Davidovich was educated at the Pontificia U. Catolica, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and the U. of Rochester, USA (PhD 1975). He is full professor of physics at the Federal U. of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He has held several visiting positions in France, Germany, USA and UK. His interests cover quantum optics and quantum information. His research has focused on the emergence of the classical world from the quantum substrate; laser theory; cavity quantum electrodynamics; quantum entanglement; and quantum metrology. He is member of the Braz. Acad. of Sci. and Foreign Associate of the US Natl. Acad. of Sci. (since 2006). He is Fellow of the Optical Soc. of Am. and of the Am. Physical Soc.. He was awarded the Grand Cross of the Natl. Order of Scientific Merit, Brazil (2000), the TWAS Physics Prize (2001), and the Braz. Natl. Prize of Sci. (2010). He was member of the Executive Board of ICSU (2011-2014). He has been President of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences since May 2016.

Lacerda (PhD, Biophysics, 1983) is Titular Professor, Federal U. of Ceará in Fortaleza, Ceará and Fluminense Federal U. in Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He is a CNPq-National Research Council of Brazil Senior Researcher (1A) and a Member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences. He is a Member of the FEC-Academy (Future Coasts Academy) and of ISME (International Society for Mangrove Ecosystems); under these institutions and UNESCO-UNEP he has coordinated global research programmes on mangrove conservation and coastal zone management in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. He received the Excellence Award in Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, U. of Florida (1995); the BUNKA-SUMITOMO Prize of Scientist of the Year (1999); and the Bunge Prize 2011 in Oceanography. In 2018 received the National Order of Scienctific Merit from the Federal government. Lacerda has authored over 290 journal papers, 80 book chapters and 21 books and majored over 100 PhD, MSc and Postdoc researchers.