Professor Walter Leal

My profile

Biography

I hold  the Chairs of Climate Change Management at the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (Germany), and Environment and Technology at Manchester Metropolitan University (UK).

My main research interests are in the fields of sustainable development and climate change, also including aspects of climate change and health.

I have  the titles of Philosophy Doctor (PhD), Doctor of Science (Sustainability), Doctor of Science (Science and Engineering), Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil), and Doctor of Technology (DTech). I  have also been awarded a number of honorary doctorates (DEd, DL) for my works on sustainable development and climate change.

I have been active at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change´s (IPCC) 5th and 6th Assessment Report, as a Review Editor and as a Lead Author, respectively. I have served as a member of the Investigation Panel of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB),
of the Project Compliance Mechanism of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and direct
the International Climate Change Information and Research Programme (ICCIRP).

I am a Chartered Biologist (CBiol), European Biologist (EurBiol), Fellow,   Society of Biology (FSB), Fellow, Royal Geographical Society (FRGS), Fellow, Linnean Society (FLS) and Fellow, Royal Society of  Arts (FRSA), being fluent in French, German, Portuguese and Spanish.

Impact

I have 30 years publishing experience, including the editorship of the following journals:

•    Management of Environmental Quality, Emerald (1996 to 2016)
•    International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Emerald since 2000 (founding editor)
•    International Journal of Environment and Sustainable Development, since 2001, Inderscience (founding editor)
•    International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development,  since 2010, Inderscience
•    International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management, Emerald, since 2007 (founding editor)
•    Editor of the “Climate Change Management Series” with Springer,  launched in 2014 (founding editor)
•    Editor of the “World Sustainability Series” with Springer, launched in 2010
•    Editor of the Handbook of Climate Change Adaptation (2015)
•    Editor of the Handbook of Climate Change Resilience (2020)
•    Editor of the Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (2020-2021)
•    Editor, “Discovery Sustainability”, with Springer, launched in 2020 (founding editor)

I have also acted as author, co-author, editor or co-editor of over 600 publications including around 160 books, 100 book chapters and
over 300 papers in conferences and in journals with an impact factor (e.g. Science of the Total Environment, Environmental Science
and Policy, Science Communications, Journal of Cleaner Production, among others).

I am the founder of the European School of Sustainability Science and Research and of the Inter-University Sustainable Development Research Programme (IUSDRP). I am also editor of the World Sustainability Series with Springer. I founded the International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education (IJSHE) launched in the year 2000. IJSHE is the only journal which fully focuses on sustainability in a higher education context.

I am also Editor-in-Chief of the Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.  With 17 volumes, one devoted to each SDG, more than 1.700 chapters and in excess of 2.300 authors, this is the largest editorial project on matters related to sustainable development, ever undertaken.

Projects

I currently coordinate the Horizon 2020 project “Bioplastics Europe”, https://bioplasticseurope.eu/project lasting 4 years, with 22 partners and a volume of Euro 8,5 million. I also run various other international projects.

Teaching

How I’ll teach you

My Chair is concerned with environment and technology. More specifically, my focus is on matters related to climate change and sustainable development issues. Thanks to a combination of research projects, scientific events and peer-reviewed publications, I willl not only teach you, but also encourage you to support global efforts to tackle two of the most important challenges of modern times: climate change and sustainable development.

Supervision

I supervise various Masters, doctoral and post-doctoral students from across the world as well, and have successfully supported over 50 MSc/PhD students in their journeys.

Research outputs

Sustainable developmentClimate changeRenewable energy

Career history

1987 until 2022

Sep 1987 - June 1990
Research Assistant at Bradford University, UK.

Sep 1990 - Dec 1991

Project Officer and Lecturer, University of Hamburg, Germany.

Jan 1992 - Dec 1995

Senior Research Fellow and founding Director  of the “European Research and Training Centre on Environmental Education”, University of Bradford, Department of  Environmental Science, Bradford BD7 1DP, UK. Founding Director and first Head of the Research Centre.

Jan. 1996 - December 1997

Project coordinator, University of Lüneburg, Institute of Environmental Communication. Germany.

Jan. 1998 - July 2007

Professor and Head of Life Sciences,  TuTech Innovation, Harburger Schlossstrasse 6-12, D-21079 Hamburg, Germany.

January 2010 - August 2013

Senior Professor, London Metropolitan University, Centre for International Business and Sustainability. (part-time = 20%)

August 2007 to date

Full Professor and Head of the Research and Transfer Centre “Sustainable Development and Climate Change Management”, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences.  (part-time)

November 2013 to date

Professor Chair  of Environment and Technology, Manchester Metropolitan University, School of Science and the Environment. (part-time)