Bio

Work Experience

2022-2023 Visiting Professor, Department of Philosophy, TU Darmstadt

2021 – Guest lecturer, Institute for Classics and Philosophy, University of Bamberg

2020-2021 Sabbatical

2021 Advisory Board Vrije Hoogeschool (https://www.vrijehogeschool.nl/)2020-2021 Advisory board of the project “Gemeinwohlorientierung im Zeitalter der Digitalisierung”, Frauenhoferinstitut für System und Innovationsforschung, IZEW Tübingen, Umweltbundesamt

2019-2020 Member of the board of the Domain for “Social Sciences and Humanities” of the Dutch Research Council NWO

  • Responsibilities (among others): Dutch “Knowledge and Innovation Contract” and the programme “Responsible Innovation”

2019-2020 Member of the board of the Dutch Gravitation Programme “Ethics of Socially Disruptive Technologies”

  • One of three main authors of the proposal for this Programme

Since 2019 Member and Founder (together with Anthonie Meijers and Floor Alkemade) of the Fair Energy Consortium (NL)

Since 2018 Member of the 4 TU Center for Ethics and Technology (NL)

Since 2017 Vice-President of the Helmuth-Plessner-Society

2017-2020 Editor-in-Chief of the Journal Ethical Theory and Moral Practice (together with Prof. Dr. Thomas Schramme, Liverpool)

2016 – 2019 Chair of the board of directors of Dutch Philosophy Institutes

  • Responsibilities: Teaching Assessment for all Philosophy Institutes (2016/17). National Research Assessment (2018/19). Quality criteria for Philosophical Publications

2013-2020 Chair and Founder (together with Franck Meijboom) of the Ethics Group of the League of European Research Universities

  • Responsibilities: Preparation and Chairing of Annual Meetings of Ethicists from 21 European Research Universities. Contact with the European Commission. Preparation of Position papers.

2013 – 2020 Member of the Board of Directors of the University Strategic Theme Institutions of Open Societies

  • Responsibilities (among others): group on Resilience and Longtermism; creating a new chair for “Ethics of Institutions”; general strategy of the strategic theme

2013 – 2015 Director of the Research Institute for Philosophy and Religious Studies, Utrecht University

  • Integration of the Institutes for Philosophy and Religious Studies. Coaching infrastructure for research proposals; Nachwuchs; board of directors of the faculty of humanities, board of the department and setting up the structure of the department

2007 – 2012 Director of the Leiden-Utrecht Research Institute for Philosophy ZENO

  • Responsibility for setting up the organisational structure of the institute, strategies for enhancing and assessing the supervision of PhD-students, enhancing the decision-structure within the board of the institute; board of directors of the faculty of humanities

2008 – 2013 Co-Director of the Focus Conflicts and Human Rights, Utrecht University

2011 – 2012 Co-Founder of the Netherlands Research School for Philosophy

  • Together with Prof. Anthonie Meijers I was responsible for the complex negotiations for the creation of a research school for the entire field of philosophy.

2010-2012 Chair of LOGOS (Landelijk Overlegorgaan voor Geesteswetenschappelijke Onderzoekscholen)

  • Coordinating the Dutch research schools in the humanities and negotiating with the faculties of humanities the financing of these schools

2005 – 2012 Director of the Netherlands Research School for Practical Philosophy

  • Teaching structure for PhD- and Research master-students, organising Summer- and Winters Schools, forum for exchange of Dutch ethicists. Political articulation of joint interests of practical philosophers

2003 – 2020 Director of the Ethics Institute, Utrecht University

  • Organisation of the institute with interdisciplinary research, teaching in nearly all faculties of the university, master of applied ethics. Particular focus of young researchers. Integration of the institute in faculty- and university policy. The institute is the largest group in the department. The research was evaluated with the highest grades in the research assessment 2019.

2002 – 2020 Professor for Philosophical Ethics at Utrecht University

1993 – 2002 Acting director of the International Centre for Ethics in the Sciences and Humanities at Tübingen University

  • Responsibility for a Post Graduate College, interdisciplinary research of the institute with big research projects from the German Research society, European Commission, international conferences etc. The institute got an excellent research assessment in 2001.

1991 – 1993 Research Coordinator of the Post Graduate College Ethics in the Sciences and Humanities, Tübingen University, financed by the German Research Council DFG

1990 – 1991 Research Assistant at the International Centre for Ethics in the Sciences and Humanities at Tübingen University

1982-1983 Community Service in a Retirement Home in Bielefeld

Education

  • 1998 PhD-thesis “Aesthetic Experience and Morality. About the Importance of Aesthetics for Human Action Space” (Ästhetische Erfahrung und Moral: Zur Bedeutung des Ästhetischen für die Handlungsspielräume des Menschen). PhD at Tübingen University, Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Rainer Wimmer, Prof. Dr. Manfred Frank
  • 1983-1990 Studying German Literature, Theology and Philosophy at the Universities of Tübingen and Munich

Guest Professorships and Fellowships
Monterrey (Mexico), Stellenbosch (South Africa), Tsinghua University (China), China Agriculture University (China), Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg (Bremen-Oldenburg), Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies (Bielefeld), Loyola University Chicago (USA), University of Kraków (Poland).

Member of Academic Associations and Academic Functions (Selection)

  • Chair of the Selection Committee for the Prince Claus Chair, established by Utrecht University and Erasmus University Rotterdam in honour of Prince Claus of the Netherlands (2019)
  • Member of the board of the Domain for “Social Sciences and Humanities” of the Dutch Research Council NWO 2019-2020
  • Editor-in-Chief of Ethical Theory and Moral Practice since 2017
  • Chair working group “Ethics”, League of European Research Universities, 2015-2020
  • Editor-in-Chief of the Book Series Library for Ethics and Applied Philosophy (Springer) 2006-2016
  • Editor-in-Chief of the journal Ethik in der Medizin, 2006-2011
  • Editorial Board of the Handbook for Ecological Communication (Springer)
  • Editorial board of the International Library of Ethics, Law and the New Medicine (Springer)
  • Editorial Board of Medicine Studies. An International Journal for History, Philosophy, and Ethics of Medicine and Allied Sciences (Springer)
  • Associate Editor of Ethical Perspective 2008-2017
  • Editorial Board of the Journal Ethical Perspectives since 2017
  • Associate Editor of the Journal De Ethica
  • Editorial Board of the Journal Frontiers of Philosophy in China
  • Co-Editor of the journal Biomedical Ethics (1996-2001)
  • Academic board of the Akademie für Ethik in der Medizin (2000-2008)
  • Academic board of the Vereniging van Ethici in Nederland (2003-2006)
  • Academic Board of the Konsensuskonferenz zur Gendiagnostik, Hygiene-Museum, Dresden (2001/2002)
  • Board of the Prize “Stiftung für die Rechte zukünftiger Generationen” (2003/2004)
  • Advisory Board: DFG-Graduiertenkolleg Bioethics of the International Centre for Ethics in the Sciences and Humanities, Tübingen University
  • Advisory Board: Graduiertenprogramms des Ethikzentrums der Universität Zürich
  • Reviewer for e.g. European Science Foundation, NWO, Schweizerische Wissenschafts- und Technologierat, Czech Science Foundation, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Vlaamse Wetenschapsorganisatie, Österreichische Wissenschaftsfond, South African National Research Foundation
  • Member of various advisory boards for the appointment of professorships in Utrecht, Groningen, Rotterdam, Bochum, Vienna
  • Member of various assessment boards for PhD-defences in Utrecht, Groningen, Nijmegen, Free University Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Tilburg, Linköping (Sweden), Basel (CH), Exeter (UK)