Ibo van de Poel

Ibo van de Poel helps engineers integrate such values as security, sustainability, privacy, wellbeing and fairness into their designs. He has described the phenomenon known as the ‘problem of ‘many hands’ in R&D networks, in which many people undertake individual actions but no one feels morally responsible for the end product. Van de Poel develops strategies for dealing with this problem. He also examines the ethical aspects of new technologies, such as biotechnology and nanotechnology, where conventional approaches to risk management cannot be applied because the risks are unknown or uncertain. Van de Poel regards such emerging technologies as social experiments and is attempting to define the conditions under which such experiments are morally acceptable.