Biography
Peter-Paul Verbeek (1970) is distinguished professor of Philosophy of Technology and co-director of the DesignLab of the University of Twente, The Netherlands. He is also honorary professor of techno-anthropology at Aalborg University, Denmark. His research focuses on the philosophy of human-technology relations, and aims to contribute to philosophical theory, ethical reflection, and practices of design and innovation.
His publications include Moralizing Technology: Verbeek is a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy, Understanding and Designing the Morality of Things (University of Chicago Press, 2011) and What Things Do: Philosophical Reflections on Technology, Agency, and Design (Penn State University Press, 2005). Verbeek is a member of UNESCO – COMEST (World Commission on the Ethics of Science and Technology); the Dutch Concil for the Humanities; the Supervisory Board of TNO (Dutch Organization for applied scientific research); the board of the Rathenau Institute; the program council for Responsible Innovation of NWO – Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research; and the Center for Ethics and Health (Ministry of Health).
Verbeek is a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), the Netherlands Academy of Technology and Innovation (AcTI) and the Royal Holland Society of Sciences (KHMW). Between 2013 and 2015 he was President of the Society for Philosophy and Technology; between 2011 and 2013 he was chairperson of ‘The Young Academy’, an independent division of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. His work has received several awards, including a VENI award (2003), VIDI award (2007), VICI Award (2014), membership of The Young Academy (2009), the Borghgraef Prize in Biomedical Ethics 2012 (Leuven University) , and the World Technology Award in Ethics 2016 (World Technology Network).