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Many countries are making great strides with their hydrogen economies, particularly in Europe, the United States and north-east Asia. CSIRO's Hydrogen Industry Mission includes an international collaboration program, supported by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. The purpose of the program is to strengthen international research ties between Australia and other active countries, so that we can work together to develop the global hydrogen industry and thus contribute to our net zero ambitions.

Hydrogen Industry group on the stairs

Australian Hydrogen Research Network

The Australian Hydrogen Research Network (AHRN) is a community of researchers and interested stakeholders supporting the emerging hydrogen industry, founded by the CSIRO. By providing thought leadership, advocacy and research tools, the AHRN offers its members domestic networking opportunities as well as access to international collaborations.

The next Australian Hydrogen Research Conference will be held in February 2026, facilitated by the AHRN. Details are available on the AHRN website.

The last Australian Hydrogen Research Conference was held on 4 - 6 September 2024.

The 2023 AHRC report Australia’s critical hydrogen research questions PDF ( 237 KB) was produced based on panel discussions and attendee feedback.

International delegations

People wearing hard hats posing on the stairs at an industrial facilityDuring 2022-2024 CSIRO led delegations to 10 overseas destinations to learn more about hydrogen activities in other countries and lift our international collaborative research efforts. 

Research delegations during 2022 visited Germany, France, Japan, UK, and the USA. The 2022 delegation report is a combined report for the year across these countries.

In 2023 research delegations travelled to Singapore, South Korea, and India.

2024 saw two research delegations to the Netherlands and the People's Republic of China. We also sent a group of research delegates to the World Hydrogen Summit in Rotterdam.

The 2023 and 2024 reports became more targeted separate reports for each country after stakeholder feedback received on the 2022 reporting.

Download the 2022 delegations report

2023 Delegations

2024 Delegations

Reports for the Netherlands and China coming soon.

Find out who participated in our delegations and organisations we visited.

International research fellowships

The International Hydrogen Research Fellowship Program supports research in areas of critical national importance, by providing the opportunity for early to mid-career researchers in Australia to partner with researchers overseas.

All Fellowship spaces are now filled for the program, reaching our target of 35 Fellows doing research in world class labs overseas.

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Round one fellows

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Round two fellows

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Round three fellows

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This project received grant funding from the Australian Government.

Global Scan for Research, Development and Demonstration opportunities

In 2022 we worked with international governments and organisations to develop reports outlining opportunities for country-to-country engagement in hydrogen research, development and demonstration projects (RD&D). Each report provides an overview of the country’s hydrogen priorities and ecosystem, as well as a publication and intellectual property (IP) scan identifying the key stakeholders actively undertaking hydrogen RD&D.

These reports have also been shared by Mission Innovation’s Clean Hydrogen Mission.

Many countries are making great strides with their hydrogen economies, particularly in Europe, the United States and north-east Asia. CSIRO's Hydrogen Industry Mission includes an international collaboration program, supported by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. The purpose of the program is to strengthen international research ties between Australia and other active countries, so that we can work together to develop the global hydrogen industry and thus contribute to our net zero ambitions.

The Australian Hydrogen Research Network (AHRN) is a community of researchers and interested stakeholders supporting the emerging hydrogen industry, founded by the CSIRO.

Australian Hydrogen Research Network

The Australian Hydrogen Research Network (AHRN) is a community of researchers and interested stakeholders supporting the emerging hydrogen industry, founded by the CSIRO. By providing thought leadership, advocacy and research tools, the AHRN offers its members domestic networking opportunities as well as access to international collaborations.

The next Australian Hydrogen Research Conference will be held in February 2026, facilitated by the AHRN. Details are available on the AHRN website.

The last Australian Hydrogen Research Conference was held on 4 - 6 September 2024.

The 2023 AHRC report Australia’s critical hydrogen research questions PDF ( 237 KB) was produced based on panel discussions and attendee feedback.

International delegations

During 2022-2024 CSIRO led delegations to 10 overseas destinations to learn more about hydrogen activities in other countries and lift our international collaborative research efforts. 

Visit to Thyssenkrupp Steel during delegation to Germany

Research delegations during 2022 visited Germany, France, Japan, UK, and the USA. The 2022 delegation report is a combined report for the year across these countries.

In 2023 research delegations travelled to Singapore, South Korea, and India.

2024 saw two research delegations to the Netherlands and the People's Republic of China. We also sent a group of research delegates to the World Hydrogen Summit in Rotterdam.

The 2023 and 2024 reports became more targeted separate reports for each country after stakeholder feedback received on the 2022 reporting.

Download the 2022 delegations report

2023 Delegations

2024 Delegations

Reports for the Netherlands and China coming soon.

