Dr Tiancun Xiao is a senior research fellow in the Chemistry Department at Oxford University. He came to Oxford in 1999, initially planned for one year working as the Royal Society BP-Amoco Fellow. However, due to his new inventions in catalyst development, he was then awarded University Challenge SEED Funding and an Industrial Fellowship to continue his work. During his time at Oxford up to 2003, he developed various catalyst design and preparation technologies. In 2004, he became co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Oxford Catalysts Ltd, a spin-out company from Oxford University. The company was floated on the London AIM Stock Exchange in April 2006 valued at 65 million pounds. The company eventually moved its main operations to the US. In 2008, Oxford Catalysts Plc acquired Velocys,  and was later rebranded as Velocys in 2011.

He returned to Oxford University, and continued his research in catalysts and clean processing in energy and environmental areas, focusing on CO2 utilization and waste to energy. In 2021, Dr Xiao co-founded a new spin-out company from Oxford University, OXCCU Tech Ltd. Due to the high efficient one-step conversion of CO2 to aviation fuel, OXCCU was invited to attend the technology exhibition in COP26 in 2021. Dr Xiao has published more than 260 papers and filed more than 40 patents, with many of his catalysts being used in industrial application.