Marcelo Knobel was the Rector of the University of Campinas (Unicamp) in Brazil from 2017 to 2021, where he is a Full Professor of Physics (see www.unicamp.br). He held other leadership roles, including: Executive Director of the Unicamp Exploratory Science Museum, Vice-Rector for Undergraduate Programs, Vice-President of the Brazilian Physics Society, President of Insper and Executive Director of the Brazilian Nanotechnology National Laboratory (LNNano).

Knobel has already published more than 300 scientific papers, in addition to numerous opinion pieces in both national and international newspapers and magazines. He is the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials (Elsevier). Knobel is an Eisenhower Fellow (2007), Fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (2009) and Lemann Fellow (2015). He is a Member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, Member (elect) of the Brazilian Society for the Advancement of Science (SBPC) and Member (elect) of the Governing Council of the Magna Charta Observatory.