Mirela Atanasiu has been Head of Unit of Operations and Communication since 2016 at the Clean Hydrogen Partnership — a Public-Private Partnership between the European Commission and the European industry (Hydrogen Europe) and research community (Hydrogen Europe Research), which succeeded the predecessor Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU). She holds an M.Sc. in Chemical Engineering/Materials Science and an M.Sc. in Economics/Cybernetics and Economic Analysis. Prior to her current role, she spent more than 12 years as a Senior Project Manager and Research Programme Officer in the FCH JU and the European Commission's Directorate for Research and Innovation/Energy, following an earlier career as a researcher in the energy sector in Romania.
In her role, she manages all operations and strategic activities of the partnership, including its budget, projects, knowledge management and communications, and related staff — effectively serving as a COO equivalent. She was also previously active in the FCH JU from 2008 to 2021, where she managed the entire partnership's activities, stakeholders and team in implementing more than half of the budget — over 600 million euros — and helped launch all of the Joint Undertaking's initial activities.
Between May 2023 and June 2024, Atanasiu also served as Executive Director ad interim of the Clean Hydrogen Partnership, taking over from Bart Biebuyck. In her public-facing work, she has presented the partnership's programme achievements at major European forums including the European Hydrogen Week, emphasising its role in fostering EU competitiveness, advancing Hydrogen Valleys, and steering Europe's decarbonisation efforts through a portfolio of nearly 100 active projects evaluated against state-of-the-art targets and key performance indicators.