Gérard Férey was successively Professor at Le Mans University (1967-1988 and 1992-1995), then deputy Director of the Chemistry Department of CNRS (1988-1992) before creating the Institut Lavoisier in the new University of Versailles) on demand of CNRS and Ministery of Education. He was nominated as Professor at the Institut universitaire de France in 1999. His fields of research concerned first the magnetic frustration of 3d transition metal fluorides (Le Mans) and then, in Versailles, inorganic and hybrid micro- and mesoporous solids (synthesis, structures, mechanisms of formation, structural prediction, multifunctionalities) for dedicated applications in the domains of energy, sustainable development and health. Elected as a member of Academia Europaea (1994), of the French Academy of Sciences (2003), of the National Indian Academy of Sciences (2001) and of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Spain (2009), he has received many international awards (Grand Prix IFP of the French Academy, A. von Humboldt Award (Germany (2004)), C.N.R. Rao Prize (India (2005)), Award Lecture of the Chemical Society of Japan (2008) and the Catalan-Sabatier Award of the Royal Spanish Society of Chemistry (2008), ENI Award for the Protection of Environment (2009). He is the author of more than 500 publications and numerous plenary lectures.