock BV in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

JON ZAYAS CASTRO

Guest Lecturer - Wind Energy

Mr. Zayas Castro is an Industrial Mechanical Engineer who studied at the University of The Basque Country (Spain) and carried out his final thesis at the Solar Lab of the University of Applied Sciences of Emden/Leer (Germany). Moreover, he studied a M. Sc. in Renewable Energy hold by the Hanze University of Applied Sciences of Groningen (The Netherlands) and EUREC, where he was then specialized in Wind Energy at the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA, Greece). During the last years of his career, he has been working with top leading wind turbine manufacturers such as Goldwind in Beijing (China) and Siemens Gamesa in Madrid (Spain) and has also been developing RE projects in the north of Spain with Capital Energy building up a portfolio of more than 1 GW. Currently, he is working with the international RE producer Statkraft materializing a wind portfolio of 1.4 GW in the Iberian Peninsula.

STEFFEN WALVIUS

Guest Lecturer - Sustainable Development

Mr. Walvius is a sustainability specialist for commercial real estate. He's heading the sustainability consultancy business for Central and Eastern Europe at JLL, one of the world's largest real estate service companies. He has over ten years of experience in the construction, energy and real estate sectors. Steffen started a sustainability consultancy business a couple of years ago and has helped numerous real estate investors, developers, owners and managers adopt better environmental, social and governance (ESG) business practices and build green & healthy buildings. With a BSc in civil-structural engineering and an MSc in sustainable energy, he has a solid technical understanding, making him a good intermediate between corporate teams and stakeholders with boots on the ground. He is full of passion and wants to teach everything he knows to ensure we advance on sustainable development as fast as possible.

CINTA PEERDEMAN

Guest Lecturer - Geothermal Energy

Mrs. Peerdeman holds a Bachelor’s degree in Science, Business, and Innovation, and a Master's degree in Sustainable Energy Systems Management (SESyM), plus a Master's degree in Sustainable Food Systems (Master in Gastronomy - World Food Cultures and Mobility) from the University of Gastronomic Sciences.
One of the graduation internships she did was in Tuscany, Italy, at a brewery that uses geothermal energy as its primary energy source. Here she researched the sustainability of beer produced with geothermal energy and how the environmental sustainability could be improved without compromising the quality of the beer and the economic viability of the brewery. For another graduation internship, she went to Indonesia where she studied the opportunities and implications of sustainable tourism on coffee farms in East-Java.
In 2018, she started her own company and since then she is working as a freelancer on a wide variety of sustainability projects, such as on wind energy in southern Italy, LCA on cycling apparel, and the combination of geothermal energy and food production. Her focus is always on people and making a positive impact on people’s lives through sustainability projects. Cinta is currently based in Rome.

RORY VAN WEERDENBURG

Guest Lecturer - Offshore Energy

Mr. van Weerdenburg is a specialist in offshore energy, having worked in offshore oil and gas and marine renewables energy for 14 years. Rory currently works as a Project Development Manager at Aker Offshore Wind, an offshore wind developer focused on assets in deep waters and specialized on floating energy systems. Prior joining to Aker, Rory worked for several ocean energy companies, helping design and test new wave energy convertor concepts and developing pre-commercial projects.
After graduating with a Bachelor of Mechatronic Engineering from the University of Queensland, Rory began career working nearly a decade in subsea project execution for Australia's largest independent oil and gas company. In 2016, Rory relocated to Europe complete MSc in Renewable Energy (Grid Connection) and transition his career to renewable energy.

IRAKLI SAMKHARADZE

Guest Lecturer - Energy Market Analysis
(Regulation, Policy, Law)

Dr. Irakli Samkharadze is an Associate Professor in International Law and the Head of European Integration Research Centre at Georgian National University. He holds the LL.M. degree in International and European Public Law from Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands and he has previously worked as an International Scholar at KU Leuven’s Institute for Energy and Environmental Law in Belgium and DAAD Research Fellow at Friedrich-Schiller University of Jena, Germany. His particular research interests cover EU energy law and climate change, legal harmonization in non-EU countries and decarbonization solutions incl. hydrogen. He currently works as an Energy Advisor at OMNIA. Being connected and deeply embedded in the international community of sustainability, climate and energy, he frequently speaks at international and national conferences and regularly contributes to conventional and online publications.

TINEKE VAN DER MEIJ

Guest Lecturer - Hydrogen

Mrs. van der Meij studied Physics and Astronomy, followed by a PHD in Experimental Physics, both at University Utrecht. From 1990 till 2018 she worked at NV Nederlandse Gasunie (Dutch gas infrastructure company) in 10 different functions: from flame research to procurement, account management transport services, regulation, operational audit, safety, finance and strategy& innovation.
In 2018 she started her own business EnergyGardenNL as a free lance consultant, adviser, project manager and guest lecturer in renewable energy topics. Current activities are predominantly hydrogen related, with assignments at Hanze University of Applied Sciences and New Energy Coalition. She enjoys to work on the interface of innovation, research and education and is based in Groningen, The Netherlands.

KHATIA SHAVERDASHVILI

Guest Lecturer - IT and Energy

Ms. Khatia Shaverdashvili holds a bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Caucasus University, Georgia and is a master student of energy policy studies at Masaryk University, Czech Republic. Her energy sector experience includes BP South Caucasus Pipeline Expansion Project and Namakhvani Hydropower Project. Later, this experience became a turning point for her to pursue education in the energy field. While exploring energy policy at Masaryk University, Khatia started working for IBM. Currently, she is working at the Kyndryl as a Regional Service Manager. Khatia 's areas of interest are the role and benefits of technology in the energy sector.