Find out who participated in our delegations and organisations we visited.

International research fellowships

The International Hydrogen Research Fellowship Program supports research in areas of critical national importance, by providing the opportunity for early to mid-career researchers in Australia to partner with researchers overseas.

All Fellowship spaces are now filled for the program, reaching our target of 35 Fellows doing research in world class labs overseas.

My name's Eason Chen. I work at the University of Sydney, and I am a microscopist and I am also enthusiastic about hydrogen energy, and therefore I apply my microscopy technique to study hydrogen and related problems in materials. 

I went to United States, particularly the University of Alabama, to access their advanced, microscopy instruments, which allows us to observe the effect of hydrogen to materials, especially in the context of reliability or safety 
or ductility of metallic materials, at low temperature.

With this new technique, now, we are able to test a range of materials in Australia to see whether they're suitable for low temperature hydrogen storage applications. So, for example, like steels, which is very relevant to Australia's economy.

Another major outcome from this fellowship is that I was appointed as a regional director
in the early career network of the international partnership for Hydrogen Energy. And that is a organization funded and directed by the Department of Energy, DOE of the United States.

So with that appointment now, I'm able to help Australia to, especially those young researchers, to be able to expose, to know those networks and resources.

I would suggest to expand this program a little bit more. So, for example, if we can not only cover for the research communities in Australia, if we can also encourage industry to go out, then that'll be really helpful for Australia's economy.

So when it comes to collaborations, when it comes to setting new collaborations, you know, finding partners, you know, interpersonal contact, it's so, it's so important.
 
Dr Eason (Yi-Sheng) Chen describes his research work in the US, and the positive impact it has enabled him to make in Australian hydrogen research.

Round one fellows

Dr Hongjun Chen

University of Sydney

Dr. Hongjun has national leading expertise in solar-driven hydrogen production using either the design and fabrication of photoelectrodes for efficient photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting or photovoltaic (PV) integrated electrochemical devices | Research Project: Solar-driven production of clean H2 and value-added chemicals from biomass waste | Host University: Northwestern University, USA | Fellowship status: COMPLETE

Dr Yi-Sheng (Eason) Chen

University of Sydney

Dr Chen’s research focuses on the effect of hydrogen to structural alloys, i.e., hydrogen embrittlement of alloys, which is a serious challenge for hydrogen industry to address the safety concern in handling and using hydrogen fuel at scale | Research Project: Characterising hydrogen embrittlement of structural alloys in low-temperature hydrogen storage vessels | Host University: University of Alabama, USA | Fellowship status: COMPLETE

Dr Christian Hornung

CSIRO

Dr Hornung is a trained chemical engineer and he currently leads CSIRO’s Centre for Industrial Flow Chemistry, FloWorks | Research Project: Process Engineering for Chemical Hydrogen Storage | Host University: University of Erlangen, Germany | Fellowship status: COMPLETE

Dr Yuhan Huang

University of Technology Sydney

Dr Huang’s research interests include hydrogen energy, carbon capture and utilisation, air pollution, urban planning, urban heat island, and computational fluid dynamics | Research Project: Synergy of carbon capture, waste heat recovery and hydrogen production for heavy industry decarbonisation | Host University: Oxford University, UK; Poznan Insitute of Technology and Poland University of Technology, Poland | Fellowship status: COMPLETE

Dr Hao Liu

University of Technology Sydney

A/Prof Hao Liu is an ARC Future Fellow at UTS with interests in the research fields of electrochemistry, nanotechnology and energy storage and conversion | Research Project: High-entropy nanomaterials for efficient hydrogen production | Host University: University of Surrey, UK | Fellowship status: COMPLETE

Dr Fatemeh Salehi

Macquarie University

Dr Salehi’s expertise is in the development of physical models for computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulations of turbulent flows to advance new energy technologies for clean renewable fuels such as hydrogen and biomass | Research Project: Data-driven models for safe and reliable use of hydrogen | Host University: Surrey University, UK; Imperial College London, UK; KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden | Fellowship status: COMPLETE

Dr Mahnaz Shafiei

Swinburne University of Technology

Dr Mahnaz Shafiei has extensive experience in nanomaterials, gas sensing techniques, and device fabrication | Research Project: Hydrogen Sensing and Safety | Host University: University of Bayreuth, Germany; University of Brescia, Italy; Institut de Combustion Aérothermique Réactivité et Environnement (ICARE), France; Simon Fraser University, University of Victoria and University of British Columbia, Canada | Fellowship status: COMPLETE

