Ondrej Masek is a Lecturer in Engineering Assessment of Biochar at the University of Edinburgh. He established and has lead biomass pyrolysis and biochar production research at the UK Biochar Research Centre (UKBRC) at UEdin since its establishment in 2009. Over the past five years his team developed, built and commissioned a unique set of laboratory and pilot-scale facilities for biomass pyrolysis and gasification, representing a total investment of over £500k by the University and private sponsors. Dr. Masek's team has considerable expertise related to modification of char properties by selection of feedstock and production conditions, as well as by using feedstock pre-treatment and char post-treatment. His interests are focused on development of thermochemical conversion processes for biomass valorisation by co-production of solid carbon products and chemicals derived from pyrolysis liquids. To date Dr. Masek published over 30 journal papers in peer-reviewed journals, and supervised 6 PhD and 17 MSc students.

He was awarded his PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from the Hokkaido University (Sapporo, Japan) in 2007. Following his PhD, Dr. Masek worked for two years as a research officer at the Energy Technology Centre at Cranfield University (UK). During this period he worked on combustion and gasification of biomass, underground coal gasification and CO2 capture technologies. Dr. Masek commenced his permanent full-time appointment as a Lecturer in Engineering Assessment of Biochar at the School of GeoSciences in April 2009.