20 February 2026
Prof. Anna Mechler from the Institute of Energy Technologies - Electrochemical Process Engineering (IET-4) at Forschungszentrum Jülich has been invited to become a member of the ESYS initiative - Energy Systems of the Future. ESYS is a joint initiative of the German National Academy of Science and Engineering (acatech), the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, and the Union of the German Academies of Sciences and Humanities.
The initiative aims to provide science-based input to support energy policy decision-making in Germany. Prof. Mechler has accepted the invitation and will contribute her research expertise, particularly in the fields of the energy transition, energy systems and hydrogen. The membership is for a period of three years. In the future, Anna Mechler will actively participate in ESYS thematic working groups.
"I would like to use the opportunity to contribute to ESYS as a way of making an impact in policy and society," says Prof. Mechler. Her motivation is to communicate scientifically sound information in an accessible way, thereby constructively supporting political processes and helping to shape science policy.
At IET-4 and RWTH Aachen University, Prof. Mechler conducts research on key technologies for a climate-friendly energy supply. Her focus is on water electrolysis and fuel cells - two cornerstone technologies of the hydrogen economy. In electrolysis, water is split into hydrogen and oxygen using electricity, producing climate-friendly hydrogen as a chemical energy carrier. Fuel cells operate in the reverse direction: they convert the chemical energy stored in hydrogen back into electricity, for example to power vehicles or stationary energy systems.
For these processes to operate efficiently, catalysts are required - specialised materials that accelerate chemical reactions without being consumed in the process. Prof. Mechler develops novel components, in particular catalyst layers and electrodes, and investigates their fabrication as well as the transferability of results from laboratory scale to technological application. In addition, she studies how various process parameters - such as temperature or electrolyte composition - influence electrochemical processes and how performance and efficiency in future energy systems can thereby be improved.
