Employee directory

In the employee directory you will find contact information and profile pages for the DBFZ employees. The employees of the cooperation departments with the Helmholz Centre for Environmental Research, BEN and MicAs can be reached via the linked pages.


Job

Deputy scient. Managing Director DBFZ / Head of Bioenergy Systems Department

Field of work

Professor Daniela Thraen studied Technical Environmental Protection at the University of Berlin and received her doctorate at the Bauhaus University Weimar. As a scientist, she is researching how biomass can be produced and used in the most sustainable way possible. Since 2002, she has been head of the "Bioenergy Systems" department and since 2008 deputy scientific director at the DBFZ, the German Institute for Biomass Research in Leipzig. She has headed the Department of Bioenergy at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) in Leipzig since 2011 and has held the chair of Bioenergy Systems at the University of Leipzig since then. She contributes her expertise on the sustainable use and production of biomass to numerous committees and is Co-Chairwoman of the German Bioeconomy Council. Professor Thraen leads research projects in the field of bioenergy, bioeconomics and the spatial impact of renewable energies and has developed the "Smart Bioenergy" approach, considering technologies and concepts needed for a more flexible bioenergy provision in future energy systems.
 

Curriculum vitae

Since 2021Spokesperson of the UFZ integrated platform Sustainability Transformation, previously TOPIC spokesperson in the research program Technology, Innovation and Society (2015 - 2020)
Since 2011Head of the Department „Bioenergy“ at the Helmholtz Centre of Environmental Research (UFZ)
Since 2011Professorship at the University of Leipzig (Chair of Bioenergy Systems at the Institute for Infrastructure and Resource Management of the Faculty of Economic Science)
Since 2008Head of the Department "Bioenergy Systems" and Deputy Scientific Managing Director at the DBFZ, the German institute for biomass research
2002 - 2008Head of the Department "Bioenergy Systems" at the Institute for Energy and Environment
2001 - 2002Project Manager Biomass/ Renewable Energies at the University of Stuttgart
1996 - 2000Project Manager Waste Management at the University of Potsdam
1998 - 2001Bauhaus University Weimar / PhD-Thesis "Material Flow Account in rural areas – Analysis, determination of objectives and evaluation of  the timber balance in a sustainable regional development"
1989 - 1995Technical University of Berlin: Degreed Engineer for Environmental Engineering

Committee work

2020New appointment to the Bioeconomy Council of the Federal Government, elected to Co-Chairwoman in Jan 2021
Since 2019Member of the Scientific Advisory Board for Climate Protection and Climate Impact Adaptation at the Ministry for the Environment, Energy and Nature Conservation in the Free State of Thuringia
Since 2019Co-Task lead and national team leader Germany of the IEA Bioenergy Task 44 - "Flexible bioenergy and systems integration"
Since 2019Member of Sub-programme 1: Sustainable Production of Biomass and of Sub-programme 5: Sustainability/ Techno-economic Analysis/ Public Acceptance of EERA Bioenergy
Since 2018Member of the Programme Committee and the Scientific Advisory Board, scientific patronage as DBFZ representative of the  Doctoral Colloquium Bioenergy
Since 2017Co-Editor in Chief of the journal "Sustainability and Society" of Springer Verlag
2016 - 2020Member of the European Bioeconomy Stakeholders’ Panel
Since 2016Member of the Sustainable Development Solution Network (SDSN)
Since 2016UFZ representative on the Directorate in the Research Association for Renewable Energies (FVEE)
2014 - 2020Member of the research association "Think Tank Helmholtz Association UFZ
2012 - 2021Member of the expert committee of the Saxony Energy Advisory Council
2012 - 2019Member of the Bioeconomy Council of the Federal Republic of Germany – independent Advisory Committee for the federal Government of Germany
2010 - 2018Member of the International Energy Agency (IEA) Bioenergy Agreement – Task 40 - "Sustainable International Bioenergy Trade"
Since 2015Convenor of the Working Group 1 of the International Organization for Standardization ISO/TC 238 "Solid Biofuels"
Since 2011Member of the Advisory Board of the Aviation Initiative for Renewable Energy in Germany e.V. (aireg)
Since 2010Head of the BMWi Bioenergy Research Network
Since 2007Member of Working Group 1 "Biomass availability" of the European Technology and Innovation Platform (ETIP) Bioenergy
Since 2002Expert "Terminology", Deutsches Institut für Normung e.V. (DIN): NA 062-05-82 AA Working Committee on Biogenic Solid Fuels