Dr Helena Wang

University of Melbourne

Dr Wang's research interests focus on developing and characterising nanoporous materials for metal-air batteries and electrocatalytic applications | Research Project: Next Generation Solar to Hydrogen: Materials to Devices | Host University: National University of Singapore, Singapore | Fellowship status: COMPLETE

Dr Quan (Sam) Xie

Curtin University

Dr Xie specialises in fluid-rock interactions, rock flow dynamics for applications in Underground Hydrogen Storage and CO2 Geological Storage | Research Project: Continuous Hydrogen Flow Dynamics in Microfluidics and Hydrogen Conditioned Grain-Scale Mechanics to Enable Underground Hydrogen Storage | Host University: University of Edinburgh, UK | Fellowship status: COMPLETE

Dr Zongyou Yin

Australian National University

Zongyou’s research is interdisciplinary, encompassing AI-driven materials innovations, nano-to-atomic materials science, fundamental relationship among materials-structures-devices, and synergistic integration of multi-functions towards systems for energy conversion and storage, body-wearables and (opto)electronics | Research Project: Machine-learning aided design of electrolytic cells for water splitting | Host University: Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Fellowship status: COMPLETE

Round two fellows

I have a background in chemical engineering and I have research experience in hydrogen as well as high temperature processing of mineral waste and biomass resources.

I work for CSIRO, which is Australia's National Science Agency.

I visited two places during my fellowship, Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand and SINTEG in Norway.

My research focused on the use of hydrogen to iron making processes. In New Zealand, I performed experiments to characterize the behaviour of ire ore fines from the Pilbara region of Western Australia in a hydrogen based iron making process.

And in Norway, I worked on a pilot campaign that demonstrated the hydrogen component of the broader process for recovering iron, aluminium, and other valuable materials from bauxite residue, which is a metallurgical waste generated at alumina refineries. 

I learned that the performances of hydrogen based iron making processes depend heavily on the types of ore or metallurgical waste being fed into the process. Because of this, what works well overseas won't necessarily work well when applied to Australian resources. 

While overseas, I gained important knowledge of how Australian materials behave in emerging hydrogen based iron making processes.

So this knowledge is critical when it comes to informing the selection and eventually the implementation of lower emission iron making technologies at Australian sites.

Our project partners and I are disseminating our work through a number of channels that will reach a range of audience types. I recently published some research highlights on the EU website, and I'm currently in the final stages of writing a publication that captures my research at a more detailed level.

Overseas organizations have critical hydrogen capabilities that are not as advanced in Australia. So programs like the International Hydrogen Research Collaboration Program enable our Australian scientists to access these critical capabilities. So this greatly accelerates Australia's own research impact and capability growth.

So it's really important that our Australian scientists are working with international partners in order to fast track the development of low emission technologies.
Dr Daniel Lane describes his experience as a hydrogen research fellow in Norway and New Zealand, as part of the CSIRO International Hydrogen Collaboration Program for Australian hydrogen researchers.

Dr Saman Ashgari Gorji

Deakin University

Dr Ashgari Gorji has contributed to a number of projects funded by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) and Future Energy Exports (FEnEx) CRC, in collaboration with energy sectors stakeholders | Research Project: Integration of Solar-/Wind- based Microgrids with Hydrogen Cycle Systems | Host University: University of Sheffield, UK; Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany | Fellowship status: COMPLETE

Dr Shaun Chan

University of New South Wales

Dr Chan’s research focuses on combustion diagnostics in high-pressure, high-temperature environments and fire safety | Research Project: Renewable Hydrogen-Fuelled Engines for Carbon-Free Stationary Power Generation | Host University: Danmarks Teknisk Universitet, Denmark; Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai | Fellowship status: COMPLETE

Dr Liyuan Fan

James Cook University

Dr Fan’s research interests focus on application of fuel cell technology, biomass gasification and gas cleaning technology to renewable energy systems founded by strong fundamentals in mathematical modelling and materials investigations | Research Project: Techno-Economic Analysis of Bio-Based Hydrogen Production in Gasifier-Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Systems: Exploring Dry Reforming Materials for Enhanced Performance and Cost Efficiency | Host University: Imperial College London, University of Oxford, University College London, Cardiff University and Swansea University, UK; Delft University of Technology, Groningen University, The Netherlands | Fellowship status: In progress

Dr Daniel Lane

CSIRO

Dr Lane’s research has supported the development of emerging renewable energy technologies, practical solutions for waste management problems, and processes that transform wastes into valuable materials | Research Project: Hydrogen combustion study | Host University: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) | Fellowship status: COMPLETE

