Prof. Dr. Juan Matos Lale completed his doctorate in Surface Physics and Chemistry through the Franco-Venezuelan Postgraduate Cooperation Program between the Central School of Lyon (France) and the Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research in 1999 studying the "Influence of carbon materials in heterogeneous photocatalytic reactions and solar nanotechnology”. He is co-founder and director of the Chilean Association of Carbon Materials, and co-founder of the Latin American Carbon Federation, of which he was President (2016-2018). Prof. Matos is the Director (2017 - ) of the Franco-Chilean Network of Valuation of Biochar for Applications in Energy and Environmental Remediation. From 2015-2019, he was Professor of the Postgraduate Energy and of the Faculty of Chemical Sciences, of the University of Concepción (UdeC), and Researcher of the Technological Development Unit (UDT) of that university.

In 2020 he moved to the Autonomous University of Chile, and as of August 2023 he is part of the Ibero-American Institute for Sustainable Development at the Faculty of Architecture, Construction and Environment where he is a Full Professor and Senior Academician. Prof. Matos has organized the “Smart Nanomaterials Group” (SmartNanoMat Group), whose goal is to efficiently design different types of nanomaterials such as semiconductors, hybrids and different types of carbon-based materials such as nanoporous carbon, biochars, foams, vitreous carbons, nanotubes and graphene, among others, and systems doped with heteroatoms, for application in different processes related to Sustainable Development, including the conversion, production and ecological storage of different types of clean energy such as production of hydrogen, solar cells, fuel cells, photocatalytic processes for environmental remediation, mainly polluted water and air, as well as the production of solar fuels.

He has directed 60 undergraduate thesis, 14 graduate thesis and 4 postdoctorals positions. He has performed 327 conference presentations, including 27 plenary lectures and 89 invited conferences. He has a total of 98 articles published in high-impact journals and serial books, with 3498 citations and H factor of 31. He has developed different international research projects and collaborative technological application with Mexico, Spain, and France. He has been director of projects with Chilean funds such as FONDEF-IDEA, CORFO-INNOVA, FAE-SEREMI, FONDECYT, ANILLO, among others. In the years 2021, 2022, and 2023, he has received the recognition of the international scientific community for being cataloged in the top 2% ranking of the most influential scientists in the world.