Background and activities

Please be informed that the most complete overview of my academic activities is available at www.govertvalkenburg.net, including all my publications 2003-present.

I am a researcher in Science and Technology Studies (STS). My research concerns the question how science and technology function in society, and how science and technology can be made to contribute better to society. One question I place central in this research is how different sorts of knowledge circulate in practices of science, technology, innovation, and governance. In such practices, inequality is often seen between expert knowledge, and other knowledges that may at closer look be just as valuable. This, I see as the issue of epistemic justice in innovation: how we can ensure that all relevant knowledges, also those knowledges that are not generally considered science or expertise, are given a fair opportunity to be made relevant to innovation processes. This question is central to my RCN-funded Researcher Project Risk in the information society: towards epistemic justice, that will be conducted until 2024.

In the past, I have applied a social-scientific lens to various fields of science, technology and innovation: sustainable energy and energy transitions, biomedical research, human genomics, and privacy and security technologies. 

I hold a PhD in philosophy of technology from Twente University (the Netherlands), as well as an MA in the same field and an MSc in Electrical Engineering. I also hold a BMus in performing classical vocals. 

Scientific, academic and artistic work

Displaying a selection of activities. See all publications in the database

2020

2019

2018