Ibo van de Poel

Ibo van de Poel is a Full Professor at Delft University of Technology, within the Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, specifically in the Section Philosophy. He holds the prestigious Antoni van Leeuwenhoek professorship, awarded to excellent young researchers, and is a leading figure in Design for Values, engineering ethics, and technology as social experimentation.

Education: Van de Poel studied Philosophy of Science, Technology and Society at the University of Twente, with a propaedeutic exam in Mechanical Engineering. He earned his PhD in Science and Technology Studies (STS) in 1998 from the University of Twente, under the supervision of Prof. Dr. A. Rip.

Research Interests: His research spans three major themes:

• Design for Values: Investigating how moral values can be integrated into engineering design, including empirical studies on how engineers handle value conflicts.
• Moral Responsibility in R&D Networks: Exploring the "problem of many hands" in large-scale research and development projects, developing formalizations and empirical methods.
• Ethics of Emerging Technologies: Examining ethical issues in new technologies like nanotechnology and synthetic biology, with a focus on technology as social experimentation.

Publications and Impact: Van de Poel has authored over 25 international peer-reviewed articles and 15 book contributions. He is co-editor of major works including the Handbook of Philosophy of Technology and the Engineering Sciences (Elsevier, 2009), Philosophy and Engineering (Springer, 2010), and Ethics, Engineering and Technology (Wiley-Blackwell, 2011). His recent work includes leading the VICI project "New Technologies as Social Experiments", funded by NWO.

Scientific Awards:

• Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Professorship (TU Delft)
• VICI Grant for "New Technologies as Social Experiments: Conditions for Morally Responsible Experimentation"

Advising and Grants: Van de Poel has led and contributed to multiple high-impact projects, including:

• NWO Project on "Moral Responsibility in R&D Networks" (2007–2012)
• EU Project on ethical issues in synthetic biology (2009–2011)
• VICI Project on "New Technologies as Social Experiments" (ongoing)

He has also supervised PhD students and contributed to educational innovations, including the development of the AGORA web-based program and the first Dutch textbook on ethics and technology.

Labs and Teams: Van de Poel is an active member of 4TU.Ethics & Technology, a federation of Dutch technical universities focused on ethics and technology. He contributes to the Simon Stevin Series in the Ethics of Technology and participates in various reading groups and PhD communities within the network.