ERS | monograph Guest Editors Nick A. Maskell Nick A. Maskell undertook his Doctor of Medicine thesis on pleural diseases in Oxford (UK) prior to taking up a consultant post at North Bristol NHS Trust (Bristol, UK) in 2003. His research interests include clinical trials in pleural disease, mesothelioma and patient safety during pleural procedures. He leads the pleural service at the North Bristol NHS Trust and the Bristol Pleural Clinical Trials Unit at the University of Bristol (Bristol, UK). Nick Maskell is the chief investigator for a number of pleural randomised controlled trials. He was Co-Chair of the 2018 British Thoracic Society (BTS) mesothelioma guidelines and is one of the Chairs of the forthcoming BTS pleural disease guidelines. Christian B. Laursen Christian B. Laursen is Head of Research and Associate Professor at the Respiratory Research Unit in the Department of Clinical Research at the University of Southern Denmark (Odense, Denmark). In his clinical work, he is a consultant at the Department of Respiratory Medicine at Odense University Hospital (Odense, Denmark). Christian Laursen has a PhD in point-of-care ultrasound and his main research interest has been in the use of TUS within the field of respiratory medicine. At an international and organisational level, he is Chair of the European Respiratory Society (ERS) Ultrasound group, is Co-Chair of the ERS Task Force on TUS, and is part of the committee organising the ERS TUS Training Programme. Copyright ©ERS 2020. Print ISBN: 978-1-84984-115-3. Online ISBN: 978-1-84984-116-0. Print ISSN: 2312-508X. Online ISSN: 2312-5098. vi https://doi.org/10.1183/2312508X.10004220