Luís Lamas obtained a BSc in Civil Engineering at the University of Lisbon (1981), a MSc in Engineering Rock Mechanics at the Imperial College of Science and Technology, London, UK (1986), and a PhD at the University of London, UK (1993).

In 1981 he joined the Portuguese National Laboratory for Civil Engineering (LNEC), where he worked at the Underground Construction Division. In 1994 he moved to Macau, China to work at the Macau Civil Engineering Laboratory (LECM), where his work consisted of geotechnical consultancy for several large projects. In 1997 he was appointed President of LECM and he kept this position until February 2003. He then returned to LNEC, where he is currently a Senior Researcher and Head of the Modelling and Rock Mechanics Unit.

Dr. Lamas is the Secretary General of the International Society for Rock Mechanics (ISRM) since 2003, and has contributed to the ISRM by participating in several Commissions and in the organizing committees of Eurock93 and of the 2007 ISRM Congress. From 2004 to 2008 he was Vice President of the Portuguese Geotechnical Society.

Dr. Lamas is the author of over 50 publications dealing mainly with rock engineering. He has been involved in studies for support to the design of large underground works, namely of hydroelectric schemes, in Portugal and abroad, including laboratory and field tests and numerical modelling. He is also engaged in monitoring and safety assessment of underground structures during construction and service life. His main research interests are in situ tests, hydromechanical behaviour of rock masses, stresses in rock masses, tunnelling in rock and dam foundations. He is currently the Convenor of CEN Task Group of rock engineering experts dealing with the revision of the Eurocode 7 on geotechnical design.