Elena Crespi wins the 2023 Young Scientist award in the hydrogen sector

Elena Crespi, a researcher with Fondazione Bruno Kessler‘s  Center for Sustainable Energy (SE), was awarded the 2023 Young Scientist Award by Hydrogen Europe Research, an international organisation that includes 150 universities and research centers from 29 countries.

The award ceremony took place on November 22, in Brussels, during Hydrogen Week, the main European event in the field of hydrogen, which hit its fourth edition this year.

The award was established to give visibility to the work of students, doctoral students, postdocs and young (under 35) researchers working within the Clean Hydrogen Partnership, a European initiative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere.

The categories of the award are four, including the one dedicated to research in the field of Hydrogen usages, in which the FBK researcher excelled.

Ms. Crespi has carried out research and contributed to several European projects related to the use and production of hydrogen and is currently following, with the SE group at FBK, activities within the PROMETHEUS and SWITCH projects (the latter recently awarded the Energy Globe Award).

“I am very happy,” Elena Crespi said, “that my research work has received this recognition from Hydrogen Europe Research. I would like to thank the GECOS group at Politecnico di Milano, and in particular professors Giulio Guandalini and Stefano Campanari, with whom I became passionate about hydrogen research, following interesting European projects. And I thank the FBK SE center, directed by Luigi Crema, where in the last two years I have been able to contribute, within a very united and close-knit team, to important research projects on the use and production of renewable hydrogen.”

“As president of Hydrogen Europe Research,” said Luigi Crema, “I consider this award an important event to enhance our young people and their contributions in research. The evaluation process involves the entire European Association Board and ensures impartiality of decision. As Director of the SE FBK Center, I am very grateful to my collaborators for their commitment, which has received important awards over the years, including those in 2020 with Matteo Testi and 2022 with Michele Bolognese, in addition to this year’s award with Elena Crespi. It is a great satisfaction for the Center and for the entire Foundation”.

The winners of the other categories were:

• Hydrogen Production Pillar: Drialys Cardenas Morcoso (Luxemburg Institute of Science and Technology – LIST)
• Hydrogen Storage and Distribution Pillar: Tom Depover (Ghent University)
• Cross Cutting Pillar: Sergii Kashkarov (Ulster University)
• Best Researcher of the Year: Giovanni Di Ilio (University of Naples Parthenope)