Behnam Taebi appointed as new Scientific Director TU Delft Safety & Security Institute

Behnam Taebi has been appointed as the Scientific Director of the TU Delft Safety & Security Institute by the Executive Board. Per 1 September 2019, he succeeds Pieter van Gelder, who in the past five years has led the institute in strengthening its research position in the broad field of safety and security.  

Dr. Behnam Taebi is Associate Professor in ethics of technology at the faculty of TPM. He studied Material Science and Engineering (2006) at TU Delft where he also obtained his Ph.D. in Philosophy of Technology (2010). His research interests are in nuclear ethics, responsible research and innovation (RRI), risk governance and engineering ethics. Taebi is the coordinating editor of a volume on The Ethics of Nuclear Energy (Cambridge University Press, 2015) and co-editor of several special issues with leading journals. Taebi is affiliated with Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University and since 2016 a member of The Young Academy of the Netherlands Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences (in Dutch: DJA/KNAW), where he also served on the Executive Board (2017-2019). He is also a member of the OECD Expert Group on ‘Addressing Societal Challenges Using Transdisciplinary Research.’

The Delft Safety & Security Institute, though itself established in 2013, is rooted in already many decades of experience in safety and security research at various faculties. It is the need for more integrated approaches that has brought different fields together in one institute. By learning from one another and exploring novel design and engineering the institute strives to renew the outlook of safety and security research. In the coming years the institute will explore integrative activity lines and harmonizing methodologies.