Celso Lafer (São Paulo, 1941) has been president of the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) since August 2007. A Professor Emeritus of the International Relations Institute at the University of São Paulo (USP) he was, before retiring in 2011, full professor in the Department of Philosophy and General Theory of Law at the USP Law School, where he began as a student (1960-1964) before starting to teach International Law and Philosophy of Law in 1971. He went on to receive full tenure there in International Public Law in 1977, and Habilitation in Philosophy of Law in 1988. He earned an MA (1967) and PhD (1970) in Political Science at Cornell University (USA). He is a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences (elected in 2004) and the Brazilian Academy of Letters (elected in 2006).

He twice served as Brazil’s Minister of Foreign Relations as well as Minister of Development, Industry and Trade. From 1995 - 1998 he served as Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Brazil to the United Nations and the World Trade Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. At the WTO, he was Chairman of the Dispute Settlement Body (1996) and the General Council (1997).

In 2002, Lafer received Brazil’s highest award for science and technology, the National Order of Scientific Merit. He is Doctor Honoris Causa of the University of Buenos Aires (2001), the National University of Cordoba, Argentina (2002), the Tres de Febrero-UNTREF University, Argentina (2011), the Universitè Jean Moulin Lyon 3, France, 2012 as well as Honorary Fellow of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (2006). In 2001 he received the Moinho Santista Prize from the Bunge Foundation in International Relations. In 2011 he received the Armando de Salles Oliveira Medal awarded by the University Board of USP in appreciation of his service to that university. In 2006 he served as the Countries and Cultures Chair at the John W. Kluge Center of the U.S. Library of Congress.