Dr Bin Lu

Australian National University

Dr Lu’s research interests include energy system modelling, renewable energy resource assessment, geographic information system algorithm development, electrical system design and power system analysis | Research Project: Industrial hydrogen storage for zero-carbon electricity grids support | Host University: Stanford University, USA | Fellowship status: COMPLETE

Dr Lauren Macreadie

University of New South Wales

Dr Macreadie investigates metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) which are porous materials with incredibly high surface areas | Research Project: MOF for gas storage and separations | Host University: Northwestern University, USA | Fellowship status: COMPLETE

Dr Nisa Salim

Swinburne University of Technology

Dr Salim’s research is focused on engineered materials and composites that provide multiple functionalities such as energy storage, structural health monitoring, and EMI shielding and structural performance | Research Project: 3D printing of 2D materials for efficient Hydrogen energy storage | Host University: University College London, University of Cambridge + Levidan Nanosystems Ltd, UK; University of Bayreuth, Fraunhofer Institute for Structural Durability and System Reliability, Germany; National University of Singapore, Singapore | Fellowship status: In Progress

Dr Mitchell Scovell

CSIRO

Part of Dr Scovell's research has specifically focused on applying new quantitative methods to better explain social licence/social acceptance in the context of the emerging hydrogen industry | Research Project: Social acceptance of hydrogen applications in the UK and Europe | Host University: University of Portsmouth, UK | Fellowship status: COMPLETE

Dr Nic Surawski

University of Technology Sydney

Dr Surawski has significant experience with the quantification of greenhouse gas emissions, criteria pollutants and also unregulated emissions species with a major focus on particle phase species | Research Project: Constraining the role of the hydrogen economy on global climate, air quality, and health outcomes | Host University: Max Planck Institute for Chemistry (MPIC), Germany | Fellowship status: COMPLETE

Dr Mohesen Talei

University of Melbourne

Dr Talei’s research involves a significant use of high-performance computing to develop predictive tools for designing cleaner gas turbines and reciprocating engines | Research Project: Advancing hydrogen technologies using high fidelity simulations | Host University: University of Cambridge, UK | Fellowship status: COMPLETE

Round three fellows

Koustav Banerjee

Monash University

Koustav is a PhD student at Monash University | Research Project: Advancing the ammonia electrosynthesis technology through understanding the mechanism of the process by operando spectroscopy | Host University: University of Bath, UK | Fellowship Status: In Progress

Lucia Chen

University of New South Wales

Lucia is a PhD student at the University of New South Wales | Research Project: Hydrogen -Tolerant Alloy Design. The key research question is to investigate the mechanical response of adding a hydrogen trapping phase to the alloy and how the response changes with increasing hydrogen content whilst the amount of the hydrogen trapping β phase is strictly controlled. | Host University: University of Manchester, UK & Max Planck Institute for Sustainable Materials (MPIE), Germany | Fellowship Status: In Progress

Mohamed Elghafar

Monash University

Mohamed is a PhD student at Monash University | Research Project: Centred around a systematic experimental approach, integrating advanced in situ characterisation techniques to optimise and understand the behaviour of cobalt-based and ruthenium-based electrocatalysts under acidic OER conditions. The primary focus will be on utilising the EQCM, in situ Raman spectroscopy and online ICP-MS to provide real-time insights into the catalysts' performance and degradation mechanisms during the OER. | Host University: Max Planch Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion (MPI CEC), Germany | Fellowship status: In Progress

Dr Chiara Fois

University of Sydney

Chiara is a chemical engineer who is passionate about how engineering can be applied to address sustainability-related challenges | Research Project: This project's main goal is the development of MOF materials that can efficiently store hydrogen at room temperature and pressure ranges (1-150 bar) to increase the deliverable hydrogen capacity compared to an empty tank, lower the cost of the end-to-end hydrogen storage (through implementation of lower pressures), and significantly improve safety. The parties involved in this application have experience in either energy-related studies or development of MOFs for gas adsorption and have contributed to this field, both academically and commercially. | Host University: Nanyang Technological University, Energy Research Institute, Singapore | Fellowship status: In Progress

Dr Jose Forni

CSIRO

Jose is a synthetic organic chemist with extensive knowledge and experience in continuous flow chemistry, heterogenous catalysis and electrochemistry. | Research Project: Investigate novel catalysts compositions for the dehydrogenation of LOHCs such as perhydro-dibenzyltoluene and dicyclohexylmethanol. | Host University: Helmholtz Institute Erlangen Nürnberg for Renewable Energy (HIERN), Germany | Fellowship status: In Progress

