He has researched theories of gravitation, black holes, supersymmetry and supergravity, and Chern-Simons theories. He is currently researching mathematical models for the description of subatomic particles, geometries with various types of singularities, and climate models on a global scale.

Jorge Zanelli has a degree in physics from the University of Chile and a PhD from Stony-Brook University, New York. He completed a postdoctoral degree at the International Center for Theoretical Physics, ICTP-Trieste. He has been a researcher at CECs since 1985 and a professor at the universities of Chile and Santiago for more than 20 years; visiting researcher at École Normale Supérieur de Paris, Princeton University, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Albert-Einstein/Max-Planck Institute of Potsdam, ICTP-Trieste, among other institutions. He has directed around twenty doctoral theses and has around 150 publications, which have received more than 10,000 citations. He has advised the government on energy matters.

Teacher in the area of ​​Basic Sciences at the Valdivia Campus of the San Sebastian University.