Manuel Iglesias obtained his PhD degree in 2008 at Cardiff University (UK) working in the group of Prof. Kingsley J. Cavell on the chemistry of N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligands and their applications in catalysis. In order to extend his knowledge on the chemistry of NHCs he moved to Prof. Martin Albrecht’s group at the University of Fribourg (Switzerland) for a post-doctoral stay. During this period he worked on (i) mesoionic NHC ligands and (ii) hybrid catalysts (polyoxometalate/Pd-NHC complex) and their application in cross-coupling and dehalogenation catalysis. Subsequently, he moved to University College Dublin (Ireland) for a second post-doctoral stay where he studied the chemistry of remote NHCs. In October 2010, he joined the group led by Prof. Luis A. Oro at the University of Zaragoza with the intention of expanding his expertise on the field of homogeneous catalysis.  At this stage he started to develop a research line that focused on the use of N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) and N-heterocyclic olefins (NHOs) as ancillary ligands for homogeneous catalysis. During this period, he enjoyed a "Juan de la Cierva" and a "Ramón y Cajal" fellowship, and he was awarded with “Premio de Investigación 2015” from the “Real Academia de Ciencias de Zaragoza”. Since August 2020, he holds a position of tenured researcher at the ISQCH ("Científico Titular del CSIC").