Kristian Petrick, Secretary General of AWEU "It's inspiring to see highly motivated students enter the AWE sector"

In this week’s AWETRAIN supervisor interview series, we spoke with Kristian Petrick (Secretary General) and Stefanie Thoms (Central Network Manager) from Airborne Wind Europe (AWEU), the European association representing the airborne wind energy sector.

AWEU promotes the development and deployment of AWE systems, tethered flying devices that generate energy from wind at higher altitudes, encouraging collaboration among technology developers, policy makers, research institutes, universities, and other stakeholders.

“AWETRAIN is designed to ensure that all major technical, regulatory, and social acceptance challenges are addressed by the doctoral candidates,” explains Kristian Petrick. “As AWEU, we’re proud to support the project and help disseminate the findings for maximum impact across the sector.”

Within AWETRAIN, AWEU plays a key role in connecting research to industry, providing doctoral candidates with opportunities to present their results to international stakeholders, receive expert feedback, and engage with platforms like IEA Wind Task 48 on AWE, workshops, webinars, and the AWEC conference.

“This interdisciplinary setup ensures research, addresses real-world challenges and accelerates technology deployment,” adds Stefanie Thoms. “It also motivates students to see the impact of their work on industry and society.”

For Kristian and Stefanie, the most exciting aspect of AWETRAIN is mentoring the next generation of renewable energy researchers:

“It’s inspiring to see highly motivated students entering the AWE sector, which still has enormous potential. We hope they will continue advancing this field, either in academia or industry, helping the sector thrive in the years ahead.”

Through Airborne Wind Europe, AWETRAIN doctoral candidates gain direct exposure to industry, international networks, and public engagement, ensuring that their research is relevant, impactful, and ready for real-world deployment.