Michał Jerzy Zasada was born on 16 December 1969 in Wrocław. In 1993, he graduated from the Warsaw University of Life Sciences (SGGW) Faculty of Forestry with second-degree engineer diploma in Forestry. Immediately after the studies, he started work at the Department of Forest Productivity. He received the degree of Doctor of Forestry Sciences in 1998; the postdoctoral degree in Forestry Sciences in the field of Forestry, Woodland Management, in 2008; and the title of Professor of Forestry Sciences in 2014.

While working at SGGW, he held such positions as Deputy Dean for Teaching (2005–2008), Dean of the Faculty of Forestry (2008–2012), Deputy Dean for Science (2012–2016), Associate Professor and Head at the Independent Laboratory of Dendrometry and Forest Productivity Science (since 2010) and Chair of the Senate Committee on Teaching and Education (2008–2012). In 2009–2011, he was a member of the Scientific Advisory Panel to the Director General of the State Forests and in 2011–2015 a member and Vice-Chair of the Polish Academy of Sciences Committee on Forest Sciences. In 2012–2016, he was a member of the Scientific Council of the Forest Research Institute in Sękocin Stary. In 2013–2018, he was the financial auditor of the European Forest Institute (EFI). He was a member of programme councils of journals Folia Forestalia Polonica, Open Forest Science Journal and Studia i Materiały Centrum Edukacji Przyrodniczo-Leśnej w Rogowie (2008–2012). In 2001–2004, he held a postdoctoral fellowship at the D.B. Warnell School of Forest and Natural Resources at the University of Georgia, USA, dealing mainly with modelling the effects of economic and environmental changes and their impact on the changes in forest resources. He held the position of adjunct assistant professor at the University of Georgia, USA, from 2004 to 2012. He is currently a professor in the Department of Dendrometry and Forest Productivity Science.

Prof. Michał Zasada’s research interests focus mainly on dendrometry, forest productivity science and woodland management, especially modelling of tree and tree stand growth, modern forest measurement methods and application of decision support systems in forest management planning. He is the author of more than 120 scientific publications, including more than 50 in journals with impact factor.

As a manager or main contractor, he was involved in research funded by national (the State Committee for Scientific Research, the Polish National Science Centre, the National Centre for Research and Development and the Directorate General of State Forests) and international (Seventh Framework Programme and Horizon 2020) funds. As an expert, he evaluated research projects funded by FP7 and COST. He was an expert in teaching projects funded by the Tempus Programme and Norway Grants, as well as an expert in the accreditation board evaluating three universities in Kyrgyzstan. He lectured at the Saken Seifullin Kazakh Agrotechnical University in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, and Agricultural University of Georgia in Tbilisi, Georgia, and provided woodland management training to Georgian foresters.

He reviewed articles in numerous national and international journals, including Forest Science, Journal of Forestry, Forest Ecology and Management, Annals of Forest Science, Canadian Journal of Forest Research, Silva Fennica, Sylwan, Biometrical Letters, Folia Forestalia Polonica, Annals of Geomatics, Remote Sensing of Environment and Mathematical Biosciences.

He was a supervisor of four completed doctoral procedures concerning the influence of habitat conditions on the radial growth of Norway spruce in north-eastern Poland and Baltic countries, dendroecology of Schrenk’s spruce in Kyrgyzstan and history, status and perspectives of introduction of Douglas fir in Poland and western red cedar in Germany. He was a reviewer in four postdoctoral procedures and six doctoral procedures. He acted as an opponent in a doctoral procedure at the University of Eastern Finland. Currently, he is a research supervisor of three doctoral students.

Prof. Michał Zasada is the Vice-Chair of the Conference of Rectors of Academic Schools in Poland. He is a member of the board of CASEE, the ICA Regional Network for Central and South Eastern Europe, the programme council of the Austrian Journal of Forest Science and the Council for Agriculture and Rural Areas to the President of the Republic of Poland. He is a member of the Polish Academy of Sciences Committee on Forest Sciences and Wood Technology and the Polish Forestry Association.

For his research and organisational activities, he has repeatedly received SGGW Rector Awards. He received the Silver Medal for Long Service in 2015 and the Silver Cross of Merit in 2018.

Languages: English and Russian.

Hobbies: ham radio, travelling and computers. Married, with three children.