Profile

José Luis Cabral da Conceição Figueiredo graduated in Chemical Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto (FEUP), in 1968, and became Teaching Assistant in 1969. In 1970 he joined the Imperial College of Science and Technology, London, where he carried out research in Heterogeneous Catalysts, obtaining the DIC (Diploma of the Imperial College) and the PhD from the University of London in 1975.
He then resumed his academic duties at FEUP, where he created a research group which originated the Laboratory of Catalysis and Materials, now part of LSRE-LCM and the Associate Laboratory ALiCE. He obtained his Habilitation at FEUP, becoming Full Professor (1979-2015). His research activities have been focused on Catalysis and Carbon, publishing nine books and more than 400 papers and book chapters. His pioneer work on the functionalization of carbon materials for catalysis stands out. He is Professor Emeritus since 2015, becoming interested in the history of the Chemical Industry.
He was President of SPQ, the Portuguese Chemical Society, (2007-2009) and its Porto Delegation (1991-2007), and a founding member of the Portuguese-Galician Chemistry Meetings (1984), the Divisions of Analytical Chemistry (1982) and Catalysis (1991), and the Carbon Group (2015). Member of the Executive Board of ERA-Net “ACENET” (European Network on Applied Catalysis), (2004-2009), and national delegate to the General Assembly of INTAS (International Association for the Promotion of Cooperation with Scientists from the Independent States of the Former Soviet Union), (1993-1998). He is a member of the Lisbon Academy of Sciences since 2014, and of the Engineers Association.
He received several scientific awards, including Stimulus for Excellence (Ministry for Science and Higher Education, 2004), Excellence in Research (FEUP, 2011), Lee Hsun Research Award on Materials Science (Institute of Metals Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 2014), Ferreira da Silva Prize (SPQ, 2014), FISOCAT Senior Award (Ibero-American Federation of Catalysis Societies, 2018) and CIBIQ R+D+i Excellence Medal (Ibero-American Congress in Chemical Engineering, 2023).