Philip Brey

Philip Brey is Professor of Philosophy and Ethics of Technology at the Department of Philosophy, University of Twente, and programme leader of ESDiT (Ethics of Socially Disruptive Technologies)—a €27 million, decade-long initiative (2020–2029) involving seven universities and sixty+ researchers. He is former president of the International Society for Ethics and Information Technology (INSEIT) and Society for Philosophy and Technology (SPT), and ex-scientific director of the 4TU.Centre for Ethics and Technology (2013–2017). He serves on editorial boards of twelve journals including Ethics and Information Technology and Techné.

Education:

• PhD, University of California, San Diego (1995)

Brey pioneers ethical frameworks for emerging technologies, developing Anticipatory Technology Ethics (ATE), Ethical Impact Assessment (EIA), and Ethics by Design (adopted in EU Horizon Europe reviews). His work spans AI/robotics ethics, internet governance, design ethics, and technology’s impact on well-being, with foundational studies on WWW, VR, facial recognition, and 3D printing ethics. He emphasizes anticipatory analysis and value-sensitive design in technology development.

He secured major funding including an NWO Vici grant (€1.25M, 2006–2012) on digital well-being, EU projects SATORI (€3.7M FP7) for ethical assessment standards, and SIENNA (€4.0M Horizon 2020) on genomics/robotics ethics. Current roles include partner in Horizon Europe’s TechEthos and Marie Curie’s PROTECT network.

As ESDiT leader, he coordinates a pan-European consortium addressing ethics in disruptive technologies through interdisciplinary collaboration across philosophy, engineering, and social sciences.