Johan Knapen is a Research Professor (Profesor Investigación OPIs) at the IAC and staff member there since 2006. Before joining the IAC he was lecturer and then full professor of astronomy at the University of Hertfordshire (UH) in the UK. He has been Visiting Professor at both UH and at Liverpool John Moores University. From 2011 to 2015, he was Head of the Research Division at the IAC. 

Prof. Knapen’s research focusses on the structure and evolution of the central regions and the disks of galaxies, emphasising the exploitation of the sharpest and deepest possible imaging across a range of wavelengths. With his group, he tackling the challenges offered by new surveys such as LSST and EUCLID. He has published in more than 280 refereed papers in the leading journals (35+ as a first author) with 16000 citations and H-index of 62. He is frequently invited to present the group’s work at international conferences and in book contributions. His research is primarily observational, and is based on observations across a range of wavelengths and techniques obtained from the world’s leading telescopes, including the Spanish ICTSs. In collaboration with computer science colleagues, he is heavily involved in developing AI and machine learning techniques for the analysis of large data sets.

Knapen is PI and coordinator of a 2.5Meuro EU Doctoral Network called EDUCADO, as well of a 1.5 Meuro EU-funded Twinning network called ExGal-Twin. Previously, he has been coordinator and PI of the EU FP/-funded ITN DAGAL, node leader and deputy coordinator of the SUNDIAL ITN funded within Horizon2020, and host scientist for an H2020 MSCA postdoctoral fellowship. Knapen leads the IAC participation in LSST, and is a member of the Euclid and WEAVE science consortia. He has been PI of Spanish research grants from the Science Ministry and the BBVA Foundation, and is currently (co-)supervising 6 PhD students and 3 postdocs. So far, he has successfully supervised around 15 PhD students and a dozen postdocs. He currently manages a team of 8 IAC employees, including doctoral candidates, postdocs, and project managers.

Knapen is a Member of the Board of the Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes, having chaired this Board for 6 years, and a member of the WEAVE Project Board and (from 2026) the Instrument Steering Committee of the Netherlands NOVA. He is member of the Editorial Boards of Springer’s Astronomy & Astrophysics Library, Astronomy and Planetary Sciences, and SpringerBriefs in Astronomy. He was the Scientific Secretary of the Comité Científico Internacional of the Canary Islands Observatories from 2021 to Nov 2024, and a member of the Steering Committee of Div. J of the IAU from 2018 to 2024. From 2012 to 2021, he was Council Member and Treasurer of the European Astronomical Society, and member of the board supervising the organization of the annual EAS Meeting (formerly EWASS). He has co-organised 8 EWASS/EAS annual meetings, from the 2015 one in Tenerife to the 2022 one in Valencia, developing the meetings through the years and through the COVID period. Knapen frequently acts as Chair or Member of the SOC of international meetings, including IAU Symposia and EAS Symposia and Special Sessions. Mentoring and coaching, in particular of young scientists from developing countries, is an increasingly important part of Knapen’s activities, as is advanced training in scientific writing.