Thomas Bechtold has worked at the Research Institute for Textile Chemistry and Textile Physics of the University Innsbruck since 1981. He began as a Freelancer, then became a Senior Researcher in 1993, and a Full Professor from 2010 to 2021. During the period from 1997 to 2019, he was Head of the Institute. Since his retirement in 2021, he has been employed as a part-time Professor at the Institute. His research interests focus on a number of fields, always with relation to improving the sustainability of textile processes: application of electrochemical processes in textile dyeing, natural colourants as sustainable dyes, regenerated cellulose fibres and textile dyeing and finishing, sports textiles, and functional materials. He is author or co-author of more than 340 publications, therein more than 30 patents and two books, "Handbook of Natural Colorants” and “Textile Chemistry”. In 2017, he was awarded with the Wissenschaftspreis of land Tyrol; in 2015, Wissenschaftspreis of land Vorarlberg; in 2016, the Gold Medal, Coloration Technology, and in 1994, the Research Medal of the Worshipful Company of Dyers (London).