Ian Manners is Professor of Chemistry and Canada Research Chair at the University of Toronto. He received his Ph.D. in the area of transition metal chemistry in 1985 from the University of Bristol, England. After working as a Royal Society Postdoctoral Fellow in Germany in the field of main group chemistry, and then the USA in the area of polymer science, he moved to Toronto in July 1990. He was promoted to Full Professor in 1995. Professor Manners’ research interests focus on the synthesis, properties, and applications of inorganic molecules, polymers, and materials. He is an author of over 300 publications and holds or coholds 11 patents. His awards includes an Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship from the USA (1994-98), a Corday-Morgan Medal (1997) from the UK, and the Alcan Award (1999) and the Macromolecular Science and Engineering Award (2003) from Canada. He was also awarded the Steacie Prize in 2000 – the top award in all areas of science and engineering in Canada for a person aged 40 or older – and he was elected to the Canadian National Academy of Science in 2001. He currently serves on the Editorial Advisory Board of 8 scientific journals.