Daniel Opalka is the Head of R&I at the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (JU) since February 2020. The appointment follows a long track record in HPC,  centred around applications of HPC to scientific challenges in chemistry, physics, materials science and quantum mechanics. Daniel received his PhD in Theoretical Chemistry from the Technical University Munich. He worked in research and as a university teacher at several research and education institutions including the University of Cambridge and the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Stuttgart.