Bernd Rech is the Scientific Director of Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie (HZB) and professor in the Photovoltaics Department of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Technische Universität Berlin.
He was co-initiator of the Energy Materials in-situ Laboratory EMIL at the Berlin storage ring BESSY II. Together with Prof. Robert Schlögl (Fritz Haber Institute) he leads the joint project CatLab, which uses BESSY II specifically for applications in catalysis and green hydrogen technologies.
Previously, he headed the Silicon Photovoltaics Institute at HZB from 2006 to 2017. The focus of his research has been on the development of both high-efficiency and low-cost thin-film silicon solar cells and new material combinations for tandem solar cells. From 2008 to 2020, he was the spokesperson for the Helmholtz Association’s Renewable Energies program. Bernd Rech studied physics at Heidelberg University and RWTH Aachen and received his doctorate from RWTH Aachen.
Bernd Rech also serves on numerous committees, such as the supervisory board of the Institute for Solar Energy Research in Hameln and the board of trustees of the Baden-Württemberg Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research. He is a member of the board of the Energy Working Group of the German Physical Society, and since 2017 he has been an elected member of the German Academy of Science and Engineering (acatech). In 2018, he received the Apple of Inspiration, an award of the President of Slovenia.