Meet Our Speakers 

Helen Robinson

Helen is the Regional Manager in Africa for the International Geothermal Association (IGA). Helen has almost 12 years of experience working in the geothermal sector. Her primary focus has been geothermal across sub-Saharan Africa and has worked on projects in Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Zambia, and South Africa.

She is technically qualified as a Hydrogeologist and in addition to her role with the IGA, she is the Director of Aquarius Resources, where, in addition to working on geothermal projects, she also works on groundwater related projects in mining, hazards, environment, and the humanitarian water sector.

Recently, she has also joined the UNDP as a freelance consultant with the Crisis Bureau and Global Policy Network.

Gregor Götzl

Gregor Götzl studied geophysics at the University of Vienna and headed the geothermal energy department at the Geological Survey of Austria / GeoSphere Austria from 2004 to 2022. Since May 2023, Gregor Götzl has been responsible for the development of geothermal heating systems at EVN Wärme GmbH. Gregor Götzl is a founding member of the Austrian Geothermal Association and served as its secretary during the 2021-2023 term.

David Bruhn

Prof. David Bruhn completed his PhD at ETH Zurich and then worked at GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences. He is currently leading the Global Georesources Competence Center at  Fraunhofer IEG, and a Professor of Geothermal Engineering at TU Delft. His research spans geothermal reservoir processes, rock deformation and fluid flow, stimulation and permeability enhancement, and the broader development of geothermal systems for sustainable heat supply. Throughout his career, he has combined experimental, numerical, and field-based approaches to better understand how geothermal reservoirs behave and how they can be used more efficiently and safely". He has been a long-standing supporter of the European Geothermal PhD Days, having been involved since the very first EGPD in Potsdam in 2010, which emerged from the EERA Joint Programme Geothermal.

Rusbeh Rezania

Rusbeh Rezania holds a Ph.D. in Energy Economics from the Vienna University of Technology, specializing in the system-based integration of storage technologies with a focus on electromobility. He joined Wien Energie in May 2013 as an expert in corporate development and has since advanced to Deputy Head of Division and Head of the Department “Decarbonized Heat Generation Assets”. Since December 2023, he has also served as CFO of deeep Tiefengeothermie GmbH

David Misch

David Misch received his doctorate from MUL (Montanuniversität Leoben) and was habilitated in geology in 2021. He worked as a postdoc at RWTH Aachen University and currently serves as a visiting guest professor at Jilin University (China), where he teaches new geoenergy topics including geothermal energy utilization. He is also an external partner at Geos4, a consultancy specialized in organic geochemistry and basin analysis including natural hydrogen systems. In 2018, he received the Hans Höfer von Heimhalt Prize of the ÖGG and the Walther E. Petraschek Prize of the ÖAW for his sedimentological research. In 2023, he was appointed Professor of Energy Geosciences at MUL and took over the Chair of Energy Geosciences in 2024. Furthermore, he currently heads the Department of Applied Geosciences and Geophysics at MUL. He is also board member of the Austrian Geological Society and scientific board member of the Austrian Journal of Earth Sciences.

Edith Haslinger

Edith Haslinger earned her PhD in 2004 from the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU) Vienna, at the Institute of Applied Geology, specializing in Geochemistry and Petrology.
Since 2009, she has been working at the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology, Center for Energy, where she is a project manager for applied research and implementation projects in both shallow and deep geothermal energy.
Within the Austrian Geothermal Association (GTÖ), she serves as Deputy Chair and Head of the Staff Unit “Research and Education”, supporting strategic development as well as research and training activities in the geothermal sector.
Her work focuses on the development of local and regional cascading heat networks, underground thermal energy storage, and the assessment of geofluids for their application in technical and energy systems