Philine Wedell has been managing director of IKEM alongside Susan Wilms since February 2026. In this interview, we talk with her about her new role and her plans for the institute. She also discusses what acceptance means for the energy transition and what role interdisciplinary research plays at IKEM.
Philine, welcome to IKEM! What are your first tasks as Managing Director?
Wedell: I am very much looking forward to my new role and the tasks ahead. At IKEM, we have a wealth of expertise among our staff, board and advisory board, and we can also draw on strong partnerships in our projects. One of my first tasks will therefore be to get to know the IKEM staff and network, to engage in dialogue with them and to further consolidate and deepen our cooperation.
What is the cooperation like with the other IKEM Managing Director Susan Wilms?
Wedell: With our different experiences and backgrounds – Susan is a lawyer and I am an industrial engineer – we complement each other very well and run IKEM together on an equal footing. We will tackle many tasks together, but at the same time, each of us has our own focus: while Susan will primarily manage internal processes and expand IKEM’s presence in North Rhine-Westphalia, I will devote myself to networking and aim to make IKEM even more visible as an independent research institute in the energy and transport policy discourse.
Do you have specific plans that you want to realise?
Wedell: One of my key concerns is to further strengthen interdisciplinary research at IKEM. The challenges posed by climate protection and the energy and transport transition are complex. Only when economic, socio-economic and legal perspectives are systematically brought together can solution strategies be developed that are appropriate to this complexity. A concrete example is the issue of acceptance in the expansion of renewable energies: well-designed regulatory requirements can form an important basis, but approval for new wind and solar parks cannot simply be bought or imposed by law. IKEM has already conducted research on this topic in various projects and, in dialogue with the energy industry, civil society and other stakeholders, has developed practical approaches that enable participation, are economically viable and can be implemented in a legally secure manner. I would like to consistently integrate this interdisciplinary approach into all our research projects.
Apart from acceptance, what issues are currently important for the energy transition?
Wedell: The development of renewable energies is very well advanced and, all in all, a great success. Now, new questions are increasingly coming into focus: How can renewable electricity be used in the best possible way? How can the system integration of renewables be achieved? What should the future investment framework and market dynamics look like? How can we enable greater participation and acceptance of the transformation? We are researching these and many other topics at IKEM. And with this knowledge and our expertise, we are developing proposals to ensure that the energy transition remains a success story.
What other areas is IKEM focusing on this year?
Wedell: A new focus this year is urban planning. All important aspects of climate protection – from the practical implementation of emission reduction projects, for example in heat supply, to the reorganisation of mobility, such as with autonomous vehicles, to adaptation to warmer temperatures or heavier rainfall – are essential for the quality of life in the city of the future. We will present the results of our work on these and other topics at the IKEM annual conference in fall 2026.
