Professor Walter Leal holds Chair of Climate Change Management and Health at the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (Germany), and Chair of Environment and Technology at Manchester Metropolitan University (UK). He directs the Research and Transfer Centre "Sustainability Development and Climate Change Management". His main research interests are in the fields of sustainable development and climate change, also including aspects of climate change and health.
His field experience in over 70 countries involves missions undertaken on behalf of various international organisations (e.g. European Union, World Bank, OECD, UNESCO, UNEP) and attendance to specialised events in North America, Latin America/Caribbean, Europe, Africa, Asia and Pacific Region, and the Middle East. Professor Leal has acted as Reviewer, Review Editor and Lead Author at the assessment reports issued by the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change. He has written, edited or co-edited over 200 books and has in excess of 500 journal papers to his credit.