Meet the Advisory Board: 3 Questions for Dr. Richard Vestner

What excites you the most about being part of the BLUE PLANET Berlin Water Dialogues advisory board?

An immensely experienced team with different professional backgrounds is working together to shape a conference that takes up an important topic of our time, and I’m excited to be part of this.

What’s your contribution to BLUE PLANET?

I try to contribute with my knowledge of the digitization of the water sector and pay attention to relevant topics as well as practical presentations with applicable results.

What can people expect from the next BLUE PLANET?

A highlight in the agenda of global water and environmental experts: Participants can expect German and international best practices and demonstrations of concrete solutions, while also connecting with leading experts in the field and growing their individual networks.

Prof. Dr. Phoebe Koundouri

Phoebe Koundouri is Professor in Economics and Director of ReSEES Laboratory at the School of Economics of the Athens University of Economics and Business, part-time Research Professor at the Department of Technology, Management and Economics at the Technical University of Denmark – DTU, and Director of the Sustainable Development Unit (SDU)  at ATHENA Information Technology Research Center. She holds a MPhil and a PhD in Economics from the University of Cambridge, and has held academic positions at the University of Cambridge, University College London, University of Reading, and London School of Economics.  She is recognized as a pioneer in innovative, human-centric, interdisciplinary systems for the sustainable interaction between nature, society, and the economy. She has published 15 books and more than 600 scientific papers, co-edited a number of prestigious academic journals, organized numerous international scientific conferences, supervised more than 30 PhD students, and gave keynote speeches and public lectures across the world. In 2019, she was elected President of the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (EAERE) and she is now chairing the World Council of Environmental and Natural Resource Economists Associations (WCERE). She is the director of the Alliance of Excellence for Research and Innovation on Aeiphoria (AE4RIA), linking the research and innovation work of 5 research centers, 5 innovations accelerators and numerous science-policy networks, with more than 200 researchers and 100 large interdisciplinary competitively funded projects involved (with applications in more than 120 countries). She is chair of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) Global Climate Hub and co-chair of SDSN Europe, with 2000 universities involved. She is elected member of Academia Europaea (European Academy of Science), the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, the World Academy of Art and Science, and member of the InterAcademy Partnership Board. She is commissioner for the Lancet Commission on COVID19 Recovery and invited member of the Program on Fraternal Economy of Integral and Sustainable Development of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences. In 2022 she received the prestigious European Research Council Synergy Grant and in 2023, she was awarded the Academy of Athens Excellence in Science Award, awarded every four years. She is member of the Nominating Committee for the Prize in Economics Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, the Royal Swedish Academy of Science.

INVITATION | BLUE PLANET Berlin Water Dialogues 2023

BLUE PLANET Berlin Water Dialogues

Online Conference | 8 November 2023 | 12:00 – 17:00 CET


The highly esteemed online conference brings together international experts from research, business, and politics in the field of innovative water management. 


Discover how Circular Economy principles can unlock the immense potential of water. Discover water’s value: as a service, a vital ingredient for processes, an energy source, and a transporter of nutrients and other materials.
Get inspired by innovative ideas presented in live keynote speeches, panel discussions and project pitches. Engage in discussions, share your knowledge, and network with entrepreneurs and scientists in one-on-one meetings and breakout sessions.


Participation is free, and the event will be conducted in English. For more information, please visit our website at www.blueplanetberlin.de or follow on LinkedIn and X.


Let’s close the loop together by working towards a Circular Water Economy.


We can’t wait to have you join us!

Meet the Advisory Board: 3 Questions for Dr. Bettina Rechenberg

Bettina Rechenberg is General Director of Division III „Sustainable Production and Products, Waste Management“ at the Federal Environment Agency. The biologist has been working at UBA since 1992, initially in the areas of water protection, chemical safety and sustainable production, resource conservation and material cycles. Since 2015, she has been head of Division III, which analyses the environmental impacts associated with the extraction of raw materials, industrial production and use, recycling and disposal of products and seeks practicable, environmentally sound and resource-saving solutions. This also includes the protection of water bodies from avoidable pollution.

What excites you the most about being part of the BLUE PLANET advisory board?

I am delighted to contribute to this exciting and successful format, which bridges the gap between science and practice. In the face of climate change, I find it thrilling that we are also addressing water quantity alongside water quality concerns.

What’s your contribution to BLUE PLANET? 

UBA is committed to addressing environmental impacts throughout the entire value chain. Our purpose is to find practical solutions, which is why we offer support for research projects and their implementation. The insights gained are integrated into BLUE PLANET.

What can people expect from the next BLUE PLANET?

I find it particularly exciting that the online conference not only deals with the issues of recycling water and its constituents but also with the utilisation of the thermal potential contained in wastewater.

Meet the Advisory Board: 3 Questions for Boris Greifeneder

What excites you the most about being part of the BLUE PLANET Berlin Water Dialogues advisory board?

