Professor Walter Leal holds the Chairs of Climate Change Management at the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (Germany), and 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.

In the field of sustainable development, Professor Walter Leal is the founder of the European School of Sustainability Science and Research and of the Inter-University Sustainable Development Research Programme (IUSDRP).

Professor Leal has been author, co-author, editor or co-editor in many publications on matters related to environment, sustainable development and climate change issues. He has in excess of 500 publications to his credit.

Professor Walter Leal is fluent in various languages such as English, German, Portuguese, Spanish and French.