Arthur Petersen

Arthur Petersen is Professor of Science, Technology and Public Policy at UCL, Chief Scientific Adviser to the Dutch Delta Commissioner (since 2024), and Editor-in-Chief of Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science (since 2018). Before joining UCL in 2014, he had worked for more than 13 years’ work as scientific adviser on environment and infrastructure policy within the Dutch Government. He served as Chief Scientist of the PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (2011–2014). He has been Research Affiliate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2009–2025), Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science (2009–2022), Adjunct Professor of Science and Environmental Public Policy at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (2011–2016), Professorial Fellow in the Governance of Antimicrobial Resistance Risks at the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment – RIVM (2016–2017) and Visiting Fellow in Anthropology of Environmental Infrastructures at Osaka University (2018). Most of his research is about dealing with uncertainty. He has published several books, among which are Simulating Nature: A philosophical study of computer-simulation uncertainties and their role in climate science and policy advice (2006; 2012 [2nd ed.]) and Climate, God and Uncertainty: A transcendental naturalistic approach beyond Bruno Latour (2023).

Academic Summary

· DPhil, Theology, University of Oxford, 2022

· DPA (Doctor of Public Administration), Philosophy, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 2006

· PhD, Physics, Utrecht University, 1999

· MA, Philosophy, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 1995

· MSc, Physics, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 1993

Research Interests

· Science, Technology and Public Policy

· Philosophy of Culture

· Science and Religion

Affiliations

· Member, Academia Europaea

· Fellow, International Society for Science and Religion

· Fellow, Institution for Engineering and Technology

· Fellow, Royal Society of Arts

· Fellow, Higher Education Academy