Curriculum vitae

Born on 30 May 1982 in Brno region, Zdeněk Pokorný completed Secondary Engineering School in Kuřim in 2001 to enrol to Military Academy in Brno. Graduated from Weapons and Ammunition master degree programme, he served at 132^nd combined artillery battalion under 13^th artillery brigade in Jince in the position of artillery support fire senior officer. In the period 2006-09, he participated in many national exercises of task groups within 7^th mechanise brigade while deployed abroad in KFOR mission within 13^th arty brigade in 2008 in the position of mechanised company support group chief officer of the 13^th contingent of Czech Armed Forces under KFOR Joint Operations Centre of the Ministry of Defence. Coming back from the overseas operation in 2009, he enrolled to doctoral degree studies in Materials and Technological Engineering field in full-time mode. Before completion of doctoral studies, he was appointed to Training Command – Military Academy in Vyškov in the position of combat readiness and planning cell chief at the staff of supporting battalion of the Training Command – Military Academy of the Joint Forces Command. He continued in studies but in combined mode to achieve the doctoral degree in 2011 defending the doctoral thesis on plasma nitriding of cavities.

In 2012, he moved back to the University of Defence in non-academic position of Planning and Organisation Office senior officer at the university HQ level. He had stayed in the position till 2014 while he contributed to teaching in “Materials” and “Surface Techniques” subjects for the Department of Mechanical Engineering. He collaborated on the monograph published in 2013 in English following his doctoral thesis topic and titled “Plasma nitriding of cavities“.

In 2014, he joint the Department of Mechanical Engineering under the Faculty of Military Technology in the position of lecturer for the group of military equipment expertise. In 2016, he attended a fellowship programme as a researcher at Design Unit under Newcastle University. In 2017, he achieved the degree of associate professor in “Material Sciences and Engineering” through successful passing the habilitation proceedings and defending the habilitation thesis on “Possibilities of Affecting the Basic Characteristics of Layers in Steel Chemical and Heat Treatment”. He led 3 projects for the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic agency in the period 2015-2023, was an extern evaluator of out-of-defence providers and a member of Ministry of Industry and Trade selection board.

In 2019 and 2020, he was appointed the vice-rector for research and expert activities of the University of Defence, was deputy chair of the Scientific Council of the University of Defence and a member of the Research, Development and Innovations Board under the Ministry of Defence.

Since 2021, he has been the leader of the Military Equipment Expertise group, a member of the Scientific Council of the Faculty of Logistics and Crisis Management within Tomas Bata University in Zlin, of the Faculty of Materials Science and Technology under the Technical University of Ostrava and of Trencin University (Slovakia).

He achived the full professor degree in Materials Science and Engineering field in 2022. He guarantees master degree studies in Military Technology – Mechanical Engineering Programme and also guarantees associate/full professor proceedings in Mechanical Engineering and Materials field at the Faculty of Military Technology. He has been a member of the Engineering Academy of the Czech Republic since 2023.

Professor Pokorný is married, father of two children.