University of the Basque Country is a vibrant 30-year-old institution with 45,000 students, 5,000 world-class academic staff and state-of-the-art facilities.

POLYMAT is an internationally reputed university research institute in Polymer Science. It was recently recognized as a BERC (Basque Excellency Research Centre) to launch new research lines in polymers for health, energy and sustainability. It has more than 50 PhD students and post-doctoral fellows. In the last 5 years more than 100 students from Polymat obtained their PhD. POLYMAT includes 21 Assistant, Associate and Full Professors and more than 50 PhD students and postdoctoral fellows. The Institute is organized in four areas: Polymer Science, Polymerization Processes, Rheology and Polymer Processing and has provided technical support to more than 100 companies, both SMEs and large companies, looking to improve their competitive position. POLYMAT is devoted to user-inspired fundamental research on synthesis, assembly and processing of polymers that in concert with theory and simulation enable addressing to these challenges. Within POLYMAT, Innovative Polymers Group is formed by 2 permanent staff, 4 postdocs, 14 PhD students and 2 master students.

Prof. Lourdes Irusta obtained a Prof. position in the department of polymer science and technology in 1999 and is member of POLYMAT institute since its creation in 1999. She directed 6 PhD thesis, and to date she has 3 ongoing PhD students and 1 post-doctorate. She has been working in the preparation of polymers with self-healing properties. Her main expertise deal with the characterization at different levels. She has been involved for more than fifteen years at many different levels of the education process including undergraduates, Master, graduate and post-docs. She has published around 50 articles

Dr. Haritz Sardon joined the university of Basque Country in 2018 as assistant professor. He has co-authored more than 95 referred papers and he is an expert in organocatalysis and polyurethane thermosets. He directed 6 PhD thesis, and to date he has 7 ongoing PhD students and 3 post-doctorate. He will co-supervise the ESR within POLYMAT and ESRs having secondments at POLYMAT, and will survey the day-to-day advance of their projects. He has recently coordinated the ITN SUSPOL-EJD (coordinator of www.suspol.eu).

Prof. David Mecerreyes moved in 2010 from the private sector to Polymat to create a polymer chemistry research group. His main research interests focus in poly(ionic liquid)s and in the development of sustainable processes. He supervised 10 phDs and to date he has 8 ongoing PhDs and 4 post-docs. He has participated in numerous ITNs such as OLIMPIA, Org-BIO, SUSPOL and renaissance (as coordinator). He has been involved at different levels of the education process including undergrads, master students, PhDs, postdocs and hosting numerous visiting professors.

POLYMAT, Chemistry Faculty of San Sebastian
Paseo Manuel Lardizabal N 3, 20018 - San Sebastian, Spain - www.polymat.eu