Hywel Thomas is Professor of Civil Engineering, Director of the Cardiff School of Engineering and a Founder Director of the Geoenvironmental Research Centre (GRC) at the School of Engineering, Cardiff University.  His research interests range from coupled multiphysics/geo-chemistry problems in soils, through land regeneration to wider sustainability issues.  He is regularly invited to give plenary and keynote presentations at various conferences worldwide.  He has supervised over 70 research assistants and students, produced in collaboration with co-workers some 360 publications and delivered over 80 lectures to institutions or learned societies in 20 countries.  He is a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers, a Fellow of the Geological Society of London and a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.  He is actively involved in many international programmes of research on the geological disposal of high level nuclear waste.  His research centre, the GRC, has been selected as a Centre of Excellence in this area, by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA, Vienna).