Heleen De Coninck
Contact
h.c.de.coninck@tue.nlDepartment / Institute
RESEARCH PROFILE
Heleen de Coninck is a full Professor of Socio-Technical Innovation and Climate Change at Eindhoven University of Technology since 2020, and an Associate Professor in Innovation Studies and Sustainability at the Department of Environmental Science at Radboud University Nijmegen's Faculty of Science since 2012. As a researcher, Heleen’s main research focus is on the role of innovation and technology in the international climate negotiations, on policy for making energy-intensive industry climate-neutral, and on the viability and societal dynamics of new technologies for 1.5C-mitigation pathways.
Heleen was a Coordinating Lead Author in the IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5C, and is currently a Coordinating Lead Author in the AR6. She was part of the IPCC Working Group III Technical Support Unit during the AR4 cycle, where she coordinated the IPCC Special Report on CCS. She was also a Lead Author in the climate mitigation part of AR5 (2014).
ACADEMIC BACKGROUND
Heleen graduated in Chemistry and in Environmental Science at Radboud University in Nijmegen, specialising in climate change and atmospheric chemistry. After her studies, she worked as atmospheric chemistry researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz, Germany.
Before joining academia in 2012, Heleen worked at the Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN), the largest energy research institute in the country, for over 10 years. There, she worked on international climate policy, rural electrification, the Clean Development Mechanism, Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), capacity building in developing countries, and policy studies.
In 2009, Heleen finished a PhD, which she conducted alongside her work at ECN, on technology in the international climate regime, at the VU University Amsterdam, in collaboration with Princeton University in the United States.
Key Publications
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Floris Swennenhuis,Leslie Mabon,Todd Allyn Flach,Heleen de Coninck
What role for CCS in delivering just transitions? An evaluation in the North Sea region
International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control (2020) -
Zahra Janipour,Reinier de Nooij,Peter Scholten,Mark A.J. Huijbregts,Heleen de Coninck
What are sources of carbon lock-in in energy-intensive industry? A case study into Dutch chemicals production
Energy Research and Social Science (2020) -
Henri Waisman,Heleen De Coninck,Joeri Rogelj
Key technological enablers for ambitious climate goals: insights from the IPCC special report on global warming of 1.5 degrees C
Environmental Research Letters (2019) -
Mark Roelfsema,Hanna Fekete,Niklas Höhne,Michel den Elzen,Nicklas Forsell,Takeshi Kuramochi,Heleen de Coninck,Detlef P. van Vuuren
Reducing global GHG emissions by replicating successful sector examples
Climate Policy (2018)
Current Educational Activities
Ancillary Activities
- Associate Professor, Radboud University
- Beleggingscommissie duurzaam beleggen ABP, Universiteiten van Nederland
- Member of Board and Fellow, Wiardi Beckman Stichting
- Member Expertise group, Raad van State
- Member of Advisory Board, Fair Climate Fund
- Fellow, Kennisinstituut Mobiliteit, Ministerie I&W
- Advisor to the Board, Stichting Historie der Techniek
- Vice-voorzitter en lid Wetenschappelijke Klimaatraad, Ministerie van EZK, Wetenschappelijke Klimaatraad