Prof. José Manuel Barandiaran is an internationally recognized expert in the field of magnetism and magnetic materials. He was deeply involved in the development of the theory and experimental application of magnetoelastic effects in amorphous materials during the 80’s, and has thereafter continued researching their properties and use in different kind of sensors. As head of the Group of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials, he started and led the research in Magnetism in the Universidad del País Vasco UPV/EHU. He is currently the scientific director of BCMaterials, an excellence research centre sponsored by the Basque Science Foundation and the University. He has published over 400 articles in scientific journals, receiving more than 4700 citations (h-index=34). He is author of 5 patents, and has supervised 14 PhD Thesis. He was the founder and first president of International Committee of the European Magnetic Sensors & Actuators (EMSA) Conferences, Chairman of International Committee of the Soft Magnetic Materials (SMM) Conference, and founder and first President of the Spanish Club of Magnetism.