Piotr Krzywiec holds an M.S. in geology and an M.S. and Ph.D. in exploration geophysics. He studied at the Jagiellonian University and the AGH University of Science and Technology, both in Kraków, Poland, and at Imperial College, London, UK. Having spent 16 years at the Polish Geological Institute in Warsaw, in 2012 he joined the Institute of Geological Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, where he holds the position of associate professor. He has also been an external lecturer in geophysics/seismic methods at the Jagiellonian University, Kraków, and the University of Warsaw.

Krzywiec's main research interests include integrated analysis of geophysical and geologic data, basin analysis, application of geophysical methods in exploration for conventional and unconventional hydrocarbons, seismic stratigraphy, inversion tectonics, salt tectonics, and compressional tectonics. He is also interested in the history of geology and geological cartography. He has authored or co-authored more than 100 peer-reviewed papers or book chapters published in Poland and abroad.

He is an active member of the Polish Geological Society, American Association of Petroleum Geologists (including the AAPG Committee on History of Petroleum Geology), Society of Exploration Geophysicists, the Petroleum History Institute, and the International Commission on the History of Geological Sciences.