Aurelio Mateo-Alonso

Dr. Aurelio Mateo-Alonso “Koke” is an Ikerbasque Research Professor and head of the Molecular and Supramolecular Materials Laboratory at POLYMAT, a position he has held since 2012. He is also a Distinguished Professor at the University of the Basque Country (EHU). He received his BSc and MSc degrees in Organic Chemistry from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid in 1999 and 2000, respectively, before completing his PhD in Chemistry at Queen Mary University of London in 2004. After postdoctoral research at the University of Trieste from 2004 to 2009, he became an independent group leader at the Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies from 2009 to 2012, before joining POLYMAT. His research focuses on the synthesis and supramolecular chemistry of π-conjugated systems in one, two, and three dimensions. His work includes polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, nanographenes, graphene nanoribbons, fullerenes, carbon nanotubes, mechanically interlocked structures, supramolecular and conjugated polymers, and covalent organic frameworks. He also studies their integration into molecular and optoelectronic devices, developing materials with tailored structural and electronic properties. Professor Mateo-Alonso has delivered more than 50 invited and keynote lectures, published over 120 scientific articles and 11 book chapters, and secured more than €7 million in competitive funding. He received an ERC Consolidator Grant and has coordinated four European projects under programmes including EIC Pathfinder Open, FET-Open, M-ERA.NET, and ERA-Chemistry. Throughout his independent career, he has supervised 57 researchers, including postdoctoral fellows, PhD candidates, MSc students, and undergraduates. He has also organized several editions of the international POLYMAT Spotlight conference and, since 2025, has served as Associate Editor of the Beilstein Journal of Organic Chemistry. His work has been recognized with several distinctions, including his election as Corresponding Member of the Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences in 2025, the Research Excellence Award of the Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry in 2021, the Young Investigator Award from the Nanocarbons Division of the Electrochemical Society in 2012, the Young Investigator Award from the Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry in 2011, the Eugen-Graetz Award from the University of Freiburg in 2009, and the Young Investigator Award from the University of Trieste in 2007.