Maria Anna HecherMaria Anna Hecher obtained her PhD degree at the University of Graz, Austria and the Ludwig-Maximilian-University, Germany. In her research she investigates energy transitions from a socio-technical perspective with a special focus on individual adoption decisions in the building sector to derive strategies and policy recommendations fostering sustainable energy transitions. Therefore, she pursues an interdisciplinary approach combining environmental and social science methods. After her PhD, she had the chance to put her knowledge into practice and managed a three-year program on regional sustainabiltiy projects in an energy region in Styria, Austria. In cooperation with local decision-makers, public authorities, schools, companies and the local population, she realized projects in the field of renewable energy and sustainable mobility. She worked as a consultant in an energy agency for and in the city of Graz, Austria. She managed projects in the field of e-mobility and spatial energy planning collaborating with public authorities, energy suppliers, city planners and research institutions. Her work in recent years, has been performed mostly in an inter- and transdisciplinary setting integrating knowledge from different scientific disciplines and fields of practice at the interface between research, politics and society.
Ankita SinghviAnkita Singhvi studies circular economy for cities and is currently a PhD candidate at EPFL (Prof. C. R. Binder, HERUS).
Ankita received her BSc degree in Architecture from the Technical University Delft in 2017. She graduated with a design proposal for the Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam that examined the ageing of materials in the built environment. Her interest in climate adaptation led her to pursue a MSc in Industrial Ecology from Leiden University and TU Delft. She graduated in 2020 with honours, with a thesis on resilience in grey and nature-based infrastructure for coastal protection.
During her studies, Ankita interned at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and at Circle Economy. After graduation, she worked at LDE Centre for Sustainability, bridging science with practise. She coordinated the Circular Industries Hub, where she supported companies in their transition towards the principles of a circular economy. She collaborated on two research projects: “Securing Critical Materials for Critical Sectors: Policy options for the Netherlands and the European Union” (2021) and “Opportunities for resilient supply chains in a post-COVID-19 era: Lessons from the Dutch High Tech sector” (2021).
Ankita continues her work within the context of circular resource use at HERUS, EPFL. Her research focuses on the role of circular economy in urban and territorial transitions towards sustainability.
