Our Experts

Meet our jury members and coaches. As experts in their academic fields and in sustainability, they examined, discussed, and evaluated every project we received from around the region. The winning teams of Our Sustainable Future 2020 were selected based on their recommendations. We are pleased that they also served as coaches for our first virtual scientific coaching program. Through this program, each coach offers further guidance for the projects of each of the winning teams.

Thank you so much to all our experts!


Wilhelm Linder

Wilhelm Linder, Mag., teaches at the University College for Agrarian and Environmental Pedagogy in Vienna, Austria. His areas of expertise are in ecology and nature conservation as well as education for sustainable development. He is especially active in conducting research in nature an engages students through youth camps in questions of sustainability. Mr. Linder has served as a jury member of the Goethe-Institut’s sustainability competition “Umwelt macht Schule” in the past. He has also worked on numerous projects and an expert advisor for Goethe-Institut projects in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

We are thankful to have Mr. Linder serve as a member of the international expert jury and as a coach for the winning teams of the Our Sustainable Future competition. With his expertise in education, pedagogy, and sustainability, Mr. Linder’s contributions to the competition and the coaching program have been invaluable.

Mr. Linder is 62 years old and lives in Vienna with his family.


Dr. Doris Sövegjarto-Wigbers

Dr. Doris Sövegjarto-Wigbers, Chemist, has worked at the University of Bremen in the areas of environmental sciences and applied toxicology since 1996. Dr. Sövegjarto-Wibgers is a member of the Committee on Hazardous Materials at the Federal Ministry for Labor and Social Affairs and has been recognized for her countless achievements, for occupational mobility management (2010) and as a recipient of the Climate Protection Award in Bremen (2014). She has worked closely with the Goethe-Institut worldwide in the area of sustainability, including in Russia, India, and the United States.

Dr. Sövegjarto-Wigbers has been recognized for her scientific contributions in sustainability. In 2014 she was awarded the Climate Protection Prize in Bremen. She is also the founder and was the chair of the board of directors of UniBremenSolar eG. For her expertise she has been called to be a member of the jury for Goethe-Institut’s sustainability competitions “Umwelt macht Schule” and “Greening with Goethe.”

It is an honor to have Dr. Sövegjarto-Wigbers serve as a member of the international expert Jury for Our Sustainable Future. We are thankful for her contributions as an advisor for the winning teams from Mexico and Central America through our scientific coaching program.


Dr. Stefanie Ohnesorg

Dr. Stefanie Ohnesorg has been an Associate Professor of German Studies at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville since 2000, where she previously served as Assistant Professor of German Studies from 1994 to 2000.

Since then she has achieved recognition for her work as an educator in the classroom and for fostering German teaching in the United States, for example with her most recent accolade in 2016 by the Goethe-Institut and the American Association of Teachers of German (AATG) Certificate of Merit. She was featured under “Teachers Who Inspire” in German World and has received the Jacqueline Elliott Award for Teaching and Service in Higher Education by the Tennessee Foreign Language Teachers’ Association (TFLTA). In 2013, she was recognized by the General Consulate of the Federal Republic of Germany in Atlanta, GA, for her contributions in advancing the German language and culture and the friendship between the United States and Germany as a recipient of the Martin Boltzius Award.

We are honored to have Dr. Ohnesorg serve on the international expert jury for the first year of the Our Sustainable Future competition as well as a sustainability coach for the winning teams from the United States. Through her expertise in Sustainability Studies, German Studies, and German as a Foreign Language, Dr. Ohnesorg brings a unique and important perspective to the project Our Sustainable Future.


Dr. Alma C. Chávez Mejía

Alma Chávez studied Agricultural Engineering at the “Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana”, Campus Xochimilco (UAM-X), in Mexico City. She completed her Master’s Degree in Environmental Engineering at the “Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)” in Mexico City with honors. At the same institution, she earned her Ph.D. in 2004 Since then, she has worked as a scientist at the “Instituto de Ingeniería“ (Institut of Engineering) at UNAM and for the past 24 years, she has served on the working group for the handling and reuse of water. She is also a member of the national research system (Sistema Nacional de Investigadores –SNI).

Her research topics are water processing and reuse. She researches membrane processes, physical chemistry processes, and biological processes related to the water reuse and processing. She has worked together with 56 state- and privately funded research projects. Currently she advises 10 masters’ students, seven students in continuing studies, and 25 bachelors’ students in their work and serves as a judge on three committee for doctoral candidates and 24 committees for masters’ students. She has authored 18 contributions to renowned scientific publications, seven chapters in book, and 39 presentations at diverse congresses dealing with the topic of water quality, handling, reuse, and processing.

Alma Chávez is a judge for the CONACYT and SECTEI research projects. In addition to this, she is an evaluator of the yearly competition “Vive con Ciencia” (Live with Science). Alma Chávez has served several times as a jury member of the competition “Premio Juvenil del Agua” (Youth Prize for Water) of the Mexican Academy of Sciences. Additionally she serves internationally as an advisor to the winners of the Swedish Water Institute.

In 2005 she received recognition with the “Presidential Award for Outstanding Poster Presentation” at the International Water Association Congress in Seoul, South Korea. She was the recipient of the “Sor Juana Ines de la Curz” award in 2017, in recognition of her outstanding contributions to women in science, teaching, and culture.

It is our pleasure to have Dr. Chávez serve as a member of our international expert jury for the competition Our Sustainable Future as well as a coach for the winning teams from Mexico and Central America for our scientific coaching program.


Dr. Bernd Weber

Bernd Weber studied Energy Systems Technology at the Technical College of Mittelhessen. Simultaneously he completed his education as a welding engineer. He has experience working in research projects about energy conversion, energy supply, and the processing of wastewater. Additionally, he has worked in installation and operation of solar thermal and photovoltaic facilities. From 1999 – 2001 he led the Engineering Department and production of transport systems and machines for the GENCO in Mexico. He coordinated service at MAN Ferrostaat and was the service engineer for metal and synthetic machinery from 2001-2007.

He began working together with the EU-sponsored project “LoTeCoTec” in 2007, when he also earned his doctorate on the topic of thermal conversation of organic material at the Justus-Liebig Universität in Giessen, Germany. Particularly notable was the patenting of the process of decarboxylation of lipids in the creation of biofuels. Additionally, he patented the electrocatalytic nitrate reduction of drinking water. In 2010 he received a post-doc scholarship from SECTEI and worked on a project at the Institut of Engineering at “Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)” about thermal wastewater handling. Since 2011 he has been a Professor at UNAM with research specialties in solar thermal, energy efficiency, and thermal and biological processes in conversion of biomass. He currently in part of the project “Cluster biocombustibles gaseosos.“ Additionally he has authored 12 contributions to renowned scientific publications. Since 2014 he has been a part of the national research system (Sistema nacional de Investigadores –SNI).

It is our honor to have Dr. Weber serve as a member of our international expert jury for the competition Our Sustainable Future as well as a coach for the winning teams from Mexico and Central America for our scientific coaching program.