Putting sustainability into practice in industry: circular economy and EU taxonomy (EN)

Mariana Duarte is project manager at BASF. Mariana graduated in Chemical Engineering at the University of Porto and obtained a PhD from Lund University, in Sweden, on a dual program between academia and industry. She was awarded a Marie Curie grant to develop her research work between Lund University and Biotage AB, a middle sized Swedish company headquartered in Uppsala. Her research work focused on polymeric materials for applications in medicine, with focus on diagnostics. In 2017, Mariana decided to continue her career in a leading chemical company and moved to Germany to work at BASF as research engineer and lab team leader. Together with her team, she developed polymer production processes for a wide market range, from automotive to construction and consumer. More recently, she started a new position at the business unit Health & Nutrition, where she leads innovation and development projects.

Benjamin Bergner is senior specialist in innovation and strategic controlling at BASF, in Ludwigshafen (Germany). Benjamin graduated in Chemistry at the University of Tübingen and later did a Master at the University of Karlsruhe and a PhD at the University of Gießen. He continued his research work with focus on battery materials during a Post-doc in Oxford. In 2017, Benjamin started his career in industry at BASF as research scientist and lab team leader, where he worked together with his lab team on developing new materials for batteries, mostly focused on the electrical vehicles market. More recently, he assumed a new position at BASF's corporate center for development and strategy.