Rik Peels

Rik Peels is a Full Professor in the Faculty of Religion and Theology and Faculty of Humanities at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. His research focuses on the ethics of belief, epistemic responsibilities, and critiques of scientism. He leads major grants including an ERC Starting Grant (2020-2025) on fundamentalism and a Templeton World Charity Foundation project on university progress (2020-2023).

Peels holds a Ph.D. from Utrecht University (2012) and has held visiting positions at Oxford and Notre Dame. He teaches epistemology, philosophy of science, and argumentation theory. His work addresses extremism, religious belief ethics, and university epistemic accountability.

Awarded the KNAW Science Communication Prize (2021) and CLUE+ grant (2024), he actively engages in public lectures and media. His research spans over 211 publications, emphasizing interdisciplinary approaches to belief systems and societal challenges.