Advisory group

Andrea Fischer-Hotzel

Andrea Fischer-Hotzel supports municipalities in climate adaptation at the local level in her role as a researcher. She heads the Centre for Climate Adaptation (ZKA) in the Environmental Research Division. There, she advises municipal actors on funding opportunities and possible courses of action, gives lectures, and moderates events.
Climate and energy have been key areas of work for the political scientist with a PhD for many years. After completing her doctorate at TU Darmstadt, she initially conducted research on social science topics related to energy, before eventually moving from municipal climate protection to the field of climate adaptation.
She has been part of the Difu team in Cologne since 2017.

Ulrike Franzke

Ulrike Franzke has over 30 years of professional experience in the water sector.
At Berliner Wasserbetriebe (BWB), she held various management positions with up to 1,200 employees and was most recently responsible for the area of Strategy and Corporate Development.
Since 01 July 2021, she has been a Board Member managing the operations of the municipal wastewater utility in Cologne. StEB Köln is a public-law institution and a 100% subsidiary of the City of Cologne.

Current Area of Responsibility

Board Member, StEB Köln
StEB Köln sees itself as a water management service provider and represents a key component of public services of general interest. With its expertise in water and climate management, it helps shape the urban living environment in Cologne. The main tasks include wastewater disposal, flood prevention, and the maintenance of flowing waters and park ponds within the city of Cologne. Sustainability, quality, reliability, and cost-effectiveness guide all activities.

Education

Master of Science in Environmental Engineering, 1993
University of Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

Career Stations

1994–2010: Various management positions in the field of wastewater disposal at Berliner Wasserbetriebe (BWB)
2010–2019: Head of Wastewater Disposal Department, BWB
2019–2021: Head of Strategy and Corporate Development, BWB
Since July 2021: Board Member, StEB Köln

Friedrich Hetzel

Since 2012: Employer – German Association for Water, Wastewater and Waste (DWA)
Sector: Rule-setting and education provider
Position: Head of Department

Responsibilities

Management of the Water and Waste Management Department
Steering and coordination of volunteer experts in the development of technical regulations in the water sector
Participation in national and European standardization
Support of DWA’s policy consulting and public relations
Lead responsibility in the Alliance: Together for Water-Sensitive Urban Development

Professor Günter Müller-Czygan

Prof. Günter Müller-Czygan has more than 30 years of practical experience in various roles in the water sector (plant manager, project manager, planner, head of R&D, innovation development), including as Head of Process Engineering at HST Systemtechnik GmbH & Co. KG. His area of expertise is wastewater treatment using the SBR process, particularly in combination with intelligent control solutions. Since 2013, Prof. Müller-Czygan has been working on digitalization in the water sector and related areas (e.g. AI-based sewer network management or AI-based wastewater treatment). In research, Prof. Müller-Czygan focuses, in addition to the development of intelligent control solutions, in particular on the technical and non-technical success factors of digitalization in the water sector. Another focus is research and knowledge transfer in the field of sponge cities, especially the development of methods for capturing and evaluating the overall system of water-sensitive cities and regions. Since March 2023, Prof. Müller-Czygan has been Head of the Institute for Sustainable Water Systems (inwa), and since November 2023, Head of the Competence and Transfer Center for Sustainable Sponge Cities/Regions (ktns).

Professional Experience

Since 2023: Head of the Institute for Sustainable Water Systems (inwa) at Hof University of Applied Sciences
Since 2020: Professor for Water Infrastructure and Digitalization at Hof University of Applied Sciences, Head of the Research Group for Water Infrastructure and Digitalization
2003–2020: HST Systemtechnik GmbH & Co. KG, Meschede, various senior roles and positions
2005–2007: Research Associate at the University of Applied Sciences South Westphalia
1999–2002: Own engineering office for urban water management
1993–1998: KIMM KG DLGU, Kassel, Deputy Plant Manager, Plant Manager of the landfill’s own wastewater treatment plant
1991–1993: Research Assistant at the Comprehensive University of Kassel

Dirk Seifert

Senior Head of Division and Deputy Head of Department for Environmental Policy in the Water Management Division at the Association of Local Utilities (VKU), Berlin.
Climate protection with a focus on national and European energy issues in the water sector, as well as climate change with a focus on the adaptation of municipal water management to changing climatic conditions; in these roles, technical interface to other specialist departments within VKU and the VKU Brussels Office.

Professional Career

05/2008 – Association of Local Utilities (VKU), Berlin
03/2004 – 04/2008 BGW Kongress GmbH, Bonn: Senior Project Manager for Water and Wastewater Management
10/2000 – 02/2004 ECC Kohtes Klewes Bonn (now PLEON): Project Management in Environmental Communication, including for Duales System Deutschland AG, Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, Association of Local Utilities, Renault Deutschland AG
09/1990 – 08/1991: Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety: Office Clerk

Education

Degree in Political Science, Economics, Sociology, and Comparative Religious Studies at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn
Certified distance learning course in “European Environmental Law” at the University of Koblenz-Landau

Brigitta Ziegenbein

Brigitta Ziegenbein has been Head of the Urban Planning Office of the City of Leipzig since 2021. Previously, the trained architect and PhD urban planner was Head of the Urban Planning Department (Division for Urban Design and Building Regulations) in the Department for Urban Development and Environment of the City of Halle (Saale), and before that Deputy Head of the Urban Planning Office of the City of Fellbach. In addition to her work in private offices, she completed, among other things, a traineeship for the higher technical administrative service in the field of architecture (focus on urban planning, spatial planning, and regional planning) in Baden-Württemberg, a doctoral program in European Urbanism at the Bauhaus University Weimar, and a degree in architecture at TU Dresden and at the École d’Architecture de Paris – La Défense in France.

Other members of the advisory group: Ross Beveridge - University of Glasgow, Marcello Gerlach - ICLEI Europe, Prof. Dr. Rieke Hansen - University Kassel, Arne Kunkel - Federal Agency for Nature Conservation, Heiko Rudolf - BUND Leipzig, Maria Wirth - Alchemia Nova