GENERAL SEMINAR: Dr. Gebrekidan Gebresilassie Eshetu, RWTH Aachen University, Germany
Title: Global Hub for Multiscale Battery Research, Innovation, and International Collaboration
Abstract
The development of next-generation battery technologies requires integrated research approaches that connect fundamental materials science with cell engineering and system-level innovation. CARL RWTH Aachen is uniquely as multidisciplinary research platform that combines state-of-the-art characterization facilities, advanced materials research, electrochemical analysis, and engineering capabilities to accelerate battery innovation across multiple length scales. This seminar will introduce the broad research infrastructure and thematic areas available at CARL RWTH Aachen, highlighting its capabilities from materials discovery and characterization to battery cell development and system integration. Particular emphasis will be placed on identifying complementary research strengths and opportunities for international collaboration, including the development of joint research proposals under Horizon Europe, the European Union–African Union (EU–AU) Partnership, and other international funding initiatives. The seminar aims to foster new scientific partnerships that advance next-generation energy storage through collaborative, interdisciplinary research.
Biography: Dr. Gebrekidan Gebresilassie Eshetu earned his Joint M.Sc. in 2010 in Materials Science and Chemical Engineering with specialization on Materials for Energy Storage and Conversion, under the Erasmus Mundus (European Commission) scholarship program, from five European universities: UPJV (France), WUT (Poland), UPS (France), UCO (Spain), and AMU (France). After obtaining his PhD in Materials for Energy Storage in 2013 from the LRCS (CNRS) laboratory (UPJV, France) under the supervision of Prof. Michel Armand, he carried out his first postdoctoral research at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Helmholtz Institute Ulm (HIU, Germany) in the group of Prof. Stefano Passerini. In 2017, he joined CIC Energigune (CIC, Spain) as a senior postdoctoral researcher.
Currently, he is a senior researcher and group leader at RWTH Aachen University (Germany). He is also the coordinator of Good Science and Publications at Center for Ageing, Reliability and Lifetime Prediction of Electrochemical and Power Electronic Systems (CARL) of RWTH Aachen University. At the same time, he is an adjunct professor of Materials Science and Engineering at the Mekelle Institute Technology (Ethiopia). In 2020-2021, he was awarded a visiting Professorship of Advanced Materials for Energy Storage at Warsaw University of Technology (WUT, Poland), under the competitive Professorship Award by European Commission MESC program. He is also a fellow of the African Science Leadership Program (ASLP) and founding member of the African Institute for Sustainable Energy and System Analysis (AISESA).
His research interest focuses on the development of Advanced Next generation energy battery devices and their in-depth characterization for applications in the electro mobility, renewable energy integration and utility/grid. Dr. Eshetu has more than 60 peer-reviewed articles in high impact factor journals, including Nature Communication, JACS, Energy & Environmental Science, Joule, Angewandte international, Nano energy, Advanced energy materials etc. and H-index of 38.