Hans G. Machel, was born and raised in Braunschweig, Germany. He received his M.Sc. at the Technical University in his home town in 1980. He then emigrated to Canada and completed his Ph.D. under the supervision of Eric Mountjoy at McGill University in 1985. While completing his university degrees, Hans worked part-time for Texaco Germany and Petro Canada in Calgary. From 1985-87 he did a postdoctoral fellowship at Louisiana State University with Clyde Moore. He joined the University of Alberta in 1987, where he as been a professor ever since.

Dr. Machel's fields of research and expertise are mainly in carbonate diagenesis with applications to petroleum reservoirs. His current research program deals with all types of diagenesis in carbonate rocks, with an emphasis on processes that commonly result in large yet often unpredictable changes in porosity and permeability: dolomitization (limestone transformation to dolostone), karstification (large-scale dissolution, including cave formation), brine chemistry and fluid flow in shallow and deep carbonate aquifers. Locations recently investigated or under consideration are outcrops in the Canadian Rocky Mountains, Montana, Texas, Barbados, Bahamas, Spain, Italy, and Hungary, ranging in age from Devonian to Pleistocene. Most investigated oil and gas reservoirs are in the Alberta subsurface.

He has also published several conceptual papers, such as on dolomitization, bacterial and thermochemical sulfate reduction, and cathdoluminescence in carbonates. Individual research projects commonly apply a variety of surface, subsurface, and geochemical methods.