Advisory Panel

François de Bie is Coo at Emirates Biotech since 2024 and he has extensive experience in business development and marketing within the plastic industry. As a former Senior Marketing and Business Development Director at TotalEnergies Corbion from 2011 to 2023, he played a crucial role in positioning the company as the second-largest player in the PLA biopolymers industry. He was President of the European Bioplastics Association from 2013 to 2022, creating visibility and acceptance of biopolymers amongst legislators and the public. From 1996 to 2010 he held various marketing and leadership positions at GE Plastics and Sabic, driving profitable growth and innovation. François enjoys running, cycling, reading and has a passion for classic cars. He holds a master’s degree in engineering from the Eindhoven University of Technology. His expertise, can-do attitude and strategic vision will be instrumental in driving Emirates Biotech’s market strategy and developing the regional market for PLA biopolymers.

Miriam Gallur, Phd works as “Materials & Packaging Area Manager” at ITENE-Packaging, transport and logistics research institute. She has a degree in Chemistry (University of Valencia, Spain), specialized in polymer chemistry. She has an MSc in Renewable Materials Engineering from the University of the Basque Country, Spain (UPV / EHU) where she carried out her PhD in the field of advanced nanostructured biodegradable composites which, as a result, gave the startup ADBioplastics (www.adbioplastics.com) where she has been acting as CSO until 2019. As well as that, she has carried out several research internships in the field of polymers in excellent European Research centers. In addition to that, she has worked as a project manager in the department of Materials and Packaging Systems (ITENE) in the New Materials Development Division for more than 10 years. Her professional experience is geared toward the development and validation of packaging materials, along with improving their properties and functionalities through the application of innovative technologies. She has extensive experience in the coordination of European Research Projects (BIOACTIVELAYER, FUNKIFIBRE, SEALIVE, BE UP) focus on new materials formulations and optimized applications aligned with the Circular Economy and the European Strategies. She is an active member of several European standardisation committees ISO / TC 122/SC 4/WG 7, “Biodegradation and composting”, CEN/TC 249/WG17 “Biomaterials”, CEN/TC/411” Biological products”. She is also the co-author of more than 6 patents related to the chemical polymerization of new packaging materials and the use of additives to develop bionanocomposites. Currently, with an experience in the technological sector of more than 15 years, she manages a team of 20 people focus on the development of sustainable materials for packaging applications covering the full value chain and looking for sustainable and circular solutions to different product end users (food, cosmetic, chemical markets), converters, and raw materials companies of paper, bioplastics and recycled materials.

Franz Kraus joined Novamont in December 2021 as Head of International Public Affairs. He is responsible for driving public and governmental affairs engagement in European and international markets, to open new opportunities for compostable solutions, and to promote policy for biobased and compostable building blocks for a new circular bio-economy. He has over twenty years of experience working in Public Affairs, both in the public sector (European Parliament) as well as the private sector (Kraft Foods/Mondelez). He holds a master’s degree in History and English Literature from the University of Regensburg.

With more than 20 years of practice in process development and engineering for the bio industry sector, Emilien is responsible for the licensing of Sulzer technologies portfolio in the field of biopolymers, including PLA, PCL and PEF. Prior to this role, he was licensing manager for bio-based succinic acid production technology and has occupied various technical positions in bioethanol, food ingredients and bio-based chemicals production. He is a graduate engineer in Food Science from INPL, Nancy.

Afsaneh holds a Ph.D. in Polymer Science and Engineering from the University of Waterloo. Since 2012, she has worked in R&D, market and business development with focus on packaging materials in various business units at BASF. She currently leads global Advocacy and Sustainability for Biopolymers at BASF. Beyond BASF, Afsaneh contributes as a technical expert to organizations like EUROPEN, CEFLEX, and 4evergreen, and serves on the Board of EUBP and Steering Group of CbDP.

It has been 16 years since Hugo joined the biopolymer industry. For 11 years he worked at what finally became TotalEnergies-Corbion PLA and since 2022 for Korean PHA producer CJ Biomaterials as VP Business Development. His career started in 1990 at DSM after graduating from Delft University of Technology with a master’s degree in chemistry and he holds an MBA from IMD Lausanne. In his free time he likes hiking and cycling. Hugo has been a frequent speaker and moderator at many conferences in his career and with that experience hopes to contribute to EBC26.

Miriam Weber is a marine biologist and director of HYDRA Marine Sciences GmbH, Germany. Miriam studied in the USA, Australia and Germany and graduated at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Bremen. She coordinated and attended dozens of research expeditions in lakes, rivers, and the sea, from high-alpine lakes to the Dead Sea, from the polar regions to the tropics, both in the Indo-Pacific and in the Atlantic Oceans. Miriam’s research focuses on developing solutions to pressing environmental problems. This includes conceptualisation through to understanding the role of microorganisms, for example regarding the effects of sedimentation on corals, the functioning of marine habitats affected by CO2 leakage from CCS sites, and the interaction in symbiotic relationships with animals and plants. For the last 15 years she has been leading research on the biodegradation of plastic in the open environment with focus on the marine ecosystem. Meanwhile also freshwater and soil is included. Together with various partners from the EU (OpenBIO, REBIOLUTION), and in projects with public administrations, academia, private institutions, NGOs and industry her team has been developing and conducting tests in the field, in mesocosms and in the laboratory. Miriam has also been contributing to the introduction of several ISO standards on this matter, book chapters and the SAPEA evidence review report on ‘Biodegradability of Plastic in the Open Environment’.