The organisation - The NHRF is an Academic Research Foundation established in 1979. Its mission is to advance scientific research in selected fields of experimental and theoretical physics and chemistry and to train young scientists in the methodology and practices of modern research as well as the transfer of knowledge into selected industrial and other applications, including the health industry, through its R&D facilities. Centre to the institute's scientific priorities is the understanding of matter interaction with electromagnetic radiation over a wide spectral range that would facilitate the exploitation of materials with advanced functionality, energy storage, photonics and molecular engines.

Dr A.C. Cefalas completed his PhD on quantum and nonlinear optics before joining the NHRF Theoretical and Physical Chemistry Institute, organising and directing the Nanophotonics and Applications Laboratory. This group focuses its activities on nanotechnology and its applications, including the investigation of fundamental optical, electric and magnetic properties at the nanoscale, and has accumulated more than 150 person-years of experience. He is the author of over 100 published papers, has participated in more than 120 international conferences on nanotechnology including lithography, laser and non-linear physics, solid state physics, spectroscopy and nanotechnology and was the national expert on nanotechnology in the European Commission between 2004 and 2006. Between 2006 and the end of 2010, Dr Cefalas was the National Representative of Greece in the European Commission.