Prof. Pedro L. Arias is at present Head of the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering of the University of the Basque Country. After finishing his engineering studies and his PhD thesis (1984) he worked as a postdoc researcher at the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine (Department of Chemical Engineering and Chemical Technology) and then at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Department of Chemical Engineering). He is since 1990 professor of Chemical Engineering at the School of Engineering of Bilbao (University of the Basque Country) where he leads a research group named Sustainable Process Engineering dedicated to the development of new catalysts and innovative reaction systems in the areas of Thermal Processing of Wastes, Catalytic Biorefinery Processes and Hydrogen Technologies. He has supervised 20 PhD students, published more than 150 papers and submitted many contributions to scientific congresses and symposia. He was Vice-rector for Academic Affairs of the University of the Basque Country (1991-1996) and more recently he was the Vice-minister for Universities and Research of the Basque Regional Government (2009-2012).