Speakers
Dr. Mark Khenkin
Affiliation: Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin
Title of talk: Diving into outdoor behaviour of perovskite solar cells
Short bio: Dr. Mark Khenkin is a physicist at Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB), specialising in the stability and reliability of emerging photovoltaic technologies, particularly perovskite and tandem solar cells. Before joining HZB, he was a postdoctoral researcher at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, where he investigated solar cell stability under concentrated sunlight. He earned his Ph.D. in Physics from Lomonosov Moscow State University, working on disordered semiconductor films. Currently leads the group on perovskite PV reliability, with a strong focus on outdoor testing and accelerated stress ageing
Dr. Nicola Trivellin
Affiliation: University of Padova
Title of talk: Perovskite solar cells and modules, from reliability analysis to innovative applications.
Short bio: Nicola Trivellin is an Associate Professor at the Department of Industrial Engineering at the University of Padua, where he was born in 1983. He obtained his bachelor's degree in Information Engineering in 2005 and his master's degree in Electronic Engineering in 2007, followed by a PhD in Information Science and Technology in 2010 at the same university. From 2011 to 2019, he served as a research fellow at the Department of Information Engineering and was the General Director of the spin-off company LightCube SRL. He has published over 100 scientific articles and holds 10 patents. Trivellin is Associate Editor for the IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics and member of the advisory board for IEEE Transaction on Devices and Material Reliability. He is the lecturer of the courses "Microcontrollers & DSP" and "Automotive and Domotics" and "Photovoltaic Science and Technologies". His research spans from the characterization and reliability analysis of optoelectronic devices to innovative lighting for biomedical, industrial, and space applications.
Dr. Karim Medjoubi
Affiliation: Institut Photovoltaïque d'Ile-de-France (IPVF) - Palaiseau
Title of talk: Reliability Assessment of Perovskite Solar Devices: Insights from Real-World and Accelerated Testing
Short bio: Karim Medjoubi obtained his PhD in 2021 at CEA, where he investigated the degradation mechanisms of III-V multi-junction solar cells for space applications. The same year, he joined IPVF to address the reliability and monitoring of perovskite solar devices. He is now leading the Reliability work-package, focusing on stability assessment and lifetime prediction of emerging photovoltaic technologies.
Prof. Monica Lira
Affiliation: Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia (ICN2)
Title of talk: Stability and reliability of perovskite photovoltaics: Are we there yet?
Short bio: Monica Lira-Cantu is Full Professor and Group Leader of the Nanostructured Materials for Photovoltaic Energy Group at the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2) in Barcelona, Spain. Her research interests are the synthesis of novel nanomaterials and the control of their optoelectronic properties through their manipulation at molecular level, with the aim of developing very stable and highly efficient emerging solar cells like dye-sensitized, hybrid, organic and perovskite solar cells and the integration of different types of energy technologies for self-power electronics and the production of green energy. She obtained her PhD in Materials Science in 1997 and worked as a staff chemist for ExxonMobil Research & Engineering (USA) and returned to Spain in 2001 obtaining a Permanent research position in 2006. She was visiting professor at EPFL (Switzerland) in 2018 and has been visiting scientist at the Center for Advanced Science and Innovation (Japan), Oslo University (Norway), and the Risø DTU National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy (Denmark). Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC) and the Cannon Foundation in Europe. She is currently Editor-in-Chief of APL Energy (AIP Publishing) and Advisory Editorial Board for Discovery Materials and Springer Nature Applied Sciences (Nature); Adv. Energy and Sustainability (Wiley); Chemical Physics Impact (Elsevier) and Matter (Cell Press). She has more than 145 publications, including 135 published articles in scientific journals, one edited book, 10 book chapters, and 11 patents. She is a reviewer for more than 45 scientific organizations and more than 50 scientific journals.
Dr. Peter Pasmans
Affiliation: ETERNAL SUN
Title of talk: Characterization challenges and solutions for commercial perovskite PV modules
Short bio:
2009-2013 PhD in Physics from Eindhoven University of Technology
2014-2019 Materials Scientist at DSM Materials Science Center
2019-2021 Application Development Specialist at DSM Advanced Solar
2021-2024 Application Development Specialist at Endurans Solar
2024-current Business Developer Perovskites at Eternal Sun
2019-current Member of IEC TC82 WG2
Dr. Veronique Gevaerts
Affiliation: TNO
Title of talk: Packaging strategies for flexible Perovskite devices and digital twinning for outdoor performance evaluation
Short bio: Veronique Gevaerts is a senior scientist at TNO in the Netherlands. She is actively involved in thin-film photovoltaics research with a focus on tandem and interconnection technology. Within TNO she is responsible for the program of Solar Module Technology and Sustainability and leads several (international) projects. Her academic background includes a MSc in Chemistry from Utrecht University, and she completed an internship in the group of Prof. Dr. Martin Green at UNSW in Sydney, Australia, which sparked her interest in photovoltaics. She obtained her PhD in organic photovoltaics from the Technical University of Eindhoven with Prof. Dr. Ir. René Janssen.
Dr. Luigi Vesce
Affiliation: University of Rome Tor Vergata CHOSE
Title of talk: From Lab to Large-Scale Modules in Perovskite Solar Cells
Short bio: Luigi Vesce is an Assistant Professor at the University of Rome Tor Vergata, teaching Physics, Nanoelectronics and Computer Science. His research focuses on printable electronics, next-generation photovoltaic technologies, thin-film deposition, and condensed matter physics. He developed a pilot line for a public/private consortium (Dyepower) producing 10,000 m²/year of dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) panels for BIPVs (Building Integrated Photovoltaics), bridging research and industrial application. He collaborates with research institutes and companies on process and materials engineering, quality control, and commercialization of third-generation photovoltaics, focusing on the large-scale development of efficient and stable fully printed DSSC and perovskite solar technologies for both outdoor and indoor applications. He has been invited as speaker, keynote, and session chair at over 40 international conferences and serves on scientific and organizing committees across Europe, Asia, and North America. He has authored more than 95 publications, including scientific articles, editorials, science communication articles, and one book chapter, and is on the editorial boards of leading international journals. He is the principal investigator on multiple national and international projects advancing photovoltaic technologies.