Short Bio:
Dr. Maria Kottari is an experienced energy transition, climate change, and sustainability expert and founder of The Energy Matrix. She has 15 years of working experience and a solid network in subjects related to the EU and international politics and governance, energy and climate policies, sustainability, innovation, and socio-economic challenges. Throughout her career in the public sector (European Commission’s (EC) Joint Research Centre(JRC),European Union Agency for Cybersecurity), academia (European University Institute, University of Amsterdam) and consultancy (collaboration among others with UN’s Food & Agricultural organisation) she has been involved in various initiatives related to the policy and socio-economic aspects of the energy transition (including labour market reforms, circular economy principles) and climate change mitigation and adaptation, in particular the green economy (e.g. sustainable finance, decarbonisation processes), technological and citizen-driven innovation. She has a strong methodologic background in qualitative and quantitative research methods, such as interviews, surveys, case studies, policy analysis and strategic recommendations. She has also extensive experience as a trainer and facilitator of workshops (online and in person) with application of novel and traditional learning and development methods. During her career, she has lead and implemented projects in the field of green economy and innovation with focus on science, renewable energy technologies, innovation, climate change mitigation and adaptation for the EU and international markets. She has been acting as a European Commission External Evaluator (funding & progress monitoring) for Horizon2020 projects in the energy and climate change domain. She has also worked for the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre focusing on the research, innovation and competitiveness of low-carbon energy technologies. More precisely, she was involved in the management and implementation of the Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET Plan) thataims to achieve the EU’s energy and climate goals by helping to coordinate national research and innovation (R&I) activities in developing low-carbon energy among EU Member States and 4 associated countries. The SET Plan steps up cooperation between governments, industry and research institutes to leverage the use of R&I funding schemes for clean energy. She was part of the Strategic Energy Technology Information System(SETIS) team where she was, among others, coordinating stakeholders engagement activities and co-editing the SETIS Magazine. As such she gained a solid understanding of low-carbon energy technologies ecosystem and priorities while she did extensive mapping and led outreach activities to relevant public and private stakeholders. She is a native speaker of Greek, has a fluent command of English and French and has an intermediate level of Dutch. She can also communicate in German and Arabic at different levels. Born and raised in Greece , she lived in France, Belgium, Azerbaijan and is currently based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Areas of expertise Energy Transition, Climate Change| Sustainability, Innovation | Governance, International & European Affairs | Youth, Women Empowerment| Sustainable Finance | Research & Policy Analysis | Project Management | Provision of Technical Assistance| Monitoring & Evaluation | Foresight studies | Communication, Networking | Public Consultation
