Vladimir Mencl received his PhD in computer science (CS) from Charles University in Prague and became a reviewer for Computing Reviews while working as a researcher there. After a few years of academic work, Mencl moved to New Zealand and switched his career from being an academic himself to supporting researchers across various disciplines: first as a member of the team running the BlueFern supercomputer at the University of Canterbury, and later supporting the research community from REANNZ, New Zealand's Research and Education Advanced Network.

Throughout his career, Mencl has kept the Computing Reviews affiliation, both as a way (and nudge) to keep learning new developments outside his immediate areas of focus and as a way to give back to the community.