Manuel J. Tello is a former professor of physics at the UPV. He was Vicecouncillor of Industry of the Basque Government between 1988 and 1991. In this period in his function as Vicecouncillor, was responsible for the first National Technology Strategy of the Basque Country.

His connection to the Basque and Spanish administrative organization related to the university, science and technology has been as strong as his research activity, for which he received in 1995 ex aequo with Pedro Miguel Etxenike, Xabier María Munibe Award in its first edition.

Since 1973 Tello has been responsible for twenty-eight research projects and Principal Researcher in more than 150 research articles. It is also a consultant to the European Union and member of numerous scientific societies.