Dr. Uroš Novak has a permanent position as a researcher at NIC (research group leader), receiving a PhD in chemical engineering in 2014. His main expertise is in biotechnology and biopolymer chemistry, as well as biopolymers process engineering. He is currently leading the group on bioplastics, biocomposites, and zero-waste technologies, involving 10 researchers on his team in a broad collaborative network, enabling the management of the most pertinent challenges addressed by the EU Mission for Restoring our Ocean and Seas. He is the author of 52 impact factor papers (peer-reviewed) (h-index: 28; >2000 citations; Scopus), the Coordinator of the HE Mission project REMEDIES and Interreg Italy-Slovenia project BIOAPP, and is involved in multiple international projects as a partner of HEUROPE ESTELLA, RURALITIES, UPSTREAM, TALENT PASS, SSbD4CHEM and PROPLANET.  The total value of the projects is EURO >50 M. He is also organizer of multiple high-level events in Slovenia and in the EU and has been a speaker at more than 200 events dealing with science, innovations, and technology transfer in policy and citizen science. He is currently a leading scientist against plastics on social media platforms and coordinating both dissemination and communication activities for the HEU mission Ocean and Waters projects REMEDIES and UPSTREAM.