His work has been recognized with several awards, including the Order of the Aztec Eagle from the Mexican government.

Knight did his undergraduate, graduate and post-doctoral work all at Oxford University, describing his college experience as lacking women and being in a fortress-like environment, regularly conversing in Latin.

[3] In 1986 he was also a visiting fellow at the Center for US-Mexican Studies at the University of California, San Diego.

[3][6] His research work stresses the role of the agrarian society, state building, revolutionary upheavals, populism and democracy.

[7] In 2009, Knight received the Order of the Aztec Eagle for his research work from the Mexican government.