The Advisory Board brings together experts from various backgrounds to explore the Circular Economy. Their inAs a fresh addition to the advisory board, I was pleasantly surprised by how swiftly we delved into meaningful discussions and transformed ideas into a cohesive vision. I’m thrilled to contribute to BLUE PLANET 2023. Let’s make waves together!

What’s your contribution to BLUE PLANET?

I contribute to the program design, with a particular focus on bridging the gap between research and practice. One aI’m well-connected in the field of economic policy, especially at the federal level. My main contribution to BLUE PLANET is to connect with member companies and gain valuable insights into various technological advancements and global projects.

What can people expect from the next BLUE PLANET?

Water management is a pressing global issue. As the world faces the challenge of scarce water resources, it is vital for us to collaborate and share innovative solutions. BLUE PLANET plays a crucial role in connecting and exchanging ideas.

Meet the Advisory Board: 3 Questions for Dr. Lisa Broß

What excites you the most about being part of the BLUE PLANET Berlin Water Dialogues advisory board?

The Advisory Board brings together experts from various backgrounds to explore the Circular Economy. Their interdisciplinary approach and forward-thinking mindset perfectly align with my passion for securing the future of water management.

What’s your contribution to BLUE PLANET?

I contribute to the program design, with a particular focus on bridging the gap between research and practice. One area that I am particularly passionate about is the holistic understanding of the water cycle.

What can people expect from the next BLUE PLANET?

Join BLUE PLANET for a dynamic and innovative experience! Explore fascinating presentations, connect with like-minded professionals, and stay ahead of the curve.

Christopher Thomas

Artificial intelligence provides the opportunity to democratize complexity by exploiting correlation rather than causation which enables companies to become increasingly sophisticated in optimizing their operations.

Chris is the Head of Innovation and Enterprise. He is experienced in working with digital innovators to bring their solutions to the water industry. His work spans across the lifecycle of new ventures, having supported teams seeking investment, piloting and developing new products and implementing mature solutions at an enterprise scale.

Chris previously worked at Bristol Water as the Head of Business Improvement and Innovation. He developed the company’s innovation framework and as part of this founded a business incubator to support startups bringing their new solutions to the industry. He was also responsible for transformation activities and set up a number of new digital capabilities around automation and reporting as well as leading organisational and process changes across asset management, operations and the back office.

Prior to Bristol Water, Chris worked for Baringa Partners supporting a range of Utility clients across the UK with operating model improvement projects.

Oliver Grievson

In order for the water industry to face its challenges of net zero and achieving a health environment the use of Digital Tools are absolutely essential. Whether this is Data and information management at its most basic or artificial intelligence at the most complex doesn’t really matter. However, this is going to take a lot to achieve and an honesty from the industry to realize that we must get the basics right and build from there. Once the basics are right and the data that we rely upon in a state that we can believe it we can build the Digital Tools that will give us a situational awareness which will help us to manage more efficiently.

Oliver Grievson has over 25 yearOliver Grievson has more than 25 years of experience in the wastewater industry, specialising in wastewater measurement and digital transformation. Among many other roles, he is currently Chair of the IWA Digital Water Programme and a Fellow of IWA.

As a process engineer, instrumentation specialist and a Digital Water expert he looks forward to a day where we make effective use of the data and information that the water industry collects.

Dr. David B. Steffelbauer

The success of artificial intelligence in almost all areas of life creates countless opportunities to solve today’s water challenges. And this is exactly what the Blue Planet Berlin Water dialogues focus on.

David B. Steffelbauer is the leader of the Hydroinformatics group at the Urban Systems Department at Kompetenzzetrum Wasser Berlin gGmbH (KWB) in Germany. His research is located in the interdisciplinary field of Hydroinformatics, where his research contributes to solving urgent water-related problems by developing innovative methods and algorithms that utilize multi-sensor data and help to increase the total efficiency of urban water systems. His main research interests lie in understanding (i) how urban water systems behave under failures and (ii) how to prevent such failures in advance.

He studied physics at TU Graz and specialized during his studies in theoretical and computational physics with a thesis in the field of quantum many-body theory and completed a Ph.D. in Urban Water Management at TU Graz on model-based leak localization which was awarded one of the best doctoral theses in Austria in 2018. After that, he spent two years as a Marie Curie Fellow at TU Delft and Leiden University’s Institute of Advanced Computer Science in the Netherlands. Before he came to Berlin, he has been Associate Professor for Hydroinformatics at NTNU in Trondheim (Norway).

Jennifer Porto

Climate change is going to reshape our lives – I’m excited to see how AI can help us preserve and best use our most precious natural resource.

Born in Iowa, moderator Jennifer Porto has spent more than 15 years on stages across Germany, including seven years as a soloist at the Oper Leipzig.

In addition to her role as the arts coordinator for NYU Berlin, Jennifer works as a moderator, helping guide audiences (and occasionally panel members!) through programs that run the gamut from politics to youth engagement to the music business. Her special focus is the energy transition.