Pavel Lhoták was born in Pilsen (the famous city of beer) in the Czech Republic. He studied organic chemistry at the Prague Institute of Chemical Technology, where he received a PhD under the guidance of Prof. Josef Kuthan. Between 1994 and 1996, he spent two years as a postdoctoral fellow with Prof. Seiji Shinkai (Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan). After his return, he co-founded the supramolecular chemistry group at PICT (with Prof. Ivan Stibor). In 2007, he was appointed as a full professor of organic chemistry at the University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague. His group is involved in supramolecular chemistry with a particular focus on the chemistry of calixarenes and thiacalixarenes.