cautioned against cuts or pauses in funding and its effect on the British economy and regularly advocates for girls in STEM subjects and women in science. In addition to his academic work Knight was editor for more than 20 years of Journal of Modern Optics and remains editor of Contemporary Physics. Knight is described by the Royal Society as "an influential figure within the wider UK physics community" and by Miles J. Padgett of the University of Glasgow as "one of the UK’s most influential scientists and leaders of scientific policy." Senior positions Knight is Emeritus Professor in the department of physics at Imperial College London. From 1 October 2010, he was the principal and is now Senior Fellow in Residence of the Kavli Royal Society International Centre at Chicheley Hall. He has been a visiting professor at the University of Louvain-la-Neuve, a Humboldt Research Award holder at the University of Konstanz and a visiting scholar at the University of Texas at Austin and at the University of Rochester. Since 1999 Knight has been a fellow of the Royal Society. Knight was president of the Institute of Physics from 2011 to 2013; president in 2004 of the Optical Society of America, the first non North American-based person to take the position; and a fellow of the Royal Society. In addition he was a member of the council of the Royal Society. He has a seat on the European advisory board of Princeton University Press. He was elected an honorary fellow of the Institute of Physics in recognition of his "major contributions to physics through his pre-eminent research, his influential leadership roles and his service to the Institute of Physics". Knight was Chief Scientific Advisor until his retirement to the National Physical Laboratory and is Chair of NPL's Quantum Metrology Institute. He continues to act as an advisor to the British government. Other awards Knight was knighted in the Queen's 2005 Birthday Honours. He was the recipient of the Frederic Ives Medal in 2008, and the Royal Medal in 2010. He has received awards from the Institute of Physics including the Thomas Young Medal (1999) and the Glazebrook Medal. Knight has received many honorary doctorates including an honorary doctorate from Heriot-Watt University in 2010, from University of Sussex in 2010, from University of Glasgow in 2015 and University of Birmingham in 2017. In 2012 he became a member of the German