Dr Zhipeng Ma

University of New South Wales

Zhipeng's research is in the fields of electrocatalysis for the production of chemical feed stocks, i.e., ammonium, urea, syngas (CO+H2), formate, ethylene, performic acid, ethylene oxide, and ethylene glycol etc. | Research Project: Waste-to-H2 derivative fuel synthesis through electrifications powered by renewable energy | Host University: Washington University St. Louis, USA | Fellowship status: In Progress

Dr Faezeh Makhlooghiazad

Deakin University

Faezeh is a Research Fellow at the ARC Training Centre for Future Energy Storage Technologies (storEnergy) housed within the Institute for Frontier Materials (IFM) at Deakin University | Research Project: Development of High-Performance PEM Hydrogen Fuel Cells Based on Novel Anhydrous Proton Conducting Membranes and Electrode Binders | Host University: Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, Germany | Fellowship status: In Progress

Dr Khadijeh Paymooni

University of Newcastle

Khadijeh has considerable research experience in multiple areas of Chemical Engineering including Membrane Technology, Renewable Energy Technologies, Energy Storage, Low Emission Technologies, Gas Separation, Bioenergy and Carbon Capture Technologies. | Research Project: Evaluating the Suitability of Australian Hematite Goethite Fines under Hydrogen Reducing Environment | Host University: Graduate Institute of Ferrous & Eco Materials Technology (GIFT) at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), SOUTH KOREA | Fellowship status: In Progress

Jordie Pettit

Macquarie University

Jordie is a PhD student at Macquarie University | Research Project: Enabling global Hyrogen Collaboration between Australia and the the Netherlands (Project HyCAN) | Host University: University of Groningen, the Netherlands | Fellowship status: In Progress

Dr Mahboobeh Shahbazi

Queensland University of Technology

Mahboobeh’s research interests have centred on developing new and efficient methods to synthesise a variety of energy materials including superconductors, batteries, electrolysers and magnetocaloric materials. | Research Project: Designing Novel Magnetocaloric Materials for Efficient Hydrogen Liquefaction | Host University: Technical University of Darmstadt Dresden High Magnetic Field Laboratory Helmholtz-Zentrum, Germany | Fellowship status: In Progress

Dr Surbhi Sharma

Federation University of Australia

Surbhi's research interests include development of graphene oxide, 2D and 3D nanostructured carbons and hybrid materials for application in fuel cells (including electrocatalysts, proton conduction membranes, and coatings). | Research Project: Research Project Materials for Low-cost Next-generation Components for Net-Zero PEM electrolysis and Fuel cells | Host University: Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER)-Pune, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, INDIA | Fellowship status: In Progress

Dr Changlong Wang

Monash University

Changlong is a research associate at Monash University, a Climate Future Fellow at the University of Melbourne, and an academic visitor at the University of Oxford. | Research Project: Navigating Global Green Steel Value Chain: A Comparative Analysis of Australia’s Direct Manufacturing and Hydrogen Carrier Exports | Host University: Oxford University, UK | Fellowship status: In Progress

Cheng-Yun Wu

University of Sydney

Cheng-Yun is a PhD student at the University of Sydney | Research Project: Establishing international consortium for high-performance metallic hydride in hydrogen storage | Host University: Sandia National Laboratory, California, Brookhaven National Laboratory, New York, DOE’s Annual Merit Review meeting, USA | Fellowship status: In Progress

Dr Jafar Zanganeh

Jafar's research interests range from fundamental studies of engineering topics (e.g. chemical, safety and mechanical) through applied investigations, from the problem statement onset, all the way to the development laboratory-scale, prototype, demonstration, and commercialisation of new technologies. | Research Project: Mapping Australia's Position in Green Ammonia/Hydrogen Technology: A Framework for Global Comparison | Host University: Institute of Sustainability for Chemicals, Energy and Environment (ISCE2), Singapore; University of Delft in the Netherlands | Fellowship status: In Progress

Dr Abbas ZeiniJahromi

University of Adelaide

Abbas' expertise is Energy Resources Engineering (GeoEnergy and GeoStorage) with a focus on reactive multi-phase flow in porous media. | Research Project: Predicting Well Behaviour during Underground Hydrogen Storage | Host University: TU DELFT, Rotterdam, the Netherlands | Fellowship status: In Progress

This project received grant funding from the Australian Government.

Global Scan for Research, Development and Demonstration opportunities

In 2022 we worked with international governments and organisations to develop reports outlining opportunities for country-to-country engagement in hydrogen research, development and demonstration projects (RD&D). Each report provides an overview of the country’s hydrogen priorities and ecosystem, as well as a publication and intellectual property (IP) scan identifying the key stakeholders actively undertaking hydrogen RD&D.

These reports have also been shared by Mission Innovation’s Clean Hydrogen Mission.