Piotr Wilczek graduated from the University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland (1986) where he received his Ph.D. (1992) and Habilitation (2001) degrees.

[2] He was an assistant and associate professor at the University of Silesia (1986–2008), where he also served as Dean of the Faculty of Languages (2002–2008).

[3] He did his postgraduate work in intellectual history and Neo-Latin Studies at the Universities of Oxford (St Anne's College, 1988) and Łódź, Poland (1989).

He has been a board member of numerous international scholarly journals (e.g. “Reformation and Renaissance Review”, “The Sarmatian Review”), book series (at Springer-Verlag GmbH and Walter de Gruyter GmbH) and academic initiatives (including the Reformation Research Consortium (RefoRC) and the Post-Reformation Digital Library), and a member of several professional organizations (e.g. Modern Language Association of America, the Polish Literary Translators' Association).

Starting 9 November 2016, Wilczek served as the Ambassador of Poland to the United States,[1] succeeding Ryszard Schnepf.